Introducing Birdie, my ninth Christmas tree decoration. She is part of my pinecone craft series in Japanese style. Of which, I’d share the basic techniques of Chirimen Zaiku (ちりめん細工/Crepe Handicrafts) that I am learning from books. Okay, here is how I make my chirimen pinecone bird. Step by step, here we go!
Painting the Pinecone
My pinecones were baked before I used them for crafts. Here is how I baked my pinecones. I wanted the colors to be vibrant in this project, so I used yellow ochre acrylic as a base paint. Once it was completely dry, I added a bright red acrylic.
Sewing Birdie’s Head
(1) This is the pattern I used for Birdie’s head, from which I cut two pieces from my leftover Christmas felt. (2) For her beak, I used a 2 x 2 cm yellow Chirimen fabric and folded it into halves. Then, I folded the two corners inward. Finally, one more fold backward before I stitched the sides (with similar colored yellow thread) to prevent it from opening up. (3) I stitched the beak onto the right side of the red felt. (4) Next, I placed the felt fabrics together (with the right sides touching), did a running stitch along the sides, and flipped them inside out.
(5) I added fillings inside the head and sewed the eyes (4mm beads and white felt) onto the head. (6) I added blanket stitch as the final finish. To give it a little glittering effect, I combined 3 strands of embroidery floss with 2 same lengths of gold thread.
Sewing the Wings
(1) This is the pattern I drew for Birdie’s wings. I folded the Chirimen fabric into halves and cut out two pieces of the pattern. (2) Then, I sewed along the seams and turned it inside out from the opening. Then, repeated the steps for the other wing.
Adding the Tail
(1) This is the pattern I used for Birdie’s tail. Like the wings, I did a running stitch along the seams, turning it inside out via the opening. (2) Because Birdie is supposed to be an upright-tailed bird, I glued a piece of plastic to the inside of the tail to make it stiffer.
Putting all the parts together
(1) Here I added a bell with a 30-cm red string to hang Birdie from the Christmas tree. (2) For the wings, I first glued them to the inner part of the head. (3) I glued the tail between the pinecone’s scales. Finally, I glued the head to the tip of the pinecone. I added more glue to the wings to secure them further. With the bell and string attached, Birdie is complete!
Here is Birdie, the very gorgeous little bird!
