Sock Bunny - Free Tutorial

Spring is in the air! ... Well, some days it is. Some days it still feels like winter. But I stray from my point. ...

It's close enough to Spring that the lawn needs mowing! (How's that?) With Spring comes Easter and sweet little Easter Bunnies running around out in the yard hiding eggs for the young'uns to find.

I have been wanting to see what I could come up with in the way of a sock bunny for some time now and figured this would be the perfect time of year to share a free tutorial on making one.

I started with some socks I picked up a year ago and hadn't yet had a project for. They were green and brown with the "recycle" symbol on them. They were interesting and different from others I've seen so I kept them around to wait their turn to inspire me. It was these socks that I started with.

This is Lloyd, the Recycle Bunny. He is actually my second attempt at making a sock bunny. I'm too embarrassed to even post a pic of my first attempt, so anyway, poor Lloyd gets no mate. (Get it? Mate? You know, mate of a single sock as opposed to mate like a buddy or the love of his life. You know, I have to explain my little jokes a lot. You'd think someone who has to explain their attempts at humor would just give up, but not me, no, persistence, that's what I'm all about. And again, I stray ...)

Then when I was folding laundry (socks) the other day I thought how cute it would be to make a teeny one out of a baby sock. I went out the next day and found these sweet infant socks and made them into little sock bunnies too.

I call them Pinky and Pearl.

The size of the sock really makes a difference on how long their ears turned out. Lloyd has long floppy ears while Pinky and Pearl have cutesy little ears that stand up.

The two bunnies made from infant socks are small enough to fit into one of those plastic prize eggs - not the standard size, but one size up. The bunny made from an adult sock is about as big as my hand and a much better size for an Easter basket.

So there you have it. My Sock Bunny experience. Below is the free tutorial so you can make some up for your Spring activities. Just save this pic to your computer or print it out and you're on your way!

I'd love for you to make as many sock bunnies as you like for yourself or to give as gifts, but please do not make them and sell them or sell the pattern or any part of the pattern. Thank you!

Spring Cleaning

Ok, I definitely need to do some Spring cleaning around the house. Don't know if I'll actually get around to it or not, but at least I acknowledge the fact that it needs to be done. ... It's still the thought that counts, right?

Well, at least I'm going to try and get my craft room cleaned-up. I need space to make more stuff!

To try and accomplish my task, I'm having a Spring Cleaning Sale at my etsy shop, www.fun4me.etsy.com. During Spring 2010, I'm offering free shipping to the US!

I currently have over 20 dolls/plush that need a loving home!

As a bonus for also checking out my blog, I'll give you back 15% of the cost of your purchase. Just type in BLOG15 in the "Message to Seller" box when you checkout. I'll refund you (thru PayPal)15% of the purchase price.

Stop by, browse, shop, tell a friend, tweet, whatever!

www.fun4me.etsy.com

Dick and Jane Baby Blankets

Several months ago I came across some fabulous Dick and Jane fabric that I just had to have. Of course, I had no clue what I was going to do with it and it ended up sitting around in my stash for quite a while (like so much of the fabric that I buy). Well, the print is just too large to be of real use in my dolls, but I figured I'd eventually come up with something.

Then I had my "ah-hah" moment. What if I made them into baby blankets? That would be a good use, right? But I got to looking at some of the blankets that I use now for my little girl, and the ones that are a full yard are just too big and unwieldy. So I was stuck pondering on baby blanket sizes and what would be ideal.

Then I thought, "Well, wouldn't it be better if I made a burp cloth to match the blanket? That would be way better than just a blanket. Who doesn't like sets of things? I like sets of things." Of course, just a plain ole piece of cotton fabric doesn't make for a very good burp cloth. It'd soak right on thru that. From my experience, cloth diapers make the best burp cloths - very absorbent. So I knew what I had to with my Dick and Jane fabric.

And this is what I did:

1) Get 1 yard of each of 2 coordinating cotton fabrics.

2) Get 2 premium prefolded cotton cloth diapers from the store.

3) Wash and dry everything to pre-shrink. Iron everything. (And boy, do those diapers shrink and wrinkle-up.)

4) Measure cloth diaper. Cut a piece from the corner of each fabric to measured size.

5) With right sides together, pin one fabric piece to one diaper. Do the same with the other fabric on the second diaper.

6) Sew most of the way around, leaving about 4 inches open at the bottom.

7) Turn burp cloth right side out and hand-sew opening closed.

8) Iron flat at the seams.

