Life's an Adventure!: Owl Purse!

So I have had a love for owls and all things owl for quite a while. When I was in California last year I saw some cute owl purses. However, some loony bin decided to sell them for around $80. Please. So I showed my mom some designs for purses that I liked and she picked out some fabrics and was going to make one. Well, mom decided to go buy a fixer-upper house and has been super busy for a while now. Check out her awesomeness here.

Fast forward to now. I am in California visiting said awesome mom and we decided to take a break from beach bumming and visiting Disneyland to have a sewing day. So we decided to make my owl bag! Note: when I say 'we' it mostly means mom. Mom did all the sewing; I cut and ironed. :) We found one that we liked for inspiration:

Here are some of the fabrics that mom bought and a few others she had extra:

First mom drew a paper pattern in the shape of an owl. Then she drew a wing for each side. She also drew the outer eye and a nose.

We started with a piece of paper 11 inches wide and 12 inches tall. The bottom edges are rounded and the top has an inverted arch.

The outer eye is a circle with a 2 and a half inch diameter. The wing is 8 inches tall by 4 and a quarter inches wide. The opposite points are rounded to match the curved body pattern.

We chose a dark red corduroy fabric as the body background. She traced the body onto the fabric but cut a little extra to allow for a seam allowance.

Here is the front of the purse.

We traced the wing pattern onto this fun fabric!

Mom sewed the wings onto each side of the body with a satin zigzag stitch.

For the back, we decided to create a layer of feathers! The top half is made out of the red corduroy. The bottom half, which will be covered with feathers, is the same fabric as the wings.

There is about 4 inches of corduroy at the top, which leaves about 8 inches of patterned fabric for the bottom.

We cut a beak that is an inch wide and an inch and a half long (isosceles triangle!). We cut the eyes out of the same fabric as the beak. Then we cut another circle for the next layer on the eyes, which is an inch and three quarters. We picked a lighter, more solid color so the eyes weren't so dark. Then we found some cute brown buttons for the eyes!

Ready to be sewn!

Eye fabric sewn with a zigzag stitch.

Now for the lining! We chose this fabric because the print contrasts with the outside colors well!

This was cut with the same pattern as the outside.

An inside pocket for keys or a phone!

Pocket is 4 1/2 inches wide and 3 1/2 inches tall.

Special design! A chapstick pocket! 3 inches tall, 2 inches wide.

After sewing the pockets on, we sewed the lining together, leaving a 6 inch gap on the right side. This gap will be used to flip the purse inside out later, when all the layers are sewn together.

Now onto the easy task of making the feathers!

We cut 50 feathers that are 2 1/2 by 4 inches, with a rounded bottom.

We sewed two feathers together, making a total of 25 feathers. We flipped them inside out and ironed them flat so they were ready to sew on the backside of the purse.

To make the fabric meet the top of the wings on the front, we added a finished strip of one and a quarter inches to go above the feathers.

Mom sewed each row of feathers, starting with the top row. Then she pinned each row up and sewed the next.

To make this purse a slingback, we made a strap that was 45 inches long. It is 1 3/4 inches wide. We put the red corduroy on the top and the brown fabric from the lining on the bottom side.

Finished backside!

We used some thick green fleece to put between the lining and the outside layers so that the purse wouldn't be so flimsy. The purse will hold it's shape better with something thick in between. We again used the same pattern to measure.