03 March 2022
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Does anything symbolise spring more than this gorgeous family of bunny rabbits? You can make up as a wall hanging, or it would look equally lovely as a nursery decoration.
Fabric offers so much versatility and the joy of this project is that you can make it your own, using whatever fabric you have lying around! Right, let’s hop to it!
How to make a spring bunny wall decoration using mixed media
By Val Hughes
Please note – this is a decorative project and not suitable as a comforter.
You will need
Materials
- Cotton fabrics such as cotton muslin, calico, and polyester cotton
- Sewing threads – white, yellow, pale green, dark green, lilac, blue
- Hand embroidery thread – dark brown
- Tracing paper
- Four flower buttons – one pink, one blue, two white
- Lace
- Lace flowers
- Yellow ribbon
- Fabric paints – yellow, lilac, green
Equipment
- Sewing machine
- Pins
- Hand sewing needle
- Scissors
- Tape measure
- Iron
- Heat transfer pencil
- Paintbrush
Method
1. Prepare fabric by cutting a piece of calico 30x21cm. Tear a piece of cotton muslin approximately 25x16cm. Tear a piece of polyester cotton approximately 20x11cm.
2. Using vertical brush strokes, paint the calico fabric using the yellow fabric paint. Next, paint the cotton muslin lilac and finally paint the polyester cotton using the green fabric paint. Leave fabric to dry.
Top tip! Water your paint down to give a more subtle shade.
3. Once dry, iron fabric to flatten and fix the paints. Follow the manufacturer’s guidelines.
4. Download the template. Trace the bunny images on to tracing paper using the heat transfer pencil. Trace two large bunnies and two smaller bunnies.
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5. Transfer the bunnies onto the green fabric, by turning over the tracing paper and aligning the bunnies as shown. Press with a hot iron for 5–10 seconds to transfer the design to the fabric permanently.
6. Once all four bunnies have been successfully transferred to your fabric, pin your pieces of fabric together, with the yellow as the base, followed by the lilac fabric and finally the green.
7. Set up your sewing machine for a straight stitch with the dark green thread. Stitch the green fabric in place, keeping quite close to the frayed edge of the fabric. Remove the pins as you sew. Next stitch the lilac fabric in place using the lilac thread.
8. Using the dark brown hand embroidery thread and following the outline of your transferred image, hand stitch each of the bunnies using a running back stitch. Cover the outline of your bunnies carefully so the transfer pencil outline can no longer be seen.
9. Using the paintbrush and brown fabric paint, ‘fill in’ all the bunny bodies including the ears. Be careful to keep your brush inside the hand embroidery. Once completed, leave to dry.
Top tip! Keep your paint thick to prevent any bleeding onto the green fabric.
10. Use the green thread to stitch the grasses along the bottom of your picture, using a forward and reverse stitch.
11. Using the blue thread, stitch wavy lines across the top of the green fabric to create a subtle sky effect.
12. Select three pieces of yellow ribbon and pin to your fabric along the top edge of the green fabric and, vertically, down the edge of the lilac fabric. Attach with yellow thread and a zig-zag stitch. Remove the pins as you sew.
13. Choose two pieces of lace and pin vertically between your yellow ribbon and the green fabric. Stitch in place using a white thread and a straight stitch, removing the pins as you sew.
14. Place two more pieces of lace across the top and bottom of your almost completed picture working the same way as the previous two pieces of lace.
Top tip! Don’t worry if your work isn’t perfectly straight. It all adds to the rustic charm of this little nursery piece of art.
15. Pin five embroidered daisies to the top of your picture and stitch in place using white thread, either by hand or machine stitch.
16. Once all your stitching is completed, you may want to steam iron your work, on the reverse, using a hot iron.
17. Finally add four flower buttons to represent the bunnies’ tails. Stitch in place using a matching thread.
18. Your piece is now ready for framing and hanging.
Please note – this is a decorative project and not suitable as a comforter.
For another spring project, don’t miss this DIY Easter bunny wall hanging tutorial, adapted to make it easier for little helpers to join in with. Or delve deeper into the world of mixed media, with our guide featuring Cas Holmes and Nikki Parmenter.
