Making Real Looking Birds

Well, insofar as fabric makes it possible that is.  Here's my Cockatiel.  He was made of grey velour, but gray felt actually gives a crisper look.  His feet felt and are wired inside with the 14 gauge electrical wire I use, and there's a stiffener piece of plastic down the tail.

The body is done first, then the tail applied, then the wings go over the tail to cover any attaching stitching. This is all done by hand.  I machine appliqued the white marks on the wings with white felt.  His crest was put on BEFORE the yellow face circle was.  The beak is then sewn on and the eyes next - which are 6mm black beads but now I think I'd use 8mm.  Then the orange cheek spots.  The bottom of the wings have 'feather' lines sewn on by the sewing machine, I used black thread so they would show up.

Here's the frontal view. Both cheek spots are the same color, not sure why one looks duller than the other side.  There are seed beads put on as nostrils, you can barely see them here, but they're there.   I think he turned out pretty nice.  If I redid him I think I'd use felt for the wings and body instead, it lays a little smoother.