Our Stick & Stitch Motifs: Chickens pattern gives you four hens each measuring 4″ square. They look great in 6″ or 7″ hoops and they make sweet stuffed ornaments or toys.
Have fun choosing and layering fabrics, finding color combinations you love, and creating your own “clutch” of chickens. (A clutch is what a group of chickens is called.)
Here are three variations to jumpstart your creativity.
Choose a fabric and floss colors for the mood you want to set.
Here’s a hen filled with a variety of fun stitch combinations.
Because the linen had such a loose weave, I put two layers in the hoop and stitched through both. The hen is 4.5″ and can be displayed in a 6″ hoop.
For this, add two layers of fabric to your hoop. I’ve worked with white linen on top and a green Swiss dot below.
Embroider the hen through all layers.
Wash away the water soluble pattern and dry the piece.
Trim away the upper white layer of fabric about 1/4″ from the hen’s outline.
Using a floss color that matches the top layers of fabric, chain stitch around the hen catching and hiding the raw edge of the trimmed fabric.
The result is a hen sitting atop a patterned background.
- If you’d like to make small stuffed hens, choose a top fabric and then one or two bottom layers.
- Embroider your hen, including brown outline, on the first top layer of fabric.
- Once you’ve stitched the hen, put it and two more layers of fabric into a hoop. Stitch around the hen (except for leaving an opening at the bottom) with back or chain stitch. Use a floss color that matches your fabric (here it’s ecru).
- Trim around the whole hen with a generous 3/4″ border.
- Now trim the topmost layer close to your stitching (except near the bottom opening–trim this later). Next trim the middle layer a bit bigger (about 1/4″). Finally trim the bottommost layer just a big bigger than the middle layer.
- Use the opening at the bottom to add polyfill stuffing between the top layer and the lower two. Fill the head and beak first, then move to the tail feathers and then the body. Once stuffed, stitch the opening closed and trim layers as above.
- If you’d like a vintage look, fray the edges of your fabric.
Which of these three ways to stitch our Chickens Stick & Stitch patterns will you try first?
Tis the season to start stitching your holiday gifts and decor...
Our stick and Stitch patterns are perfect for making Christmas tree ornaments and for adding holiday motifs to linens and other fabric projects. Check them out over in the Stitched Stories holiday shop!
