Yesterday I decided that with Easter just around the corner, I better make Henry the Bunny Taggie that I have been dreaming up for the past few weeks. It was a fairly quick little project, but as a sewing beginner (maybe turning the corner on novice), I made my share of mistakes! I took pictures along the way so that I could put together a little tutorial for you, but you'll have to forgive the lack of technical sewing terms!! You can download and print the pattern
here if you would like to make one yourself!
For this project I used a coordinating set of flannelet remnants that I picked up at Walmart, but any scrap fabric would do. It would also be a good way to repurpose old receiving blankets.
First, place two pieces of fabric, right side together, trace the "body" and cut.
Using a different fabric, fold over a strip wide enough to accommodate the "belly". Place the pattern piece along the folded edge, trace and cut. Using the same technique and varying fabrics, cut out four "outer ears", two "inner ears" and one "muzzle".
Once all of the pieces are ready to go, it is time to sew the muzzle and belly to the bunny's body. I was concentrating so hard that I missed one important detail.... the ribbon whiskers (wouldn't be much of a "Taggie" without them!).
There wasn't much I could do to fix that mistake... so I started again.
This time remembering to carefully tuck three pieces of ribbon under each side of the bunny's muzzle.
On to the ears! First, sew the "inner ear" to the front of the "ear". Then place the front of the ear
and the back of the ear right sides together. Sew along the perimeter, leaving the bottom open. Turn right side out and iron flat. Then, to get the "crinkle effect" that babies love, stuff the ear with your noisiest grocery bag and sew the bottom closed.
This is where it gets tricky... Lay the front of the bunny body down, placing his ears at the top of his head, but folded down over his body. The ears should not be flush with the edge of the fabric, but overlap by about 1cm. Then, carefully fold in the whiskers, and lay the back of the bunnies body directly over top (right side down). Pin this whole little package together and sew around the perimeter, taking extra care around the ears to ensure your needle goes through both pieces of fabric. Remember to leave an opening large enough to stuff the bunny through.
Turn the little guy right side out... and... wait for it... Yay! It worked!! (I always hold my breath waiting for something to fall off at this point!)
Use a permanent marker to add eyes and a nose. Buttons would be cute for an
older child, but not safe for a baby.
Almost there! Fill the body with cotton batting and add a few bells. To close the opening, tuck the edge of the fabric in to line up with the seam and iron flat. This is where knowing how to do that fancy invisible stitch would come in handy, but I don't, so I always just sew around the perimeter again. I decided to keep going all the way around, to make it look uniform, but I forgot to watch for the poor little guy's whisker!
I was definitely not starting again at this point, so I just ripped those stitches out and called it complete!
As it turns out, Henry loves it even though it's not perfect!
Happy Easter, Bug!!
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