A leaf still hangs from its twig. Look closer: its sides have been drawn together around a hidden nest.
A seam in a leaf
2/4
Wood’s tailor bird pierces holes with its beak, then passes a long plant fibre through them to join the edges.
A seam in a leaf
3/4
The folded leaf forms an envelope. Soft material goes inside: the stitched covering and the nest are different layers.
A seam in a leaf
4/4
Wood describes single-leaf and several-leaf examples. The revealing detail is the join, with the covering still attached to its twig.
Follow the construction from outside to inside: a living leaf, holes pierced at its edges, plant fibre drawing those edges together, then a soft nest within. Wood describes examples made from one leaf and from several. Source: Homes Without Hands, physical PDF pages 239–241; tailor-bird engraving on page 240, colour remastered by Pandi. The same plate accompanies four reading steps, without an invented needle or added cutaway. Colour remasters are modern artistic interpretations.