...Easter's on its way! What say we have a FUN post today? What say we have a TUTORIAL?!
Yeah - I know - it's been waaaaay too long and I've been all moody and philosophical and what-have-you when I haven't been absent, and WHAT is up with THAT?!
Anyway - the night before last I had one of those nights where Odd Brain would NOT shut up, so I got up and did stuff (work-related, unfortunately - nothing fun) until about 1:00, then tossed and turned some more until about 2:30 (last time I actually looked at the clock), and then the alarm went off at 5:00, so yeah - not a lot of sleep... Among the other things passing through my awareness was a possible Easter project, so after I did what I had to do yesterday morning, I trucked myself on over to the dollar store to get what I needed:
Is that a little pile of cute, or what? I love little baby socks! And what, you ask, do they have to do with Easter, and what on earth are you making? Why, these, my dears:
Little stylized, soft-and-safe bunnies! Fast, easy and CHEAP! The trifecta of perfection, craft-wise, right? Two pairs of socks for $1.00, which makes them 50 cents a pair, which means each bunny costs 25 cents to make. Probably more like 30 or 40 cents if you want to count the fiberfill and ribbon, but I already had them on hand, so I didn't count them... Here's what you do:
Turn the sock inside out and trim the threads holding the hem in place:
Line up the creases on the front and back of the sock, and sew "ear" shapes by coming in from one side and up to the point, then down a bit inside the crease. Repeat for the other side:
Notice how they're a bit wonky in the above photo? I'm showing you the mistakes I made so you can avoid them... This is what happens when you try to start from one side and just continue on to the other, instead of starting fresh on the second side. I also didn't stitch down quite far enough in the center. I should have continued the seam down closer to the heel of the sock. Do it the correct way, please, so your ears will be more even... Then trim off the corners and down the center, extending the cut just a bit past your stitching in the center:
The reason you need to clip a little farther is that you need a small hole to turn the sock right-side out and to stuff it:
Turn the sock right-side out. If you need to, you can use a chopstick or the eraser end of a pencil or something along those lines to get the ears arranged. Add fiberfill to the sock, pushing it down into the toe first, then filling it up into the heel, until it looks sort of like a little fat baby foot might be in it. Add some fiberfill to the ears, too, so they have a bit of shape and are a bit elongated (use the chopstick to help with this, if needed). You may find (as I did) that you need to sew the ear seams a bit more to make them look right. Begin where you ended your stitching before you turned everything right-side out, and end when you're happy with the length of the ear. Repeat for the second ear:
You will also need to sew the top of the head shut. To begin this stitching, weave the needle through several stitches on each side of the cut so you don't cause a run or make the edges fray out (Obviously, this pic was taken during the construction of a different rabbit than the other pics):
Also, I find it helpful to use a double thread and pull the needle between the two threads before I pull the first stitch tight. This keeps the knot from pulling through the holes in the knit, so it anchors your thread. After you finish the seam (I just use a whipstitch for all of this), tie off the thread and poke the needle back into the rabbit, pulling it back out an inch or two from where you ended. Holding the thread taut, clip it close to the rabbit. The end of the thread will spring back inside and no one will ever see it:
If you're not fond of the way the seam looks, you could always stick a flower or bow or something over it to cover it, but I consider it a non-issue - nobody will pay attention if you don't point it out... Now - tie a ribbon around the "neck" of the rabbit (just below the heel of the sock) and you're done!
Profile view:
I like them eyeless and simple like this (also safe - no choking hazards here!), but you could get all crazy and add some seed bead eyes (large-ish ones, not the tiny ones) and some stitches to add a bit more shape:
You could also add embellishments - flowers, buttons, whatever... Pretty easy, though, huh? Hope you enjoyed the tutorial and I really hope you make some of these babies (!) and link 'em up so I can see 'em! Thanks for cruisin' by - more bunnies tomorrow, too (different ones)! See you then, I hope!
Linking up to:
Omgosh! I love this! Gonna do it, too! Thanks!
Posted by: lisa, too! | March 31, 2011 at 08:00 PM
OMG!!! These bunnies are so sweet and cute!!! I love it!!! I will have to try to do this!
You are so talented! Thank you for sharing this.
Hugs,
LIM
Posted by: Lim | April 01, 2011 at 01:16 PM