The birds are coming!

I'm working on another project and decided I wanted a bird in my piece.  A few years ago, I beaded a pattern, Western Tanager, by Helene Knott that was in the American Quilter, March 2011 magazine.  Here's the finished beaded piece.

In that article Helene had two other bird patterns, which I also beaded and they are all framed and hang in the house.  I like this first bird and thought I'd use that same pattern to create another bird but this time in fabric.

So here is what I'm playing around with!  I'm sure which ever bird I end up using, the remaining orphans  will find a home somewhere!!  At least I hope so!

First up is a discharge on black fabric using Jacquard Discharge Paste.  I think with addition of thread this might work.  That's a piece of freezer paper for his eye!

Bird 1 - Discharge

Second, I had a stencil piece of scrap fabric from another project.  It's actually leaf prints which didn't show up that well, hence, the piece became a scrap.  But I liked the faint leaf on one of the areas of the fabric and thought it look like a feather!

Bird a

Doesn't it look like feathers on his belly!  The colored areas are ultra suede.

Bird b

I changed two feather areas to be the same shade of suede on the bird on the right.









Third, I had a piece of rusted fabric that I traced the bird on.  My bud, Carol, suggested at our fiber meeting this week to use leather or suede, hence, why I using the suede. I do like the look but not sure I'd use it throughout the birds body or just in some areas.

Bird 3 a

Bird 3 b

I just changed the tail feather to a brown suede on this one (right).









So those are my birds.  I'm thinking I need to start my background fabric and that should help me decide which bird to go with.  Right now my background is browns/blues/turquoise.  At least that's what I'm thinking today!  But we know that can change in a heart beat!