With all the projects for Valentine's Day cropping up, I was finding myself getting a little tired of it all and looking forward to the next holiday. The next one that came to mind was Easter. Well apparently the Valentine's "heart" theme was a little too stuck in my head and competing for brain-space while I was trying to focus on Easter.
And this is what I came up with. Follow along, if you'd like....
I started by grabbing a piece of paper from my recycle pile and cut out a chubby heart. Then I traced it onto a piece of pink, printed cotton.
I stitched the trace-line of the heart, leaving a one-inch opening to be able to stuff it.
I cut out the heart using a pair of pinking shears.
I stuffed the heart and then sealed the opening.
I repeated the process to make two stuffed chubby hearts.
Next, I needed some bunny ears, so I grabbed a little more recycled paper and cut out an ear.
The first one was too large, so I cut out a smaller size. I decided it was easier to visualize with two ears, so I cut two and held it up for perspective.
I prepared the fabric for the ears by placing a piece of felt between two pieces of fabric.
I traced the ears onto the fabric.
I stitched the trace-line for the ears and cut them out with pinking shears. The felt adds some thickness to the ears to help give them body to stand up.
Next I needed to start assembling my bunny. I began by running a threaded needle through the top of one side of one of the hearts.
I lined up the hearts to determine where to stitch.
I ran the needle through the second heart at the spot matching the thread on the first heart.
On the bottom of the second heart, I placed a button and stitched through it.
I ran the needle through a couple times, feeding through the button. I pulled the thread tight and tied it off. I repeated this process on the opposite side of the first heart.
When finished, the hearts were stitched together firmly, as pictured.
I help up the ears to see where the face should go.
I decided to draw out a face on a piece of paper and place it to make sure I had the right size and location. When set, I marked the location for the eyes.
I lined one of the ears in the back of the head, then ran a threaded needle through the heart, starting at the mark for the eye and running all the way through the ear.
As I had done earlier on the bottom, I placed a button in the back of the ear and stitched through it. I repeated this step on the other ear.
When finished, I had two soft-sculptured eyes...
... and decorative buttons behind the ears.
Next, I glued a large white pom to the back of the bunny for a tail.
I didn't have any eye buttons that were small enough, so I just glued a couple of 6mm black poms. Then I started experimenting with the rest of the face.
I love these little Valentine heart embellishments. I thought they would work well for cheeks. They might also work for a nose, so I might try that next time.
I tried a couple of arrangements of poms. This one was cute but I thought the nose was too big.
I liked these best, so I glued the face in position.
I decided to stitch a couple of soft-sculptured toes in to his big, floppy feet.
It's not at all necessary, but I thought it was cute. I stopped myself from adding round pink pads to the bottom of his feet, though there's always the chance I'll end up doing it later. (OCD kicking in.)
He's mostly finished, but I needed to decide what to do in the front. I tried positioning an egg, but this one was too big.
This was a much better proportion for this size rabbit. But I didn't like the cheap, plastic look, plus an egg by itself is pretty boring.
I thought a couple of poms would work as hands holding the egg. Still, I don't like the plastic look.
So the egg got painted.
Since I had time to wait while the egg was drying, I added some pink fleece to the inside of the ears. Still haven't added the pads to the bottom of the feet yet. (Any bets?)
Again, not necessary for the ears, but I thought it was cute, plus I had the time and materials.
I decided I needed a tiny paint brush. I wrapped embroidery floss onto a dowel rod and tied it on.
I trimmed the end into a point and wet it down to shape it.
I held it up to the bunny to check the size.
Then I dipped the end of the fabricated paintbrush into some green paint.
After several layers of pink paint, my egg was dry. I added a little more decorative paint to make a better Easter egg.
When everything was finally dry, I glued the remaining parts in position. And with that, I have my Valentine Easter bunny!
The fun part of this project is that you can pose the bunny holding different things. If you attach the items with velcro, you can actually use the bunny for both holidays, which means you don't have to store as much. A simple pink fabric works well for both holidays.
I think for the next one, I'll try a heart shape that's a little taller and narrower. Then maybe some flop-ears. And certainly an all-white bunny would be adorable.
Thanks for visiting! I hope you enjoyed my tutorial. If you'd like to see more like this, check out my home page childmade.com. And please take the opportunity to share a few links of your own. It's a link party that never ends! To find out more, check out my "About" link.
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