How to Sew Juggling Chickens

In June I wrote a post How to Sew a Gorgeous Set of Pattern Weights. I made the weights because I needed a gift for a sewist friend. But I found the pyramid shape very pleasing as well as functional. While I was making them I was day-dreaming about what other things I could make this shape into. I made some notes in my idea journal and nothing came of it until now.

My grandson turned 8 last month. Of course on his birthday list was the usual video, baseball mitt, etc. but I also wanted to make him a special gift. (This is a tough age to sew for a boy especially one who is all into video games!) I was leafing through my idea journal and thinking how different it was when his father was eight. It was a time before a child had a hand held electronic toy in their hand by age 2. At 8 my son,Michael, was determined to learn to juggle. Juggling chickens? (I've seen pyramid-shaped chicken pincushions all over the blogosphere. Why not juggling chickens?)

Make your own juggling chicken with a few squares of fabric, bits of felt, and lentils.

What you will need to make 4 juggling chickens:

8 – 5 inch squares of fabric for the body (this will make 4 chickens)

12 – 2-1/2 inch squares for the tail

Red felt for the comb

Yellow felt for the beck

2 cups of lentils

Scissors, pins, and a funnel

I am using 10 inches squares left over form a layer cake. I sub-cut them into 5 inch squares for the bodyand 2 1/2 inch squares for the tail.

Step one Prepare the comb, beck, and tail pieces. From the yellow felt cut a 1 inch square of yellow. You now have 2 becks. Repeat for the other 2 chickens. From the red felt cut a rectangle 1 X 1-1/2 inches for the comb. Cut the top of the comb free-form. You will need 3 more of these. For the tail pieces you will fold the 2-1/2 square in half diagonally and press. Then fold in half again and press to form triangles. (You are making what quilter call “prairie points.”)

cut the beck and comb from scraps of felt.

Start with a 2 1/2 inch square, fold in half, and then fold in half again to make the tail feather. in quilting this is called a prairie point.

Step two Lay out one of the body square right side up and arrange the beck and comb as shown below. Place the beck 1/4 inch down from the edge with the point facing in. Place the comb 1/4 inch down from corner. Stitch or baste-glue in place. Place the other body piece on top with the right side down. Pin in place.

Pin the beck and comb and baste in place.

Step three Stitch along three sides of the body using a ¼ inch seam allowance. Start stitching at the corner opposite the beck and the comb. Leave a 2 1/2 inch gap in this first side (the side opposite the comb.) Continue stitching the other three sides. The side opposite the beck is not sewn at this time. Be sure to back stitch at the beginning and end of the seams and the gap. Press to set the seams. (I'ld like to check at this point to be sure my beck and comb are facing inward.)

Pin and stitch the three sides. Leave a 1 1/2 inch gap for turning. I like to make the opening with double pins so I will remember to stop for the opening.

Step four Each tail will need 3 prairie points. Slip the prairie points into each other. Adjust the width of the tail piece to fit the last opening. Stay stitch in place as shown below.

You can adjust the til feathers to fit the opening.

Step five Align the top and bottom body seams to meet in the middle in the middle. This will form the pyramid shape of the chicken. Sandwich your tail piece in the remaining open side so that the tail pieces are inside your chicken pointing towards the comb. Stitch closed.

Step six Clip the corners to reduce bulk making sure you do not cut the seam stitching. (After I clip the corners I like to shave off a little more of the bulk.)

Clip the cornier being careful not to clip the stitches.

Shave the corner even more to reduce bulk.

Step seven Turn the chicken right side out through the gap and top stitch the tail in place. Use the funnel to fill the chicken with lentils.

He is adorable even before he is stuffed.

Step eight I wanted the juggling chickens to be pretty firm. That made it too full to be stitched on the machine. Whip stitch the opening closed by hand. Make your stitches as close together as possible so the seam is as strong as possible.

Slip stitch the gap closed

Your little flock of juggling chickens are ready to juggle.

My little flock of juggling chickens

Isn't he cute? These chickens can be made with any size square. All you need are two squares the same size.

Add a book on how to juggle and you have the perfect gift for an 8 year old.

I ordered a book from Amazon to go with my chickens and I hoped I had the perfect gift for an 8 year old. (It is tough to compete with Mindcraft and Star Wars video games.)

Noah seemed to like the idea of juggling. Here are the some action shots of him juggling.