One of the suggestions on my pattern poll that had me thinking the most this year was a request for more beginner or quick patterns. I’ve been trying to incorporate that mindset into my latest patterns whenever possible. While doodling ideas I realized just how many birds were on my pattern poll and thought a simple chubby bird pattern would be fun! So these bird puffs, borbs, or blobs (or whatever you want to call them) were born!

I made up a very round and simple bird body and tried to apply as many birds from my pattern poll as possible. Most of them just need a new beak and color to change out their whole look. They have little flappy wings and skinny floppy legs to make them look extra goofy. Of the group I was able to make a crow, macaw, kakapo, toucan, puffin, blue-footed booby, shoebill stork, dodo, and flamingo. They’re rated a 3/10 in difficulty, but I can see it going as low as a 2 if you use safety eyes instead of applique.

I’m still very much interested in making more realistic versions of these birds down the line, but I thought for now these sillier ones might be fun for beginners! There are applique templates if you’re making the plush with a regular sewing machine or by hand, and there are also instructions for using safety eyes for an even simpler solution. And if you have an embroidery machine you’ll find files for 3 kinds of eyes as well as beak accents. They’re available for download with the button below. I hope you all like it!