A Halloween Bunny

This Bunny Costume was made by my mother in the late 1950's. Here I am wearing it.

Here is my big sister wearing it.

And my little sister wearing it.

So, as you can see, it was very popular. After our generation was done wearing it, then my sister's kids wore it, and my kids wore it. So, you get the idea.

Alas, a bunny costume of white flannel cannot last forever. So... what to do? It was far too treasured to toss it away.

My sister told me to make a pillow out of it. So, I cut it up and I thought about it. For about 8 months.

Then I decided the best thing to make out if it is a BUNNY!

A Halloween Bunny!!

I started with the flannel. I carefully cut the costume up, to use as much of the flannel as possible.

I spent a fair amount of time trying to find the right bunny pattern. I decided on the bunny pattern in this book.

After stitching the two sides of the bunny together (right sides together of course) I then stuffed him.

The instructions say to put something heavy in the bottom to help Bunny sit nicely. Wonder what this might have been. It was in a box in my sewing room labeled "Little Bits"

Perfect! Placed in the bottom.

Then you put a piece of cardboard in, to make a good base.

And sew a piece of fabric over the cardboard.

I used embroidery thread, and exaggerated the stitching for a kind of primitive look.

Yes, indeed! This soon-to-be-bunny sits quite nicely!

Now stitch on the tummy piece. I chose a Halloween fabric, since this is, and always has been a Halloween Bunny!

Four paws - stitched, stuffed with tiny little bunny claws

Two bunny ears. One side flannel, the other is the Halloween fabric.

These are not stuffed, but pinched a little at the base, before stitching on to the bunny.

For the paws, I wanted them to look like they were attached using a button, but really I just sewed them on. So, I first put the button on. This is one of the original buttons from the costume.