Finishing off the owl.

The owl is finished.
There was a pattern for a little head piece along with the other pieces of the owl pattern.
I cut it out from a scrap left over from the furnishing fabric I'd made his body with.  I tacked a piece of the feathery chiffon to it, frayed the edges, and then couched on some of the cut-off threads I'd kept during the process of making him.
Then I stitched the head piece on to the owl.

I trimmed his claws and painted them black.

Today I took him outside in the sunshine for the photo call.  His claws do look a bit big!

My husband likes the back better than the front.

I'm just glad to see the back of him!

Stuffing and Wings.

            I found the owl's feet had hardened up more than I wanted when the glue had dried.
                     So I've stitched on some mohair wool to soften the look of them.
          I had a job pushing the needle through. I think the claws might be a bit big, I'm not sure.

                   I wrapped some stuffing round the wire before I pushed the claws up in to the legs.

                                                     Then I had a wrestle with the owl!

 Stuffing an owl is awkward. I gathered round the bottom of his legs and stitched it as tight as I could.

And the wires have to be snipped shorter. 

He's waiting for his wings... and a bit of tidying up.

 Then he'll fly away.  I decided I've finished with making creative stuff.

I want to do proper sewing.

A little bit more.

Moved on a little bit more with the claws.
I've padded out the wire with some foam rubber and wound around the whole lot with old crochet thread.

Spooky

Ripped some chiffon in to narrow strips....

...... moistened the strips with PVA glue ....

........the PVA makes it easier to mould the strips as you wind around the claws.

The wire tips will be shortened and painted.

               And I'll probably add some stitching to soften them up and hold it all together.

              Oh, I'm hoping these claws work and I don't have trouble getting him to stand up.