chickies for my baby chick!

 My baby girl turned 1 today. For her birthday I sewed up a Henny Penny with her six little baby chickies from Anna Maria Horner's book Handmade Beginnings: 24 Sewing Projects to Welcome Baby. I am not going to claim that I "whipped them" up as there was much more head-scratching, improvising, internet-consulting, tutorial-watching, and just plain winging it involved.

I did manage to learn how to do a French knot for the eyes of the mama hen. For a beginner sewer like  me it was very confusing to read the instructions that started with the thread emerging from the chicken. How does that happen to a fully formed stuffed animal? I ended up knotting the end and going in through a seam, very carefully pulling the knot through, and working the needle through some of the stuffing so the end would get stuck. Then I poked the needle out where the eye should be. This online video saved the day for me. A special thank you to Mary Corbet of Needle 'n' Thread.

I never did figure out how it would have worked if I had "stay stitched" shut the opening (is this the same as basting stitch?). If it was sewn shut, even loosely, I am not understanding how it would have been possible to turn the creature inside out. So I just skipped all that stay stitch business. I am also not sure what a "blind stitch" is and I imagine it would have been tidier than my improvised version of sewing the chickens shut. However, they are done in time for the birthday and that's what mattered to me!

In case you are wondering about the wings – the mama hen has strips of velcro under her wings. The velcro wings on the baby chicks will stick to her so they can all tuck up underneath. Very cute.