Turkey Place Card Holder

Thanksgiving Decor

Isn't he sweet and goofy at the same time?

Tom Turkey stands up to mark your guests' places; but then folds flat to store away for future Thanksgiving feasts.

Materials for Each Turkey Place Card Holder

• Crafting felt - red, dark brown, tan and yellow
• Two 5 to 7mm Googley eyes
• Disappearing marker used for quilting
• Threads to match and needle or sewing machine
• One 12-inch square of low-loft quilt batting
• 14 small feathers - example shows Zucker feather assortment in "PH Plumage Almnd Lse Nat"
• 3-inch square of stiff cardboard
• Aleene's Clear Gel Tacky Glue

Assembling the Place Card Holders

Open a new word processing program document and minimize the margins.

Click on the template above and copy. Paste the template into the new document.

Click on the image and move it to the top left on the page.

Move the cursor over the lower right corner until you can grab the corner and stretch the template as close to 8 1/5 by 11 inches as your printer margins allow.

Print.

Use the template to cut out all the pattern pieces for the turkey. Trace around each pattern piece or use a series of dots on the appropriate felt color with a disappearing marker.

As indicated on the template, you will need:

• 2 dark brown Tail Feathers A
• 2 tan Tail Feathers B
• 2 yellow Tail Feathers C
• 2 dark brown Body
• 2 tan Head
• 1 tan Feet
• 1 cardboard for the feet base; score and fold the flap up along the dotted line.
• 1 each yellow Upper Beak and Lower Beak
• 1 each red Snood and Wattle

Using the pattern pieces Tail Feathers A, B and C, the Body and the Head, cut a piece of batting to fit inside the dashed lines on each pattern.

An easy way to do this is to place the pattern piece underneath the batting and trace the dotted line of the pattern with the disappearing marker onto the batting. Cut out the batting.

Starting with one of the Tail Feather A felt pieces, lay the batting piece on top of the felt and then the second felt piece over the batting.

Use a sewing machine basting stitch or hand baste at the edge of the batting and through the two thicknesses of felt.

Do the same for Tail Feathers B, C, Head and Body pieces.

Tuck feathers all around the scalloped part of dark brown Tail assembly A by inserting the quill end in between the two layers of felt and between the basted stitches.

Stack the tail feather pieces A, B and C and the Body keeping them all even at the bottom.

Run a tacking stitch through all four layers ¼-inch below the upper edge of the Body.

Tie off and knot.

Take the upper beak and run a small amount of glue along the straight edge. Bend slightly downward with your forefinger and thumb and place on the head.

Do the same with the lower beak.

Glue the snood to the top of the beak and the wattle just underneath the beak.

Glue the eyes on.

Don't cha just love that face?

Glue the head on the body front.

Glue the feet over the lower half of the cardboard just to the fold.

Run a dab of glue along the upper portion of the cardboard front and back and slide up between the bottom of Tail assemblies A and B. Tom can now stand up on his own two feet.

Make up place cards and insert just inside the back tail feathers as shown.