Adorable Owls – Free Sewing Pattern & Tutorial

Learn how to sew owls! This easy owl sewing pattern can be made in 3 sizes, or more by altering the pattern template. Have you ever sewn something that makes you so excited that you just want to sew another and another? Well that happened to me with these owls!

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And I’m not the only one who loves them at our house. I experimented, putting rice, beans, or wheat in the bottom of each one to give them a nice heavy feel. Now they can be used for a pincushion, doorstop, bookend, and much more…

Turns out, my kids decided they are to be played with! Every time I turn around, our little ‘flock’ has moved.

You asked me to give you an owl sewing pattern for 2” owls, 4” owls, 6” owls, 12” owls… even huggable sized owls, lol! I decided to draft one basic pattern and then show you how to make any size owls with it.

{click here to download the free Adorable Owl Sewing Pattern templates.}

The finished owls will be approximately 1/2 the height of the pattern pieces. My basic pattern piece is a little bit less than 10” tall (so it will fit on a regular sheet of paper). I sewed the three owls above with the basic pattern and you see that they are all different, between 4-6” tall. The height will depend on how much of the top you fold down to make the beak, and how much you stuff it.

You will need:

• 2 different fabrics (scraps for pincushion size, about a yard total for ‘huggable size)

• black and white felt for the eyes

• 2 buttons

• needle and strong thread for hand sewing (optional, but highly recommended)

• polyester fiberfill for stuffing the owl

• rice, wheat, beans, or plastic pellets to give it some weight (place in a zip lock bag)

• hot glue gun and hot glue

How to Assemble the Pattern Templates

These are the two pattern pieces. One is for the body (place this one on the fold of fabric). And the other one is for the tummy (do not cut on the fold). You’ll see a line halfway down from the point of the pattern pieces, this is the cutting line for a pincushion size owl.

Make the pattern pieces bigger by taping them to some tracing paper (this is what I use) and drawing lines to extend the sides. Both the sides should be the same length.

Then measure down the center of the piece from the tip and make a mark at the bottom. Join the sides and the bottom mark with a nice gentle curve

Repeat this process with the other piece. Note that the shape of the top part of the pattern pieces will stay the same no matter what size you make them.

The pattern pieces above are what I used for my polka dot owl ‘Booger.’ They are 15” tall (and the sides are 15” long).

I used 24” tall pattern pieces for my largest (huggable size) owl.

Cutting:

1. Fold your main fabric in half and cut 1 body piece on the fold of fabric.

2. Cut one tummy piece from coordinating fabric – not on the fold of fabric.

3. You will want to make something to cover the opening at the bottom of the owl. A circle of felt anywhere from 1” (for the pincushion size) to 6” will work great. If you want something sturdier, cut a circle of cardboard the desired size and a circle of fabric about twice that size (I used thread spools, CDs, and bowls to trace my circles).

How to Sew the Owl Together:

Use a 1/4” seam allowance.

1. Place the two large pieces right sides together along one straight edge.

2. Start sewing 1/4” from the top and continue all the way down to the bottom edge.

3. Turn the piece over and pin the other straight edges together. Start sewing 1/4” from the top again and sew to the bottom. Sometimes a pucker wants to form at the top. If that happens, no worries. Just keep going.

4. Trim close to the stitching at the tip. Turn the owl right side out. I like to press the seams outward, but it’s not really necessary.

5. Fold the tip down (about 1/3 of the way for an owl that’s about 1/2 the height of the pattern piece). Use a safety pin to attach the folded down ‘beak’ to the body underneath it, but do not pin all the way through to the back – just pin the beak to the top layer.

6. Thread a needle with strong thread and hand sew all the way around the bottom edge with long stitches. Leave long ends for pulling later.

You can try this with long basting stitches on your sewing machine, but the thread will probably break because it is not long enough (it can work okay with the pincushion size).

Stuffing the Owl

1. Stuff the owl with polyester fiberfill – as full as you like it. You can adjust the length of the beak at this stage to make it just right. Start to pull the thread tight.

2. Before you close up the owl all the way, insert the bag of rice, beans, pellets, or whatever you want to use as weight.

3. Pull the thread to close the opening and tie the ends together.

If you are using a felt circle on the bottom, you can hot glue it on now.

4. To make a sturdy circle for the bottom, sew around the circle of fabric with long stitches as before. Place the cardboard circle against the wrong side, and tie the thread ends tight around the cardboard.

5. Apply hot glue all over the gathered side of the bottom piece and stick it to the owl.

6. Unpin the beak and hot glue it in place.

Making the Owl’s Eyes

1. To make the eyes, pick out the buttons that you want to use. Cut circles of white felt that are 1/4” to 1/2” larger than the buttons. Cut circles of black felt that are 1/4” to 1/2” larger than the white circles.

2. Sew or glue the buttons to the felt layers.

3. Then glue the eyes on and you’re done! Don’t mind this owl’s boogers!

If you sew an owl (or lots) using my owl sewing pattern, I’d love to see! Snap a picture and post it to instagram. Make sure you tag me @sewcanshe so I can take a look.

Happy Sewing!

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