The Easter Bunny is coming!

Easter is nearly here and our house is full of excitement! I would love to say this is due to deeply spiritual reasons but the reality is that, like Christmas, it is a great family time of the year where we all hang out together, watch hours upon hours of movies and eat far too many hot cross buns and of course, our weight in chocolate.

As the kids get older I realise change is coming. Abby will soon be out of school and on her way to University, Cooper is getting to the age where friends will take precedence over hanging out with his boring old mum and Hannah, well for now I can dream she will always be my cuddly bunny.

So Easter was well and truly on my brain when a gorgeous bundle of Riley Blake linen landed on my door step. I had all sorts of grand plans for it, all of which involved adult focused makes – cushions, quilts, journals etc and I even started and finished a couple of the projects which I promise to share in a later blog post. But for today I have decided it will all be about Easter fun and what screams Easter more than bunnies! And to be honest using the linen meant it turned out even better than I could have imagined.

Now hilariously I decided on Tuesday THIS week to scrap all my original ideas and focus on some Easter fun instead. Then a matter of hours later I went a step further and decided everything I was making needed to be a pattern too. I love nothing more than making work for myself. So what you are seeing is the result of 3 crazy busy days where I juggled a sick sewing machine, no internet and a head cold. But I did it! I managed to find testers, pattern editors, sewed my samples, got writing and am now ready to share my hard work with all of you!

There are 4 makes in this beginner friendly pattern – all of which make great gifts, especially as they are quick to sew.

First up is the simple drawstring bag. There are 2 sizes to choose from and the option to applique a sweet bunny onto the front (all pattern pieces are included). You can never have enough bags in a house so there will be many many uses for these I am sure.

I love those little pom poms. It would be so easy to make your own or to applique a simple circle instead, one of my testers even used gorgeous little flowers for tails that worked deliciously.

Look at all those gorgeous linen colours! It is easy to see why I couldn’t only make one as a sample, turns out a whole row of coloured bunnies is way more fun to play with.

These are a simple make, made even easier when using freezer paper. This was the first time I have worked with and it is a game changer! Buy all the freezer paper and make all the things – trust me on this.

Next up a sweet little lavender sachet. A practical and great gift especially for a little one who cant yet enjoy chocolate. Never underestimate the gift of making clothes smell pretty and keeping them bug free.

After I had made the sachet it was a quick leap to make a little bunny shaped bunting as well. Again in all those gorgeous linen colours. Again freezer paper was the star here – allowing them to come together quickly and easily.

The bunnies will make a permanent home on Hannah’s bedhead I think – they look too cute there.

Now the work of my fabulous testers. They gave themselves to me for 24 hours and worked so hard – sewing, editing, hand holding. They are genuinely great people. And their makes are just wow! A huge thank you to you Leanne, Charla, Claire, Karen, Kathleen, Nicole, Shannyn, Joanne and Tash.

Inside the PDF pattern you will find 21 pages of detailed instructions with photos to help you every step of the way. There is also a separate pattern sheet to print that will help with your bunny shapes. I even included a large size applique shape to help you make coordinating accessories. As always too help can be found if you need it in my Facebook group – Piccolo Pattern Studio.

The pattern can be purchased here in my Shop – I have reduced the price from now until Good Friday to help you get your sew on too.

Again a huge thank you to Riley Blake for those amazing linens. They sparked creativity in the very best of ways and it was such a pleasure to play with them. As I wrote earlier I have more projects made from it to share in the coming weeks too including a very special HRT (half square rectangle) cushion.

Happy Sewing!
Sarah x