Buntings, or pennant banners, are very popular in holiday decor right now. Using a just a few simple shapes, I'll show you how to create an Easter bunting that has a lot of dimension, texture, and character.
Using the Tags shape template, trace a rabbit body onto a double layer of muslin leaving the bottom edge of the tag shape below the bottom edge of your fabric layers. If you fold the fabric and place the template bottom along that edge, it's one less edge you need to stitch.
Stitch around the traced body and cut it out leaving about a 1/8 inch border. I used the Fiskars 8 inch Razor-edge Softgrip® Scissors.
Using the Hearts template, trace hearts onto a variety of fabrics. You can also use a heart punched with a Fiskars Squeeze Punch as your pattern. Cut these out along the tracing line and stitch them to the bodies.
Using your scissors, snip a small hole in the back of the body. If you didn't use a disappearing ink pen when you traced, I suggest using the side with the tracing line as the back of your bunny. Lightly stuff the body and hand stitch the opening closed.
Add facial features using beads, buttons, embroidery stitches, twine, etc. I used a 4-ply twine for my whiskers, stitched it in place as I created the nose, and unraveled it when finished with the stitching. To create necklaces for the girls, I stitched a short length of ribbon and a pink pearl-like bead around their necks.
To create the ears, hand draw your ear shape on a piece of paper. My ears are 4 1/4 inches tall and 1/4 inches wide at the base. These are supposed to be shabby so don't worry about drawing the perfect shape! You can trace these onto a double layer of muslin or cut the ear out of the paper and use the paper as a template. I found the template to be easier to work with.
Stitch around your lines leaving the bottom edge open. Do not cut them out yet.
Again use the ear pattern, trace it onto a variety of fabrics. Cut these out slightly inside the traced line. You want the inner ear to be small enough to allow the stitched line on the outer ear to still show. Stitch these to the outer ears. You can machine stitch or hand stitch. You may need to trim these as you go to get them to fit inside the stitched lines. Cutting about 1/8 inch from the stitched lines, cut out all of the ears. Since the ears are long, they will tend to flop over. If you want them to remain standing, you can stick a toothpick or a length of wire inside the ear to help hold its shape.
Draw a pattern for the arms. My arms are about 3 inches long and slightly less than 1/4 inch wide. Trace, stitch, and cut the arms as you did the outer ears.
Fold the ends of the ears and arms over to create the desired length and stitch them to the back of the bodies.
Hand stitch your finished bunnies to your base choice for your bunting. You might pin them to the base and hang the bunting before stitching them down so you can get them properly balanced on the base. Otherwise, you might be disappointed to find yourself with a finished bunting that has sections that flop over.
I paired my bunnies up and stitched them to double layers of burlap that measure 8 inches x 2 inches. I then stitched 6 inch long strips of fabric to each end of the burlap sections and tied them together, trimming the strips as needed once they were tied.
So with just a few simple shapes and a few inexpensive supplies you likely already have in your craft stash, you can create your own unique Easter bunnies to decorate with. If you don't want a bunting, the bunnies can be attached to a wreath, hung from a tree branch placed in a vase, or just tossed casually into a bowl on a table.
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