Spring is officially here! What better way to celebrate the change of season (or any season!) then by making a recycled spring bunny for the kiddos in your life?
For this project, I’m using Martha Stewart’s Menswear Bunny pattern and will teach you how to adjust it so that you can add a cute bunny tail! It’s great for using up small pieces of fabric or for learning basic toy making skills.
Supplies:
· Printed Menswear Bunny Pattern (make sure it prints to scale)
· Your favorite drafting supplies (any paper, pencil, and scissors)
· About ¼- ½ yard of fabric for the base pattern, woven is best if you’re new to sewing!
· Embroidery Thread
· Extra fabrics, ribbons, bows, etc. for embellishments
· Embroidery needle
· Stuffing (poly fill or scrap fabrics)
· General sewing supplies (sewing machine, needles, threads, cutting tools, pins, iron, seam ripper, etc)
Print out the Menswear Bunny pattern, per the instructions on the website. Be sure to tape the 4 body pieces together. The ear also is split up, but I avoided taping it and just extended the point a little bit.
If you want to add a tail, adjust the pattern by tracing around half of the body shape onto your pattern paper and add a seam allowance to the flat side of the pattern piece. Label this piece “body back.”
I used 5/8” for my allowance, just so I have plenty of wiggle room. You need to draw out a half circle for your tail pattern, also including seam allowance around the entire edge. Label this piece “tail.”
You’re ready to cut your fabrics now! I decided to practice using knit fabrics and reused a t-shirt sleeve and part of a blouse for my bunny! Whatever fabric you use, you should iron it before cutting it out for the best results! Here are the pieces/quantities you should cut
Body Front x 1
Body back x 2
Tail x 2
Arms x 4 (I added about an extra ¼” because I didn’t like the super narrow arms)
Ears x 4 (you can make these longer if you want more floppy ears)
If you like, you can also cut out pieces in contrasting fabric for the belly or paws. For a belly just cut a circle or oval shape and sew to the front body piece before construction. For paws, just cut a half circle shape based on the end of the arm pattern and attach to the arms before construction. You can use this method add all kinds of appliques!
To start, you will want to give your bunny a face! I typically add a small scrap piece of fabric to the wrong side of the face so that the embroidery is stabilized. I like to free hand my faces, but you can use chalk to draw on the fabric if you like.
You have 2 ways of sewing your bunny! You can follow the original instructions here, which offers a really nice finish but requires hand sewing the arms and stuffing through a really narrow gap. Or you can follow my method below, that is entirely machine sewn (except for the last step) and has a wide gap for stuffing.
Step 1: Sew your ears and tail pieces together, right sides facing. The seam allowances in the original pattern are ¼” which is usually lines up with the edge of your presser foot!
Step 2: If you want your tail to be poofy, you can add a small amount of stuffing now. Sandwich your tail piece in between the back body pieces, right sides facing. Make sure the tail is sitting at a spot you want! Sew about a ¼” above the tail down. Measure 2”above the tail, sew from this point up to the top of the head. This will leave a big gap for stuffing later!
Step 3: Arms! Place your arm pieces right side down on your front piece (right side facing up). If you added paws, make sure you are using those pieces. Do the same thing for the back piece. Make sure to line up the arms on the front and back as best you can so they don’t look uneven. Sew down each arm piece!
Step 4: Iron! This is a good time to iron (especially if you skipped before or after cutting things out) as you won’t have another chance!
Step 5: Place the ears with the bottom edge lined up with the top edge of the head (fabric facing up). You can baste them if you like, or you can sandwich them by laying the back piece over top. Before sewing, make sure the arms and legs line up really well before sewing them up! Sew all around, making sure to sew backwards for a few stitches to lock them in.
When you get to the arms or leg curves, just take your time, pivoting with the needle down. If you don’t like the shape of the feet (or anything!) you can always unpick and resew that one area. I usually have to do this for the feet or paws!
Step 6: Trim and clip your curves! The crotch curve has to be clipped in order for the fabric to sit correctly. To do this, CAREFULLY cut straight up to the line of stitches then cut a small scoop out from that line on both sides. You will also need to trim excess fabric and clip your curves!
Step 7: You’re ready to meet your bunny! Flip it inside out and use a chopstick to poke out all of the curves and corners. You can sew on any extra embellishments now if you like!
I added a really cute white bow (came from a pair of baby pants) just under her ear!
Step 8: Stuffing time! I use fabric scraps (cut up tiny) for my stuffing, I love using up every bit in my craft room! Poly fill will do the trick too.
Once your bunny is full of stuffing, it’s time to sew up the back! You will need to grab your needle and thread. Tie a knot at the end of your thread and sew from the back to the front along the edge of the gap so that your knot is hidden. Then sew up the hole using the ladder stitch, you can find detailed instructions here. Basically you sew one stitch on the opposite side, then alternate sides for every stitch. This will make an invisible seam!
Add any final touches to your bunny then she’s ready to gift! I adore this sewing pattern and have made several bunnies, which you can see below!
Hope you're inspired to make some bunnies of your own! See you next time!
If you try this project, I'd love to see! Tag @Sunny_Salvage on Instagram or Facebook and follow me on Pinterest for more upcycling ideas!
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