I wanted my penultimate make from this metre of fleece, and my final plushie make from it, to be something I'd not made before, yet would still allow me to use the reverse side of the fabric as a contrast. So what better option than Choly Knight's Owl Plush pattern, which has appliqué features on the face?

I decided to only use felt in black for the appliqué pupils, so the main heart-shaped appliqué and eye shines both use the reverse side of the fleece. I skipped the smallest eye shine piece as I had a feeling it would be too small to cut and sew accurately. Be warned though – sewing those tiny pieces on is really fiddly! I chose to hand stitch the eye pieces in place, as I knew I was going to lose patience if I tried machine stitching them. The pattern recommends fusing the pieces in place before sewing, but I wasn't confident that the fleece would handle the heat from the iron without causing a problem.

Given the fiddly nature of the smaller appliqué pieces, the heart-shaped face appliqué was actually really easy to machine sew onto the body. I held it in place with 5 pins, before stitching with a small zigzag stitch. I did make sure I removed the pins before they got too close to the needle – I wasn't going to risk breaking my needle if it hit a pin!

Even with the appliqué, the owl was actually a pretty quick project to make. The main body is sewn quite early in the pattern, so you can see the finished owl taking shape. The wings and feet are a little more awkward to turn once sewn, but they are manageable without too many arguments. I think I could've sewn a more accurate pair of ears for my owl if I had used the pattern piece as a template to sew around. That was my trick with sewing the feet, as they are a little more awkward to sew accurately without that.

I stuffed my owl with regular toy stuffing, and there's not a problem with it toppling over. However, you could choose to use a fabric pouch of 'poly pellets' if you want a weightier owl. I've seen some patterns that even suggest using rice as a weight, but I don't like the idea of the rice potentially going mouldy if the finished plushie got wet at any point! If you can't get those poly pellets, or don't really want to add plastic to the owl, you could of course use some fleece offcuts cut as small as possible, and make a bag of those instead.

Compared to the other plushies I've made, this owl is more spherical in design. This not only makes it brilliant for cuddling, but also feels like a beanbag – just without the beans!

Overall for two bears, two penguins and an owl, I used approximately 300g of toy stuffing. This would obviously be slightly more if I hadn't used some of the fleece offcuts to weigh the plushies down a little.

I really enjoyed making this owl, and I am tempted to make another few owls to have my own parliament of owls eventually! The fleece worked really well with the pattern, especially with the reverse side being able to be used for the appliqué. That way my owl has a really soft face as well as its body.

Stay tuned for my final make from this metre of fleece!



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Pattern: Choly Knight's Owl Plush https://cholyknight.com/2017/09/08/owl-plush/


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