Gifted fabric - ideas please!

[greenlotus]

I've been given a couple of yards of some amazing vintage fabric - see profile. It's a brightly coloured wool tweed. Now given that I'm not going to make Boden-style mini skirts, and am not proficient enough to make handbags - any ideas/links? I'd like to make some small cute things.

All I can think of is the lavender-heart sachets you see everywhere but there must be something more original. What can I make? Or is it too awful?

The chickens and owls are very promising - I love those. I do have a pattern for an owl in an old book from my childhood, (in the 1970's era of violent prints) so could give that a go. I will go hunting for co-ordinating felt . Thanks for the other ideas too, I could try them all!

Make the chickens! I am now the proud owner of a half sized denim chicken and she is oh so very cute. Note: Half sized (8cm triangles) is too small really, it was rather fiddly to sew.

Cluck cluck

Oh, I've printed out the chicken pattern at half size, bought felt, will attempt it tonight. Hopefully won't be too fiddly but I can only try. There do seem to be a lot of steps in the tutorial .

Soupy, that chicken is very cute. That's my weekend sorted then!

greenlotus,
I think your fabric is fab. A mini skirt is not that difficult to make if you have a sewing machine. It was the first garment my mum taught me how to make (yes it's that long ago). If you want to have a go, choose a pattern from the 'very easy' section in the pattern books at your local sewing shop. You should have enough fabric for a skirt AND some remnants left over to make lovely hearts/lavender bags/chickens too.

I didn't look at the tutorial beyond seeing where all the bits went. It's really not rocket science :) I stuffed mine with a very small amount of white fluffy stuffing and a small pocket of rice to weight it at the bottom. The eyes are actually sewn on together to narrow the top of the head, although I think it needed a bit of stuffing in there first. And I left the wattle off - I think it is superfluous.

With hindsight, the comb is, I think, a little too big (or the chicken too small!)

I could make a mini skirt ok but don't see myself wearing it (fat and fortyish!) . I've done a fair bit of dressmaking in my time but all these little softies and novelties are new to me.

I am now thinking of making a whole host of chickens and a target and using them for a throwing game.