Stitch an Adorable Bunny

You’ve seen those delightful small bunnies that look like Peeps. These outlines look at the bunnies from the back and come in the same bright pastels as the candy. I’ve seen two styles of painted canvases for this. One is gingham. The other is solid in a textured stitch with a fluffy tail.

You don’t have to buy a painted canvas to make these, you can easily do this yourself.

Begin by printing out the outline, click on the picture above to get the full-size image. Put your print-out under your canvas and trace it onto the canvas using an extra-fine point pen safe for fabrics, sich as Pigma Microns.

Gingham Bunny

Pick your threads. For gingham, you need three colors: white, a color, and a shade intermediate between white and the color. If you are using a textured stitch, pick a single color of thread. Your tail will need to be Persian or crewel wool in white.

To stitch gingham, you’ll use square stitches of any size. A medium-size Scotch that would be nice is Genny’s Scotch, below. This will be the only stitch you use.

Use the intermediate color to stitch in a checked pattern, so that every other block is this color.

To finish the gingham, fill in the open blocks with white in one row and the color in the adjacent row, alternating between the colors.

If you are making the front of the bunny add the face using knots, beads, or black brads.

Textured Stitch Bunny

Mark a circle for the bunny’s tail. Stitch the remainder of the outline in the stitch and thread of your choice. Once the bunny is stitched, make the tail in Turkeywork, below, using the wool. Cut the loops to be even. Once you like the length trim just a tiny bit off the tufts around the edge; this keeps the Turkeywork neat. Fluff the tail with your finger.

If you are making the front of the bunny as well add the face using knots, beads, or black brads.

Other Possibilties

You can make a pretty striped bunny by using a single stitch, I like Byzantine, keeping the pattern consistent but changing colors. I used this idea to stitch the My Pink Sugar Life bunny above.

Another idea is to make stripes, alternating between two stitches and two closely-related colors.

Finally, any stitch pattern that looks like fabric will also make great bunnies.

If you are making the front of the bunny add the face using knots, beads, or black brads.

These techniques can also be used to fill in other outlines, easily creating many delightful needlepoint projects.