A few years ago, I picked up the "Simply Bunnies" pattern from Maureen Mills of Sweet Meadows Farm. (Maureen was the designer of the gingerbread girl doll that I purchased for Christmas 2011, during an online craft show (here). ) My desire was to purchase more of her finished dolls. But since my searches came up empty handed, I decided to check out her patterns. Yikes! You should see her sweet little dolls. I left her site with three patterns ordered. :) Quite the big dreams here, since my experience in doll sewing is ZERO. After receiving the patterns, I really enjoyed looking, reading and filing them away in my "to do" drawer. Sound familiar? ;)
The bunny pattern was calling to me last summer, so I broke out some muslin hidden in my "hope that its needed someday" stash and created some bunny body parts. Unfortunately... not long after completion, the parts were put in a tub and forgotten about. :(
As you can see below, this little darling was rediscovered last weekend... just in time for Easter. What had I been afraid of? Time to break out and have a little fun. I made some stain from instant coffee (It was pretty light... Makes me wonder if brewed coffee would stain a bunny darker?) and began wiping the body down with a soaked sponge. It took a few coats to get to the final shade.
Painting the eyes was reminiscent of my ceramic days... sigh... with my paint caddy getting to see a little action! LOL Then, I was surprised to find that Maureen uses my favorite colored pencils for the detail work... Prismacolors. They are another item that hasn't seen a whole lot of daylight in the past year. The whole process is so addictive! My mind was buzzing with possible dye methods and assorted shades of pencils to use on future bunnies. :)
Below is how she sits right now. Tonight, the assembling will begin. Then, my Easter fabric will get a once over for an outfit. The coffee stain will come in handy to give the fabric an antique feel to it. This whole project has been amazingly fun. I love the excitement of tackling something new, and Maureen's designs are definitely newbie friendly... Trust me!
The eyelashes are very prominent on this little one, so a dress will be constructed. My mind is already imagining a dark little boy playmate. I think that I'd better start experimenting with some natural dyes! :)
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