I haven’t done a step-by-step tutorial for a while, so it’s time. My newest design,“Caught With Carrots!”, will now get some special tutorial attention.
Let let me start by saying first that I do this so that you ladies may see how relatively easy this is to make. If you know how to make basic embroidery stitches, and take it step-by-step, you can do it.
I realize that showing this tutorial will open up the easy opportunity for some to steal without purchasing the pattern for it. But I’m willing to chance that because it really is helpful , especially for the beginners.
Once, a few years back, right before I started selling my very first pattern, a woman who had copied/stole my Let It Snow design said, “what do you expect when you show people on your site how to make it?”
Well, I expect people to be honest enough to not copy my designs and claim them as their own. So please ladies, don’t ruin this by stealing.
The picture above shows this as not quite finished so check back in a few days to see the official finished design picture.
So to start, I have my background wool cut to the size specified in the pattern instructions.
Here are the cut pattern pieces along with some of the wool colors I’ll be using….
I will stitch down the bunny first. I traced the bunny pattern onto freezer paper and cut out the shapes. This little guy looks odd without ears but I’ll add them later.
I used a lightly mottled wool for the bunny, but light brown or just natural colored wool would look fine too. So here, I’ve pinned the bunny in place, tucking the little tail behind the bunny backside. and with thread that is a few shades darker than my wool, I blanket stitched around the edges.
I generally use a lot of pins to hold down the larger pieces, like the bunny body. Pins help to keep the wool in place and tight so that once it’s all stitched, there will be no puckers … it lays completely flat.
Before I attach the bunny face, I need to make the ears. To start, I blanket stitch around the pink inner ear.
The white ears need to be two layers so I pin the two white ears together and blanket stitch the edges.
Done!
I pinned the ears and head in place, tucking the ears under the head. I’ll blanket stitch around the head/face, stitching through all thicknesses of the bottoms of the ears. The ears will be kept loose except where they are attached at the head.
Done! I like to put the face on after finishing the whole bunny. I like making it come alive. That’s just me though so if you want to put the face on now, just skip over the next few pictures!
I need to stitch in the hind leg details and to do this, I need to use my freezer paper pattern piece. I cut right along the hind leg line that is on the pattern. I laid the pattern back onto the bunny and with a chalk pencil, I drew right around that leg shape.
The white chalk is a little difficult to see since it’s on light wool, but it’s visible enough to be able to backstitch along the drawn line.
Done!
Ok, now, I’ll work on making the cute bunny face. Remember, this part is important to get right. We need a face that people will look at and say “awwww”. We don’t want a face that people look at and say “ewww”.
So I blanket stitched around the little pink nose.
I want the eyes to have a guilty expression. They need to say “uh oh, I’m in trouble!” To do that, I angled the whites of the eyes….
Then I placed the black pupils on and blanket stitched around the edges of the black pupils. I gave each eye a little white french knot highlight. I also blanket stitched around the whites of the eye, but I don’t have a picture to show that. I still need to make the eyebrows and the whiskers, but I forgot to take pictures of that.
Time to work on the carrots. I pinned the two carrot layers together and stitched all around, leaving the tops unstitched. (The pattern will show exactly where to stop stitching.)
The green carrot stems are made by cutting three strips down a rectangular piece of wool. (the pattern will give the exact measurements for this) I left about 1/4” uncut at the bottom.
I folded the green strips into each other to make a stack …
Then I pinned the carrot onto the wool, inserting the green carrot stem at the top. Now, I finish blanket stitching around the top edges, going through all thicknesses of the carrot, the green stem and the background wool. This takes a little extra time because of all the layers but it’s just a small area, so it doesn’t fray the patience to much.
I did the same with all of the carrots.
The carrot on the right has a little bite taken out of it and the stems are chewed down so I randomly clipped the green stems to make them looked munched on.
I clipped the tips of the other stems a little.
The stem which is to the left of the bunny’s nose is tacked just under it’s nose to make it look like the bunny is caught chewing it.
Just about done!
I folded the ears down and with a couple little stitches from underneath, they are tacked down in place. I had a difficult time figuring out the cutest position for the ears … I settled for this, but they look cute however they are placed.
The little flowers are attached by stitching french knots into the centers of the flower circles. These flowers, like the bunny ears can be arranged in any way you wish.
I recommend using a pretty matching cotton backing for this. Just cut the cotton 1/2'” wider than the background wool. Iron a 1/4” edge around the cotton and pin the backing to the back of the background wool. Blanket stitch around the entire edge. Since the carrots are attached higher than the background edge, it’s easy to just lift the carrots up, and blanket stitch underneath them.
And that’s it! See, it really wasn’t difficult at all!
I still have a lot of work to do on the pattern instructions and the pattern itself so if you’re interested in purchasing the pattern, check back in a few days for the pattern at a very special price!
Happy Day everyone! Spring is almost here!
