FREE Pattern: Plush Bunny Easter Basket

Easter is coming up fast, but I've got one more project tutorial that can be made in time.  This one is cuddly, practical and fun all at the same time...my Plush Bunny Basket!

This basket is the perfect place to put all those Easter goodies.  

It's nice and deep so it can hold a lot.

He's got a fun bunny face and standup ears: 

And hoppy little feet.

There's even a fluffy bunny tail at the back!

The basket holds its shape well thanks to a sturdy foam interior, yet is still nice and soft.

The minky fabric outer and lining makes it cuddly for the little ones. With an active just turned one year old in the house, there are toys and baby things EVERYWHERE, so the more places I can toss them into the better!

Materials:
- 1/2 yd minky/cuddle fabric outer
- 1/2 yd pinky/cuddle fabric lining 
- 1 yd foam
- Hand sewing needle
- My FREE PDF Ears & Paws Pattern
Optional: safety eyes, white & pink felt, large pom pom 

Printing the Pattern:  Click HERE to download my PDF ear pattern & paw and print at 100% (actual size) no scaling.  Cut out pattern pieces (since the paws are a layered piece, cut the outer fabric pieces first, then trim down to cut the foam pieces).

Using my ear & paw pattern pieces, cut out fabrics and foam according to the directions.  With right sides facing, stitch together the ear pairs and paw pairs with a 1/4 in seam allowance.  

Trim and turn right side out.  Insert the foam pieces inside.  

From the foam cut a 10 1/2 in diameter circle and a 9 in high by 34 in wide rectangle.

From both fabrics cut a 10 1/2 in diameter circle and 9 1/2 in high by 34 in wide rectangle.

Take the outer fabric rectangle and determine the center.  Pin the ears 3/4 of an inch from the center on either side and the paws 1 inch from the center as shown and baste to the main fabric.

If adding a face, now would be the time to set the safety eyes and stitch a triangle felt nose and whiskers on.  I decided to add mine after I'd made the basket so I had to hand stitch it all on.

Starting with the foam rectangle, bring the short sides together and stitch with a 1/2 inch seam allowance.  

Trim down the allowance and pin the circle to one of the circular ends.  Stitch together.

Turn right side out and set aside.  

Repeat this process with cuddle fabrics, except with the lining, when stitching the rectangle into a tube, leave a 4 inch gap and use a 3/8in seam allowance for everything (this will help the foam fit inside better).

With right sides facing and lining up the back seams, pin together the top raw edges of the lining and outer fabrics and stitch together with a 1/2in seam allowance.

Pull right side out through the opening in the lining.  

Fold up the foam basket form and insert into the lining gap.  Smoother the outer fabric around the foam and then the lining onto its inside.  Hand stitch the gap closed.  Hand stitch the pom pom tail onto the back.

Now this hoppy friend is ready for filling!

Easter Week Craftastic Monday Link Party

It's Easter week and we're hopping up to the holiday!  Come link up all those Easter creations and springtime projects & check out some fabulous features.  

Last week I shared my FREE PDF Pattern & Tutorial for this
Sweet Little Bunny Hat:

It even has hoppy stand-up ears!

and My Candy-free and Faith-Themed Easter Basket Ideas:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now for this week's Craftastic Picks!

Kippi At Home did this adorable DIY bunny pillow:

Fluster Buster shared this easy DIY wooden "chocolate bunny" plant stake:

Penny's Vintage Home did an incredible transformation - she turned a broken sleigh bed into this charming outdoor beverage bar:

Sum of Their Stories made this sweet twig heart mini pallet art:

If you're one of this week's features, be sure to grab my Featured On button over on my Buttons Page to share the good news. 

 Want a Chance to 
Be Featured Next Week?  

Link back to the party somewhere on your blog.
I can't feature your post if you don't share the party.  
  

I also feature these projects on Sew Can Do's Craftastic Picks Pinterest board 

AND share each of them on Twitter too for even MORE exposure for YOUR blog!

Follow me there to see more great projects (and see if yours is one of them)!   

On Twitter: Follow @sewcandoblog

On Pinterest: Sew Can Do

Ready to link up your crafty creations?

 

Party rules are simple: 

• As long as it's crafty, and made by you, it's Craftastic (no links to shops, link parties or other people's work).  Add the link to your specific post. Product reviews, plagiarized or sponsored posts for random items will be immediately deleted.  
• Grab my party button & put it on your post, party page or blog somewhere.  If you want the chance to be featured, this is key.  The button code can be found HERE.
• Check out some of the other fabulous links and share some crafty comment love.  We all love getting comments!!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Candy Free & Faith Themed Easter Basket Ideas

Easter is a special holiday, but it can be tough to put together Easter baskets or egg hunt items that are candy free or meaningful to the holiday these days.   

