I have kept a special container in my sewing room just for Ann Wood patterns. I keep the patterns and any special supplies in there so they are all ready to go. I had plans to make her birds for a long time and after the mushrooms were finished I got started. I decided to start with the songbird which seemed like the simplest one. I love that it’s easy to customize to make it into any kind of real or imagined smallish bird. Mine is imagined and I just had fun playing with fabric scraps I had lying around.
The pattern is very easy to follow and includes many photos so you have a visual reference. I made the beak by carving a small piece of a branch I found in front of our house. The wire feet seem complicated, but they really are not and Ann has a pretty cool way of coating the wire so that the legs are strong and sturdy. One of the things I was surprised about was how much stuffing you need to get a firm result! Just keep adding and adding. That part is the most tedious part of the process, but so worth it.
I’m really happy with how my little bird came out! He lives in my studio with some other friends that I’ve collected over the years from various Etsy sellers. If you would like to try one for yourself click here. Also, if you are on Facebook you can join the Ann Wood Sew Along group and see what others are doing with the patterns there. So much creativity!
Recently someone posted a cockatiel made with this pattern. It captured the cockatiel personality perfectly. I may have to try that sometime. I have had a long history with cockatiels from our first which my husband got when he was in college. His name was Popcorn and he lived in the dorm with Mark. He was such a sweetie. We had him for 19 years. When I was in college I started working with parrots in a behavioral study and ended up going for my Masters in Avian Sciences and worked with, you guessed it, cockatiels! Also during college we started breeding cockatiels with my mom. We’ve had other pet cockatiels over the years, but Popcorn was definitely our favorite. So, maybe my next songbird will be Popcorn!
