Design - A - Bird

Students always ask me how long it takes me to make a bird. If I have the fabrics already chosen, it hardly takes any time at all, but if I am trying to make something special, it takes a lot longer!

I love "black-and-white." It's probably my favorite color combination. Every cat I have ever owned has been black and white. I wanted to make a black and white cat bird using all black and white cat fabrics, but when I gathered them together, they didn't seem to sing well together. I also love checkerboards, and I have several black and white checkerboard fabrics in different sizes. They didn't seem to work well together either.

It's important to know when things aren't working, and to try not to force it.

I liked this swirly black and white fabric, as well as the op art stripe for the legs. The little black cats  on the white fabric were fun, but in order for it to work, I had to use a background that was not white.

But then I second-guessed myself, so I tried the black and white check.  Nope. It's much easier to put things down to see what it looks like before you start sewing.

I then added a little cat fabric for the beak. I like those fabrics and this combination.

I started sewing components together.

Here's the finished black and white bird. I love the sneaky cat expression of the cat on the beak.


You can get my tutorial at my Etsy shop, here, if you want to make your own birds. It's an instant download, so you can get started right away.