Hey yall! I'm Rachel and I blog over at Happily Ever After! You'll find I blog about my life, being a new momma, teaching, sewing, quilting, and a little bit of everything else. I'm so excited to be here with Danielle to share a little project with yall.
Around November, my brain always turns to Thanksgiving, food, family, and turkeys! This year, it's my daughter's first Thanksgiving and I wanted to make a little something for her. Naturally, making a turkey came to mind. And, if you're anything like me, you have a dozen of little doilies laying around. I have a ton of them from different family members. I LOVE them but just never seem to know what to do with them. But then I realized that a doily would look adorable on a softie for Reagan!
So, I have a tutorial for yall on how to make your own Tiny Turkey softie...
First of all, here's what you'll need:
doilies
fabric
needle and thread
stuffing
cardboard
1. To make the body and head of your turkey, I suggest using this tutorial on making cloth balls. I made a large ball for the body of the turkey and a tiny one for the head of the turkey. You'll need to cut out six pieces for the body ball and six pieces for the head ball.
2. Once you have your head and body of the turkey made, choose your doily and spread it out over the turkey body. You'll have a section a section leftover of the doily... bunch it up and pin it so you can use that for the jiggly section that hangs on the turkey's neck.
Once you are satisfied with where the doily is placed, hand stitch the doily onto your turkey body. I stitched along the outside of the doily, weaving in and out of the doily. It's a little time consuming but you'll want to make sure it's secure.
When you get back to where the doily is bunched up, stitch along the bottom of the bunched section. This will help it stay in place.
3. Next, you get to add the head onto your turkey. This part is a little bit tricky. I positioned my head on top of the neck ruffle... You'll want to make sure your needle is sturdy because it'll need to go through the head, the doily, and the body of the turkey. Stitch around the bottom of the head.
4. The last step in making your Tina Turkey is adding the tail feathers. This is a chance to get creative with your turkey. I choose to make mine have only three feathers, but you could do LOTS of feathers. My feathers are kind of floppy because this is going to my daughter, but if you were going to make it as a centerpiece or decoration, you might want to make your feathers sturdier.
Draw a feather template. Here's what mine looked like... (again, be creative!).
Trace around the template onto your feather fabric. For each feather, you'll need two pieces of fabric. Since my Tina Turkey has three feathers, I drew out six feathers onto my fabric and cut them out.
Pair up your feathers, putting the right sides of the fabric together. Stitch around the outside edges of the fabric (leave the bottom edge open). You can do this in one continuous line... just be sure to pivot your fabric at the top point before going down the other side.
Trim off the excess fabric from your seam, and clip the top point to get rid of the bulk.
Turn your feather right side out and press.
Arrange your feathers the way that you want them sewn onto your turkey body. I sewed a line along the bottom of mine to keep them in that position. You don't have to but it helped when I sewed them onto the turkey.
Sew the feathers onto the turkey. I turned the bottom edge under to you don't see the seams on the feathers.
And voila .... your turkey is done!
I mentioned that my turkey feathers were floppy... if you want your to stand up straight, I'd put a piece of cardboard in each turkey feather. Also, the feathers would look really cool covered in a doily, too.
With this little turkey, there are lots of options for making it yours! :)
I hope yall enjoy making a little Tina Turkey of your own! Thanks again for having me on Blissful and Domestic today! :) Take care, yall!
-Rachel
So, I have a tutorial for yall on how to make your own Tiny Turkey softie...
First of all, here's what you'll need:
doilies
fabric
needle and thread
stuffing
cardboard
1. To make the body and head of your turkey, I suggest using this tutorial on making cloth balls. I made a large ball for the body of the turkey and a tiny one for the head of the turkey. You'll need to cut out six pieces for the body ball and six pieces for the head ball.
I drew my circle pieces on my fabric before I cut them out. If you don't have a fabric pencil, a number two pencil will work. When you sew your circle pieces together, make sure you sew the right sides together. When you get to the finial seam, leave about 1 to 2 inches open so you can turn it right side out and stuff it. You'll need to hand sew it together once you've put in your stuffing.
Once you are satisfied with where the doily is placed, hand stitch the doily onto your turkey body. I stitched along the outside of the doily, weaving in and out of the doily. It's a little time consuming but you'll want to make sure it's secure.
When you get back to where the doily is bunched up, stitch along the bottom of the bunched section. This will help it stay in place.
3. Next, you get to add the head onto your turkey. This part is a little bit tricky. I positioned my head on top of the neck ruffle... You'll want to make sure your needle is sturdy because it'll need to go through the head, the doily, and the body of the turkey. Stitch around the bottom of the head.
4. The last step in making your Tina Turkey is adding the tail feathers. This is a chance to get creative with your turkey. I choose to make mine have only three feathers, but you could do LOTS of feathers. My feathers are kind of floppy because this is going to my daughter, but if you were going to make it as a centerpiece or decoration, you might want to make your feathers sturdier.
Draw a feather template. Here's what mine looked like... (again, be creative!).
Trace around the template onto your feather fabric. For each feather, you'll need two pieces of fabric. Since my Tina Turkey has three feathers, I drew out six feathers onto my fabric and cut them out.
Pair up your feathers, putting the right sides of the fabric together. Stitch around the outside edges of the fabric (leave the bottom edge open). You can do this in one continuous line... just be sure to pivot your fabric at the top point before going down the other side.
Trim off the excess fabric from your seam, and clip the top point to get rid of the bulk.
Turn your feather right side out and press.
Arrange your feathers the way that you want them sewn onto your turkey body. I sewed a line along the bottom of mine to keep them in that position. You don't have to but it helped when I sewed them onto the turkey.
Sew the feathers onto the turkey. I turned the bottom edge under to you don't see the seams on the feathers.
And voila .... your turkey is done!
I mentioned that my turkey feathers were floppy... if you want your to stand up straight, I'd put a piece of cardboard in each turkey feather. Also, the feathers would look really cool covered in a doily, too.
With this little turkey, there are lots of options for making it yours! :)
I hope yall enjoy making a little Tina Turkey of your own! Thanks again for having me on Blissful and Domestic today! :) Take care, yall!
-Rachel
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