Happy (Early) Easter!

After posting ten inspirational Easter tutorials last week, I wanted to actually make one of the projects I showcased. My only rule was that I had to be resourceful and only use supplies that I already had on hand. For awhile now, I’ve felt completely overwhelmed by the amount of fabric and supplies that I already have. I have to draw the line somewhere. No more!

Rewind: A few years ago when I had just started sewing and was still looking to build up my fabric supply. I spotted this heap (around 4-6 yards) of pastel striped fabric on SUPER MEGA CLEARANCE (honestly, I don’t remember the price anymore, but it was good) so I snatched it up, knowing that I needed lots of cheap fabric for practice, and that the pastel stripes weren’t that bad. Well, whenever it actually came to choose fabric for a project – I just didn’t want to use this stuff. The textured, pastel stripes hadn’t looked that bad compared to everything else in the clearance bin – probably because everything else in the clearance bin was really ugly, so it didn’t look as bad in comparison. Oops. This is when I first started to realize that I was a fabric hoarder.

Fast forward: This past weekend, I really wanted to make the Peeps bunny bunting that I had included in the collection of Easter tutorials, but I didn’t have any felt on hand. And because I’m not letting myself buy new supplies unless the situation is dire, I had to be resourceful. Because, unfortunately, lacking felt for a Peeps bunny bunting is not an emergency.

For my resourceful workaround, I decided to turn the Peeps bunnies into an appliqué for a triangular pennant bunting instead. After playing around with the fabric choices I already had in my bin, I decided that – for the first time ever – the pastel stripes were perfect! Do they scream “EASTER” or what?

I made the bunnies out of some solid pink broadcloth I had leftover from a recent quilt… more about that quilt in an upcoming blog post!

For any other appliqué project, I would have slapped some Heat n Bond on the backside of the bunnies, but the solid pink fabric was too sheer – when I laid the bunnies on top of the striped fabric, I could see the stripes through the bunny. No likey. So for this project, I first used some fusible interfacing on the back of the bunnies, and then used a little Elmer’s glue to stick them in place before zig zag stitching the edges. I gave them a quick press with a hot iron after gluing to make sure the glue set before I sewed. Not the most ideal process, but it worked.

A little wooden dowel and a few dots of brown craft paint gave the bunnies eyes and noses! Sadly, it was just craft paint and not chocolate. I’m not really into perishable crafts.

I used some turquoise fabric leftover from one of my country-inspired sewing projects to create a sort of double-fold bias tape to hold all of the pennants. I use the term “bias tape” loosely since I’m lazy and don’t actually cut on the bias when I use it for bunting purposes. Oh yeah, and Winnie “helped” with this part by laying across the bunting as I was pinning, while successfully blocking my view of Grey’s Anatomy on my iPad. Good thing I love her.

I made enough bunnies and pennants to make two sets of bunting – one for home and one for work! Each set has four bunnies in the center, and two “blank” pennants flanking each side.

I can happily say that I’ve used  up a hearty portion of that striped fabric. Although I still have a lot left! There may be more pastel striped Easter projects in my future…

What projects are you all working on this weekend?