Made It: A Bevy Of Blue Bunnies

Hello! Due to the mess around here (aftermath of water damage in part of our house), very few Easter decorations went up. But I did feel like doing a little decorating, so I sewed up a few little bunnies. I decided to make them all in blue prints. They don't exactly coordinate with each other, but it was easier to grab just one bag of fabric scraps (to make them quicker to find, I keep my scraps in their own baggies, separate from the larger fabric pieces. But just like the larger pieces, they're sorted by color). 

Here's my little grouping:

They range in height from 2 1/4" to 4 1/4". See what I mean by little? Fabrics range from vintage to more recent, but all were thrifted. Eyes are either beads or vintage buttons, and all have "scarves" of ribbon, cord or hand-dyed string. 

A few close-ups:

I had actually made the bunny on the left last year, which is the reason why I made the ones this week in blue prints as well. I used a thrifted pattern called "Baskets and Bunnies". 

The pattern for the bunny on the right came from a thrifted book I just picked up earlier this week, See-Me-Learn Toys by Jennifer Geiger. 

This little guy's pattern is from American Country Folk Crafts by Carol Endler Sterbenz (purchased during the fill-the-bag portion of the annual AAUW used book sale). The ears are supposed to be close together and sticking straight up, but I neglected to baste them to one body piece before sewing the two body pieces together. I thought pinning them in place instead would keep them aligned correctly, but I was obviously wrong. But I like the helter-skelter look better! 

Also from See-Me-Learn Toys:

If they look a little odd, well, it's because they were actually designed to be mice. I just lengthened the ears when I traced the patterns out of the book. 

I will also say here all three bunnies from See-Me-Learn Toys are half the size they're supposed to be, for I used their patterns as is (it's common for patterns to be smaller than full size in craft books so that they'll fit better on the pages).  I could have easily enlarged them to the specified size with our printer, but I like the smaller sizes. I'll do this quite often with book patterns just to work on a smaller scale. It's not necessarily easier to sew a small pattern - it can be tricky to stitch curves, for one thing - but of course small patterns use less stuffing and smaller pieces of fabric as well. 

Well, I'd better get hopping - from paging through American Country Folk Crafts again, I noticed another baby bunny pattern; this one makes a 2 1/2" high bunny. Think I'll try that one too.

After all, real live bunnies are supposed to multiply easily - and it looks like my bevy of blue bunnies is doing the same!