Jo Carter’s Big Eared Bunny... or in this case Bunnies!!!

Jo Carter's Big Eared Bunny... or in this case Bunnies

From left to right bunnies 1-5

Exciting news!!! I got a sewing machine for Christmas, so now I have another craft that I will be sharing projects from. Guys I lost my crojo (crochet mojo for those of you that don’t know) and so I’ve been a bit miserable, crochet and craft in general is therapy for me, like I’m sure it is for so many of you, losing my crojo was awful, I honestly didn’t know what to do with myself so I turned to my sewing machine. I figured that as a beginner maybe I could get to know my machine better make a few not so perfect items and just generally get to grips with the whole sewing thing... There is a fantastic sewing shopping channel that has been around for a year on Freeview that came to Sky tv at the beginning of the year called Sewing Quarter (you can watch on YouTube and through their website too), they sell a lot of stuff, most of which I had never come across before, you can checkout as many times as you want in a day and only pay one lot of P&P and they do demonstrations with some brilliant professionals. So I was watching this channel one day and they had a designer on called Jo Carter and she was making some soft toys that she had designed, this particular day she was doing bunny rabbits, I was instantly glued to the tv watching, utterly fascinated with how these flat pieces of fabric were going to turn into this awesome looking cuddly bunny! They were selling kits that had enough fabric to make 2 or 3 bunnies, stuffing, wadding, instructions and thread so I thought “Hey I’ll buy that and make some for my nephews for Easter!” now... I have to confess to something... I wasn’t exactly listening to them when they said that it was a bit fiddly and maybe NOT a beginner project but in my defence it’s because I was too busy ordering my kit ;), and to be honest I’m one of those people that would rather throw themselves into the deep end and see what happens.

I wanted the rabbits to be perfect for my nephews so I grabbed 2 Fat Quarters from my stash and used those to make what I affectionately dubbed the 'Practice Bunny’. (NOTE I recently found out that you can also download this pattern for free from Love Patchwork and Quilting here if you would like to make one of your own.)

Practice Bunny limbs and ears

Practice Bunny ear quilted

Practice Bunny body flat

Practice Bunny with the base tacked into place

Practice Bunny finished!

I used freezer paper to copy the templates from the pattern, the great thing about freezer paper is that you can see through it like tracing paper but it has this waxy side to it that when ironed (waxy side down), it will stick to your fabric without damaging it, so you can iron your templates onto your fabric then either cut round it or draw round it and then just peel the paper away, I’ve now made 6 bunnies and I’m still using the first templates I made so it’s reusable too, obviously it will never be quite as good as the first time you use it but it’s still perfectly useable. Jo’s instructions are pretty fantastic, I didn't get stuck once, I just followed the instructions and pictures and took my time and by the end I had a fairly decent bunny! I had only sewn one other thing before I made this and that was a project bag for my crochet so doing something like this was quite a bit different. There are a few places where you need to really pay attention to the pattern, like when piecing the face, it’s crucial that you look at the pictures to work out which sides of the side face pieces attach to the middle face piece and when attaching the base I found it easiest to hand tack it in place like it says in the instructions before machine sewing it, because it is a fiddly piece as you have to accommodate the legs and everything as well as sewing it in place properly, it’s not impossible though just go slowly and take your time, if you need to stop and readjust then put the needle down and do it!

Bunny #2 & #3 ears

Bunny #2 & #3 faces and limbs

Bunny #2 & #3 flat bodies

Bunnies #2 & #3 finished, flanking the "Practice Bunny"

On bunnies 2 and 3 I done some things slightly different, I still followed the pattern but there is a part when sewing the limbs you have to go around a curve where the hands/feet would be... I found that trying to do it using the 1/4” Seam foot as a guide was too tricky (I’m a perfectionist) so for bunnies 2 and 3 I used my mechanical fabric pencil to draw a line where the 1/4” should be and then followed that line and I was so much happier with the results! I also found it easier to tack the base in place if I pinned the body seam closed at 1/4” first because it meant I could be more accurate with the placement of it. I also made them simultaneously so I could speed the process up by chain piecing. 

Bunny #4 body and head

Bunny #4 finished (with eyelashes)

For all the faces I done colonial knots for the eyes and just simple backstitch for the rest. I totally winged it in terms of placement but if you wanted to you can use an erasable fabric pen to draw where you want each feature to go you can, that’s entirely personal preference, and don’t be afraid to mix it up to give your bunnies some character, some of my bunnies have eyelashes so they look like girl bunnies and one even has a little organza ribbon double bow across one ear. I think the pattern says to do whipstitch to close the back seam but I decided that I liked the look of a ladder stitch instead because it looks seamless! I will warn you that these bunnies are addictive and the multiply quite quickly ;) they are quick, easy and fun to make and don’t actually use that much fabric!

Bunny #5 ears and limbs

Bunny #5 finished

Bunny #6 finished (with eyelashes and bow)

The fabric I’ve used is from various places, bunnies 1 & 5 were each made from 2 fat quarters from packs I bought from Hobbycraft, bunnies 2 & 3 were made with Makower Spectrum Solid in Slate and 2 fat quarters that I again purchased from Hobbycraft (1 Peter Rabbit and 1 navy blue and metallic gold dots) and bunnies 4 & 6 were made using the fabric from the actual kit which was Makower Spectrum Solid in Biscuit and Blue Flower Print Japanese Cotton Printed Broadcloth (I still have enough left to make another bunny in these fabrics if I want to). As you can see the bunnies don’t use a lot of fabric, you just need 2 fat quarters one colour for the main body and one for the contrast colour. Here is the link to the YouTube show when Jo Carter is demonstrating the bunnies so you can watch them if you are unsure of how to do certain parts. :)

As I am writing this post, I have found my crojo again! It’s been a long 8ish weeks without it but it seems to be back I’m currently working on the Colour Crafter version of the Sophie’s Universe blanket, so hopefully it’ll stick around and I’ll have some more crochet news to share soon! 

***I wrote this post a few months ago and since then we’ve had some MAJOR internet issues which has delayed the posting of this which has been really frustrating but on the flip side it means I have more projects and stuff that I can post about :D***