The Birds That Looked at the Floor
Chapter 1The Last Piece
Esty spread the fabric on Bubby's table.
Small blue birds perched on green branches across the cream-colored cloth. Each bird wore a little crest, which made it look as though it had an important appointment.
Bubby, with her hair covered by a neat scarf, was making two hanging pockets for Esty's bedroom. One would hold hair ribbons. The other would hold the cards Esty liked to keep.
Esty had cut paper patterns, not fabric. Bubby would do the cutting and sewing.
There was just enough cloth for both pockets if they placed the shapes carefully.
"This last one fits sideways," Esty said.
She turned the second paper pattern and pushed it into the empty space.
Chapter 2Almost No Waste
The first pattern stood upright along the edge of the fabric.
The second lay on its side beneath it.
A little space between them was no wider than Esty's finger.
"Look how much we saved," she said.
Bubby put down her scissors without cutting.
"Show me how each pocket will hang."
Esty lifted the first paper rectangle. Its opening was at the top, where she had drawn a little arrow.
She lifted the second and turned it until its arrow also pointed upward.
"Exactly the same," she said.
The paper patterns were the same.
Bubby pointed to the cloth they had covered.
"And the birds?"
Chapter 3On Their Sides
Esty looked at the first place. The birds stood upright.
In the second place, they also stood upright on the table.
She could not see the problem.
Bubby folded a small uncut corner of the cloth over the second paper pattern. Together they lifted it, then turned the paper's arrow toward the ceiling.
The blue birds turned too.
Their branches stood on end. The birds' crests pointed toward the side of the room.
Esty laughed.
"They look as if they are peeking around a door."
She turned it farther. Now the birds faced downward.
"That is worse."
Bubby laid the uncut cloth flat again.
Nothing had been spoiled yet.
Chapter 4The Narrow Gap
Esty moved both paper patterns upright.
The second did not fit.
It overlapped the first by a narrow strip. She slid it down, then up. Either the paper hung over the cloth's edge or the two pieces covered the same birds.
"We could make one pocket smaller," she said.
Bubby held the ribbon bundle inside the paper shape.
It needed most of the width.
They tested the card packet next. That would fit in a narrower pocket, but Esty wanted both fronts the same size.
She put the packet beside the cloth.
"I still want two matching pockets."
Bubby did not pick up the scissors.
"We have plain fabric in the cupboard. Look before we decide."
Chapter 5The Green Border
The cupboard held a piece of green cloth close to the color of the printed branches.
Esty laid it beside the birds.
They could make each printed front a little narrower and add plain green strips at the sides. The finished fronts would keep the size Esty wanted.
Bubby measured the strips, including the cloth that would disappear into the seams.
Esty made new paper patterns with the strips drawn along their edges.
Both bird pieces fitted upright now.
Before cutting, they lifted a cloth corner over each pattern and checked its arrow.
Every bird stood on its branch.
Bubby cut the fabric. Esty put the paper patterns in a folder and kept her fingers away from the scissors.
Chapter 6Two Openings at the Top
When Bubby had sewn the pockets, Esty brought the ribbons and cards to try them.
The green borders made the birds look as though they stood in little gardens.
Both openings faced upward. Both fronts were the same size.
Esty slid the cards into one pocket and the ribbon bundle into the other.
"We used another piece of cloth," she said.
"Yes," Bubby answered.
"But we did not use the birds sideways."
Later, Bubby fixed the pockets to the bedroom hooks. The blue birds stared straight ahead, their crests upright. Apparently they had kept their appointments after all.
