Last Thursday I was invited to be the guest speaker at the meeting of the West Hampstead Women’s Institute! One of the WI’s resolutions for 2014 is to support your local high street, so as part of that effort I joined our local group to talk a bit about my business and then get down to the business of sewing!
I decided to make little felt birds with the ladies and I asked Colette if she’d share a tutorial for the lovely garland she made for Harvey before he was born. We dusted off a photo we took with this garland last year to show off the project:
Colette’s pattern includes instructions for making three birds and a little heart strung together to make a vertical garland. It’s super sweet and Harvey’s has hung over his cot since he was born! For the purposes of the evening, however, we stuck with making just one little bird.
I put together a very springy palette of wool felt and embroidery floss, little fabric scraps and skinny satin ribbons and made little piles on all the tables at Brioche on West End Lane, where the meeting was held.
Truth be told, between the ladies’ sewing know-how and Colette’s clear instructions, I didn’t have to do all that much teaching once I got the ball rolling! We had about 30 members present and it was a very fun and social evening.
The result was a beautiful flock of suitably springy little birds (and one rogue heart!) I just love how they look together.
Colette has offered to share her pattern here, so if you saw our little birds last Thursday and want to make your own – here you go! Click on the image to download the three page pdf pattern.
Thank you to the West Hampstead WI and Colette!