Clyde the Quick Easter Chick

I have been itching to create a craft that would take at most an hour to complete, while keeping my house mainly clutter-free for the duration of the project. Well, I found one, and it was so easy that I am going to pass it on to you.

You will need only a basic knowledge of sewing--really just how to sew a straight line. You will also need to brush up on how to sew a french knot, which looks hard, but in all actuality is incredibly easy. There are some great video tutorials out there on how to sew a french knot, so I will not be taking time to explain it. Just google it if you do not know how.

Now, I know you are dying to know what the craft is, so without further ado, may I introduce you to Clyde, the bean bag chick!Now, Clyde is a quirky Easter chick, and as I said before, incredibly easy to make, so here goes with instructions...

You will need: yellow fabric for the body, a contrasting fabric for the wings, orange felt for the beak, a ruler, pencil, paper scissors, fabric scissors, pinking shears, black thread, white thread, a needle, rice (or other fill), and a sewing machine.

First, make the patterns for Clyde's body and wings. I just found two different sized circles in my kitchen and traced them one on top of another onto a piece of heavy paper.

I then used the ruler to connect the two circles on the sides.Cut out the pattern. I just free-handed the wing to how I wanted it to look. Cut the wing pattern also.Next, trace your body pattern onto the wrong side of your body fabric. Fold it in half so you end up with two exact pieces. You don't have to use yellow; you could definitely experiment with different colors. Go wild if you want to! Then "rough cut" the body out, leaving about 1/4" on each side, and pin each side inside the line. Next, use your pinking shears and cut OUTSIDE the line you drew, all the way around.
Do the same with your wings; cut out 4 ALONG the line with your sewing scissors. Next, cut out Clyde's beak. Fold over the bottom to your piece of felt, and cut a triangle. You should end up with a diamond if you did it right.
Like so...
Next, draw two dots where you want his eyes. You do not have to be precise...just eyeball it (no pun intended).
Here is where you will want to know how to make a french knot. You could just sew on little black beads, but where I knew that Clyde would be a child's toy, I decided the less choking pieces, the better. You want to take just the front side of Clyde to sew the eyes on.
Now is where it gets sketchy and I need to be good with my instructions, because I did not take pictures at this point. Sew on the beak by placing it where you want it, and using a straight stitch down the middle of the diamond, a.k.a. the beak.

Separate two of Clyde's wings and place the first, wrong side facing you, on the back side of the front piece of Clyde. Put the other piece of wing lining up with the back wing on top; you are basically making a sandwich of wing, Clyde, wing, and then pin in place. (Look at the "Like so" picture to get the idea.) Do this with the other wing too. You will then want to sew around the wings to attach them.

Next, line up the front piece and back piece of Clyde, wrong sides facing each other, and sew around, leaving a hole in the bottom to put your fill in. I used rice to make him a beanbag, but you could use batting to make him a plush toy, or beans, lentils, basically whatever you have on hand. Once you fill him to your desired fatness, sew the bottom, and enjoy!

My kids really like Clyde. It looks like I will need to create two more siblings to Clyde, as controversy has already arisen as to whom Clyde belongs to.