Embroidered bunny pincushion tutorial

Embroidered Pincushion tutorial

I do love to do simple embroidery, small projects that are quick and oh so cute.

I've had such a lot of fun using this simple bunny to embellish my work, pincushions, pocket detail and whatever really, so I thought I'd share it with you.

Cut one 7'' square of white or cream fabric, cotton or linen, either will be lovely. Transfer the design onto the fabric making sure you centre it, I find it easier to just trace my design with a soft pencil, but use the method you prefer.

Cut one 7'' square of lightweight fusible batting and press it onto the back of your work after you have transferred the design.

 Using an embroidery hoop to hold your fabric embroider the outline of the bunny using two strands of DMC embroidery floss. The eye is done with a French knot and the nose just a small straight stitch. To do the tail just use a series of bullion stitches, now these don't have to be perfect to create a good look just as long as they look like a fluffy tail.

The leaves and flowers are done using lazy daisy stitch and just one strand of DMC thread.

To make up the pincushion 

Trim your embroidery to a 5 1/2 '' square making sure you have the embroidery exactly in the centre.

Back: cut one patterned fabric  5 1/2''  square

(Peeps) Small borders: cut four 1 1/4'' x 5 1/2'' from patterned fabric

Larger borders: cut four 1 1/2'' x 5 1/2'' from contrasting fabric

Fold the small borders or peeps as I call them in half lengthwise and press, position the top and bottom peeps 1 3/8'' from the top and bottom raw edges of your embroidered front. At this stage before attaching these you can add a trim, it can be lace or ric rac etc, stitch it in place so that the folded edge of the peep will cover it.

 Having the folded edge toward the centre and the raw edge toward the outer....stitch the top and bottom peeps in place using a 1/4 inch seam.

Now attach the two side borders using the same technique. 

Place the outer border right side facing down on top of the first border 'Peep'
lining up the seams and stitch  in place using a quarter inch seam, press open.

Stitch the top and bottom borders in place using the same method, press open and at this stage you may have to trim the edges slightly to bring it back to the original 5.1/2 inch square.

Place your front face down on the back piece and using a quarter inch seam neatly sew the two together leaving a two and a half inch opening for turning.

Trim the corners carefully, turn through and stuff with fleece.

Using a slip stitch sew the opening closed, you can see I've added a little decorative tag just to finish the look.

Below is my hand drawn rabbit image, print it out on A4 and use to create something sweet.

Happy sewing 
Glenis