The Plush Bunny

Every so often I will get the urge to do something creative. Honestly, it comes and goes in waves. Recently a friend of mine was expecting and I wanted to get her something special along with the practical gifts I gave her (onesies and diapers). I then had (what seemed like) a brilliant idea to make a stuffed animal that was made especially for her baby. Of course, I got my daughter, Zoe (now 13 years old and nearly as tall as me), in on the project, too.

Naturally, Zoe asked how we were to go about creating a stuffed animal from thin air. I explained that my grandmother had been a master of her sewing room and had shown me how to use patterns when I was very young.  Luckily, Wal-Mart still had a small selection of patterns to choose from and I found a darling lop-eared bunny. Next, Zoe and I found a super soft material that felt as soft as…well, bunny fur.

Now, I’ve never sewn a bunny (or teddy bear or any other stuffed animal) before, but thanks to Google, I found a youtube tutorial of a woman sewing the exact same pattern. Be sure that I watched parts of that over and over throughout this whole process.

At home, we cut out the pattern from what I had forgotten was incredibly thin tracing paper and pinned it to our material with as little wrinkles as possible. Once we finally started cutting the fabric, I realized that soft, fluffy material does not cut clean. In fact, it leaves millions of fibers (dare I say “dust bunnies”?) all over the house. It is also super slippery when you try to sew two pieces right-side-together, which we learned in the next step. I told Zoe not to worry about any mistakes we (most likely) would make because the material is so fluffy that it would cover them up easily. Luckily, I was mostly right. 

After watching the tutorial several times, I mustered up the courage to sew the feet, nose, and tail. I was hesitant because I had never worked with “darts” before. For those of you like me who don’t know, the “darts” are what give the project the 3D realism, instead of having flat features. I was extremely concerned I would make numerous un-fixable and un-cover-up-able mistakes and end up with a hideous hodge podge Frankenstein-creature of a bunny. I eventually accepted that the bunny was going to turn out however it turned out and forged ahead much like jumping into a pool of freezing cold water knowing it’s going to feel horrible at first but then at least you’ll be done with it. It didn’t turn out too bad, but then I had to give it facial features (I’m sensing a theme with my projects). I didn’t buy “safety eyes” because I was thinking I would just use threat or yarn to make the eyes. Unfortunately, the fluffiness of the fabric swallowed up any trace of yarn-eyes we tried to make, so we cut and sewed on leftover felt.

Luckily the bunny didn’t turn out too ugly, but it is a bit more square than I had hoped. At least it’s extremely soft and huggable. I hope the baby it was meant for grows up loving it, despite it’s manufacturing flaws. As I type this, I realize I completely forgot to personalize it with my grand idea of embroidering the bunny’s foot with the baby’s name…but maybe it will be loved by more than one child.