Bunny for Baby

I actually finished a sewing project!

These days I don't have much time for projects, so actually finishing something is pretty exciting for me.

Before Steven was born, one of the things I did was hand make a teddy bear for him.  So I wanted to make a stuffed animal for our next baby as well.  I still had the pattern I used for making Steven's bear, which included the pattern for a few different kinds of animals, so I decided to make a bunny this time.

I started in June when we were visiting my in-laws in Ontario.  I always find my time in Ontario to be very restful, since I don't have a lot of the daily responsibilities that I normally would at home, and I'm surrounded by eager babysitters.  So it's always a great time to work on some personal projects.

The first challenge was finding material for the bunny.  It's surprisingly hard to find furry material for stuffed animals.  We ended up finding a fluffy blanket wrap thing at a thrift store that had enough material in it that I was able to take apart.  I always like it when I can repurpose things rather than buying new supplies.

I made the decision to hand sew this stuffed animal, like the last one, for a couple of reasons.  I didn't have a sewing machine to use in Ontario, but even if I did, when you use such thick material you need to adjust the tension, have a stronger needle, etc. and that seemed like too much work.  And I also like the extra time and love that goes into hand making something.

The front and back of the bunny.  My favourite place to work on it was sitting in the swinging chair on my in-laws' porch, watching Steven run and play in their huge yard.

I made it about 75% of the way through the project while we were in Ontario.  Once we were back home it was it very hard to find time.  I went a long time without working on it at all.  But I really wanted the bunny to be finished before the baby comes, so over the past couple of weeks I've been able to plug away at it bit by bit, and it slowly came together.

The first milestone was finishing the outer seam and the face, so I could turn it right-side out.

The most arduous part of the process was going around all of the seams and unpicking the "fur" that had been caught.  A very time-consuming task!  But finally it was finished, and I was able to stuff the bunny with the stuffing from an old pillow (the same old pillow that I used to stuff Steven's teddy bear and a crocheted pony that I made - there's a lot of stuffing in a pillow, apparently!).  Then I sewed up the small gap I had left, tied on a ribbon bow, and it was finished!

Baby's bunny with Steven's bear, ready to be best buds!

To see more pictures of other stuffed animals I've made, check out Steven's Cow Bear and the Perfect Pony.