When my daughters were young, I taught them to first sew by hand. I would cut out fun shapes out of felt and we would sew them together with big plastic needles. It was an introduction to sewing.
Now that my daughters are older, they showed interest in learning to sew on a sewing machine and took beginner classes nearly a year ago. Ever since then, not only do they love to make simple quilts like a jellyroll race and other fun quilts and pillowcases, but they like making an assortment of fun things from fabric like pot holders, rag dolls and stuffed animals like this Easter Bunny.
This bunny craft is easy and can be sewn by hand or with a sewing machine and can be completed in about 30 minutes. All you need is a pattern (which I have included FREE below) as well as some fabric (1/4 of a meter should yield at least 3 bunnies or a fat quarter should yield 2 bunnies), fabric scissors or pinking shears, yarn or burlap ribbon for whiskers, paint or markers for the eyes, paint or fabric for the nose, yarn for the tail, pillow stuffing like polyfill or cotton to stuff the bunny with and scrap fabric or ribbon to tie around the neck as well as any other embellishments you would like.
Let’s get started!
First, we need to cut 1 body and need 2 pieces – for the front and back. Pick any fabric in any color that you like. You can cut with regular scissors or pinking shears.
We are sewing on the outside of the bunny, so right side of the fabric out. You can sew good-side facing in and then flip, but we like the simplicity and rustic look of sewing on the outside.
Be sure to leave an opening for stuffing!
Once the bunny is sewn, it is time to stuff!
We found sewing the head first and stuffing it, then sewing the rest of the body and stuffing was easier than sewing the whole bunny and then trying to stuff. We all tried different ways, but you can do what you find easiest!!
Now time to add some features!
We started with the tail. I used yarn for a tail that was in the same color family as my fabric, but you can use any color, and any type of yarn. You can also use a pom pom or any other medium you like! For the yarn tail, we wrapped the yarn around our fingers several times, tied it, cut the ends, folded in half and then hot glued it on. My daughters were more inventive than I was and used:
1. fluffy yarn that was made in a similar way as my bunny tail – she wrapped the fluffy yarn around her fingers several times and then shaped it into a ball and hot glued it on (green bunny in picture).
2. tissue paper that was all crinkled and then shaped into a ball and also hot glued on (blue/white bunny in picture).
Once the tail was on, we began the front features. We used burlap ribbon and frayed some pieces apart for the whiskers. You can also use yarn, thread or even frayed fabric.
Once the whiskers were glued on, we finished the other features. The nose and eyes can either be fabric, felt, buttons or drawn on with a marker or paint.
Tie a ribbon or fabric around the neck and add any embellishments you like.
The bunny is now complete! You can fray the edges by cutting up to the sew line and ruffling the cuts up or leave as is.
These bunnies turn any space into a beautiful spring display.
Have some fun and enjoy creating a springy-family of Easter bunnies!
Feel free to share your family’s sewn bunnies with us!
Find the pattern here:
enjoy from Our City Homestead to yours