9) Use a 1" seam allowance - sew around each burp cloth to finish off.

10) Take the big pieces of fabrics, lay flat with right sides together. Cut into an even rectangle for the blanket.

11) Sew most of the way around, leaving about 4 inches open at the bottom.

12) Turn blanket right side out and hand-sew opening closed.

13) Iron flat at the seams.

14) Use a 1" seam allowance - sew around the blanket to finish it off.

My finished blankets turned out to be about 26"x33". Which is a good size - large enough to wrap around baby or lay her down on, but not so large that it's dragging the ground or getting tangled up. The burp cloths are 12"x17".

So there you have it. You can make some too. I've listed for sale the Dick and Jane sets in my etsy shop at: http://www.fun4me2.etsy.com/.

I've got some more fabrics that I plan to use for more baby blanket/burp cloth sets ... some Holly Hobbie and Beatrix Potter. (Don't know what it is with me and nostalgic fabric that makes me think "baby blanket", oh well.) I really hope that I get around to making them.

Baby Sister's New Dress

I don't usually subject anyone to wearing something that I've made for them, but I just couldn't help myself this time. I found this sweet pattern at http://www.leilaandben.etsy.com/ and had to make it for my little girl. It was super-easy (which is what I needed) and I think it turned out to be just adorable!

The pattern is good for sizes up to 12 months and they have another pattern of the same style for toddler sizes, so she is definitely getting more of these.

Of course, it's winter so I went on the search for some baby leg warmers. I found another easy pattern at http://www.everythingyourmamamade.com/, which was free, and I like that. I used a slight variation of her pattern to make some leg warmers to match Baby Sister's new dress.

Like I said, I don't usually make clothes for anyone, but she doesn't seem to really care what I put on her. It all gets spit-up on it at the same rate. And I figure I have a minimum of 3 years before she truly cares what I dress her in, so since I've been feeling adventurous and I might branch out and make her something more than just this one dress pattern. But for now, I'm just taking a win on this one.

Baby's Pet Pals

While pregnant with my little girl, I decided that I wanted to make her something that she could play with and drool on that was just a special little something from Mom for her. What I came up with were these little critters.

I really enjoy coming up with new patterns and I knew I wanted this one to have a variety of looks all in one, so I drew up a basic body and head shape that seemed to work for a bear, a bunny, a cat and a dog. I changed the ears on each, and voila, I had 4 different patterns in one! I even gave them embroidered tails on their bums.

When my son was little, I learned my lesson about having to constantly bend down to retrieve toys, so I liked the idea of being able to use ring links to attach them to whatever apparatus my baby might happen to be occupying at the time. I was going to make arms and legs out of looped ribbon, but found that the bottom on these dolls is just too narrow for the legs to look right. I opted to have arms only and I'm really pleased with the way they turned out.

They range from 5" to 6" tall and are just right for her little hands to hold onto. The pink bunny is my favorite, so of course that's the one I kept to give to my sweet little girl.

I listed the others on my etsy shop and have had good feedback on them from other mothers who bought them. I also wrote-up the pattern, Baby's Pet Pals, and have it available (http://www.fun4me.etsy.com/) so you can make them for your little lovie!

These were super easy to make and I did get a little carried away, but now I know what I'm giving as a gift at the next baby shower I go to!

Sale Announcement

I'm currently out of the loop taking care of my new daughter and my 3-year old son. But never fear! I'll be back in the game soon enough. I'm still working on finishing up some new dolls and patterns that will be available soon in my etsy shop.

I'm setting my official return date as Cyber Monday. I'll be adding new items to my etsy shop (www.fun4me.etsy.com) on November 30th and for the whole month of December I'm having a $5.00 sale with lots of goodies marked down to only $5.00!

So on 11-30-09 or after stop by my etsy shop and check it all out!

In the meantime, here are a couple of pics of my wonderful children to catch your eye ...

(These fabulous photos were taken by Michele at www.pinkletoes.com.)

Still Sewing Away

I know that I haven't posted anything in a while, but I have been busy. I've got three different patterns that I'm currently working on. My problem seems to be finishing one up before I start the next! They are in various stages of completion ... one needs to have more dolls made up to test the pattern out, the next needs some tweaking before I'll be happy with it, and the third one just needs to have step-by-step photos taken so I can write up the pattern.

So, I am still here. And I am still sewing. I've just been a bit scattered the last couple of weeks.

I plan to make more progress on the completion side of things after I start my maternity leave here in a couple of weeks ... but we'll see how that goes.