baskets4moo

This is my first tute so please bear with me. I had enough questions about my selvage and crazy chickens that I felt it would be better to make a tute rather than answer everybody individually. I’m not claiming to the basic design of the chicken itself that honor goes to the late Doreen Speckmann and her Norwegian Chicken pattern. Her original pattern was for 3” log cabin blocks with 1/2” logs, very small felt beak and comb and a seed bead for the eyes. Cute, but not nearly the pizazz I like nowadays. My love of selvages & pincushions begat the birth, umm… hatching, of my wild & funky chickens.

Step 1: The Body
This batch is 3-1/2” squares making a 2-1/2” tall chicken when finished. Any size or type of squares can be used, selvages, crazy, log cabin, or any other square pattern. I make 6” square selvage chickens for my guild friends, not only are these chickens huge, but what character!!

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Step 2: The Beak
I had a bunch of 1-3/8” yellow squares, so that’s what I used. A little larger square might be easier to work with 1-1/2” is really minimum. I make a double beak for larger birds, 2 beak assemblies nested looking like an open beak, but little chicks only need a single beak. Baste to top corner of body square approx. 1/2 from corner.

cyd

Sorry to bother anyone, but I am not getting the whole instructions-am I missing something?

baskets4moo

Sorry, I'm working on a real slow connection & having trouble with getting the next steps to upload. Patience is a virtue.

bloomin'Iris

I only can see the first two steps

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Step 3: The Comb or topknot
My favorite is fancy fur yarn. Extremely messy but great attitude! I started using fancy fur because that what I had laying around at the time, so look around & maybe try sometime else. Improvising is the way to creativity. Wrap 10 times around a 1-3/4” wide card for 2 topknots. Adding metallic embroidery thread for 2 or 3 wraps adds to the attitude. Gently slide wrapped yarn off card & under your pressure foot, stitch across and back a few times. Zigzag works even better, but Matilda doesn’t do the zigzag.. lol. Sew well to top corner of body square approx. 1/2 inch from corner.

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Step 4: Body Assembly
Stitch the body squares together taking care to keep the topknot away from your stitching.

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Step 5: The Tail
Again, adjust sizes up or down to suit your preferences. For larger birds I like to add fancy fur to the top of the tail.

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Fourth & final body seam: Match top & bottom seams, slide tail in, centering & pin. Sew across, this creates the triangular shape. I’ve found 1-1/2 inches opening makes the turning much easier.

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Finishing: Clip corners and “birth” your chick through the opening you left in the bottom seam. I’ve found if you start with the head, gentle on the topknot please, the tail will follow easily.
Accessorize: These girls have 5 mm beads for eyes. Maybe buttons or tiny yo-yo’s?? A final haircut is completely optional.