Chocolate Cashmere Easter Bunnies Tutorial

First I want to thank everyone who has pinned, commented and made this baby blog start to rollover!!! This includes all the bloggers that featured my work and all of you who have taken the time to comment and offer encouragement. I have found it frustrating sometimes figuring out how to work, blog and raise a family but whenever you high five me, which is really what comments are, y'all make me settle it down and enjoy the process instead of fighting it. 


so Thank YOU, and You, and You, oh and you with the red hair (nice BTW!), yes and you....because it is YOU who make this experience so much fun and exciting and well, a blessing.


So now onto how to make chocolate bunnies that are calorie free!! (Amen sisters!)

This is heavy on the pics but what else would expect from me. I want to make sure you have all the details and you won't run into any problems so when your done, YOU feel like a million bucks fro trying something you've never down before...like shrinking cashmere wool sweaters on purpose!!

What you need:
cashmere or regular wool sweaters, shrunk, (no worries, I paid $3.00 each for the cashmere sweaters)
sewing machine or needle and thread if you don't sew
fabric scraps for lining
fiber fill
beads or other embellishments


Time needed to complete all three: 1.5 hours! No way? WAY!


First find some wool sweaters at the Goodwill and wash and dry on the hottest settings you have on your machines.  This makes it so when you cut it up, the fibers won't unravel at all. Look for sweaters that have cool details like these flowers down the front.

 I found this bunny template and Twig and Thistle. Instead of just sewing up the bottom after I'd filled it, I wanted to add a secret compartment so I could stash a little trinket inside as an extra surprise on Easter morning. How much fun is it to find your Easter basket and then find out there is still more hidden inside. Kind of like how God blesses us. We think He's done and we just keep findin' more ==0)

(My Easter emoticon.....look it has "ears")

Well, now that I am totally off topic....

Trace the outline and the cut out. I used pinking shears because I like the zig-zaggy edge it gives it. This picture yielded two bunnies because I cut through both layers of the sweater. 

I was going to make them all the same and then I ran across a chocolate colored sweater in my stash and I literally started drooling over the idea that I could make white "chocolate" and dark "chocolate" bunnies. Yay!

 Find some old fabric and cut out you lining for the bunnies. Make sure when you cut the fabric it is right sides together or the lining will be the opposite shape of your sweater bunny. Ask me how I  know. I also used different lining for each as I didn't want the girls to fight over who's was who's. They would each know by the lining.

I just noticed the bunny in the upper right has had a little lipo in the chin....guess I wasn't too careful in the cutting process. It was 10 pm.

THIS is how you should cut out your lining fabric. Doesn't he look delicious? I say he because the dark chocolate bunny will be for my 12 year son.

 Layer as above 

 Pin around the edges and sew about 1/4" in from the edge using matching thread.

I divided the "ears" first just by sewing a slightly curved line down the middle. This is optional as you might like how it looks without the ear detail. I also think I might make one with an ear bitten because isn't that what we all do as soon as we get a chocolate bunny! 

Leave the bottom open so you can stuff it

This is how it should look from the bottom

I wanted each bunny tail to had a little detail since I was keeping the rest so simple. For Jake's bunny, I just took some scraps from the brown sweater and glued bits and pieces between the petals. I used Aleene's OK to wash it because I am sure I will need to clean these periodically and I don't want all my hard work to dissolve in the washer.

Using tweezers (who knew that tweezers where in a DIYer's toolbox?), pick up your scrap, dip it int he blob of glue you leave at the top of the nozzle, and then sandwich in between the petals.

Like so....

The girls got some bling added to their tales, because when you ask you daughter what her favorite color is and she says "sparkle"...

Now find a skinny screwdriver, or chopstick and your fiber fill.

When you pull out a clump of fiber fill it will look like this. Do not leave it like this or you will get hard lumps inside your bunny and you want it to be soft like the cashmere.

Pull it apart to look like this before you start stuffing

You are going to add you stuffing between the fabric and the wool, on both sides

Using your "stuffing tool", start with the ears and work you way down the bottom, don't over stuff as you are going to get nice fullness from stuffing both sides.

Ahhhh, it's all making sense now...

sew you edges closed and using the Aleene's again, glue your cotton tail in place. 

The brother and sisters together, and without fighting. A beautiful thing.

A little trinket for their hair

 or to use as a choker. These bunnies are so fashion forward.

Now go find what is hidden inside you and enjoy the discovery

Always being renewed,