Before I had my own shop I was hard pressed to find an item or two for Easter that actually had a cross or Jesus anywhere on it.  Finding something that wasn't super flimsy and throwaway was even more challenging.

So what are some options when you want more than just sugary treats and cheap plastic bunnies?  I'm sharing some items from my own Heavenly Fabric Shop & Craft Supplies and some DIY ideas to create your own authentic Easter. 

Put some cross beads and elastic cord into those plastic eggs to make some fun bracelet or necklace craft kits:

Books are perfect for all ages, especially those with prayers & Bibles stories.  

Make a DIY Silly Putty egg by mixing 2tbl glue mixed with 2 tbl starch and a few drops of food coloring. Knead well to get it nice & thick and putting into a plastic egg.

Faith themed stickers like these puffy crosses are easy to tuck inside eggs or add them as decorations on eggs, candles or other items:

Make things egg-stra cute on the outside with some saints & animals egg wrappers.  Just slip them on to real or decorative eggs and shrink with boiling water or a hair dryer to give them some heavenly decoration. 

Fun bandages are another great egg or basket filler.  These have healing themed scripture verses:

Adorable rubber religious charms are ideal Easter goodies for the kids.  They're fun to add to zipper pulls, keychains, necklaces and lanyards so they get loved all year round.  

Jesus, angels, Old Testament Bible characters like Noah & David, plus loads of Mary devotionals and favorite saints mean there's something for everyone.  And they're perfectly sized for all sorts of eggs!

Create stress ball style eggs to busy the bigger kids:

Take a balloon and fill with 1/2 cup of sand or cornstarch using a funnel.  Carefully squeeze out any air and knot closed.

For the babies, there are silicone cross teethers, which are perfect gifts for baby's first Easter, in vibrant and pastel colors:

Dolls & figurines are kid pleasers that last long after the holiday.  Like these Jesus on the Cross and Christ & Child mini statues and sweet little saint dolls. The dolls are even baby-safe!  Both also make great Easter table decorations.  

All are great ways to make Easter memorable and remember the true reason we celebrate!

Free Pattern: Sweet Little Bunny Hat Tutorial

It's not spring or Easter season unless there's some kind of bunny in the house...why not make it your favorite little person by sewing up a Sweet Little Bunny Hat?

This one's extra fun because the ears stand up on their own:

I made this to go with the rest of my little guy's Easter outfit:

Ours is soft micro fleece so it is stretchy, yet solid, but not too hot in case we have a warm Easter.

It sews up pretty quickly, so there's plenty of time to make one and they are so cute in photos as you can see.

Materials:
- 1/4 yard of fleece (I used micro fleece so it wouldn't be too warm)
- Extra Firm stabilizer
- French curve ruler or small plate
- My Sweet Little Bunny PDF Pattern 
- Pins, rotary cutter/shears

Printing the Pattern:  Click HERE to download the PDF ear pattern and print at 100% (actual size) no scaling.  Cut out inner and outer ear patterns.

Using my ear pattern piece, cut out two front and two back ears from the fabric(s).  Using the inner ear pattern, cut two ears from the extra firm stabilizer. 

To determine hat size, measure around the head to find the circumference (the width needed).  Then measure down from the center top of the head to the middle of the ear (the length).

Cut a rectangle that is:

Circumference of the head + 1.5 inches (for the width)

x  

Side head length + 5 inches (for the height)

For my 12 month old I did 18.5 inches wide by 12 inches high.

Fold the rectangle widthwise, right sides together, and sew down the side with a half inch seam allowance.

Fold the fabric again, but this time only fold up to the seam so the seam allowance is uncovered. Find the top center of the folded bit.  Mine was 4 inches wide folded, so the center was 2 inches in. 

   
From there take a French curve or small round plate and cut a rounded shape down to the fold on the right, 3 inches down at the lowest end.

Do the same from that center point downward on the other side so you end up with a rounded point like this and set aside.

Unfold the hat and stitch the front and back curves as shown, using a half inch seam allowance.  Trim down seam allowance.

 With right sides facing, pair up the front and back of the ear pieces and stitch together, except for the bottom ends, with a .25 inch seam allowance.  Trim or pinking cut the seam allowances down and turn the ears right side out.

Insert the stabilizer pieces into them:

Pinch each ear together at the bottom and baste.

Fold hat so that the front and back seams are lined up.

With ears facing down, facing towards the front side of the hat, insert between the front and back sides of hat, each ear being about half an inch from the center seam. 

Pin ears and front & back sides of hat, then stitch all the way across.

If you turn the hat right side out it should look like this: 

To finish the folded cuff, with wrong side facing out, fold bottom upward 2 and a half inches and pin.  Stitch close to the raw edge with a wide zig zag.  This will give the seam the necessary stretch.

It should look like this when done:

Turn right side out:

Then fold cuff up as desired and put on so some bunny is looking cute!