A Wife-made How To | Scrappy Easter Bunny Head Tie

This little bunny is definitely late for a very important date!  That date being hitting publish on an Easter-related tutorial before Easter gets here...

Phew, I made it.  Just.  And if you've got a spare hour or two, you might be able to squeeze in a pair of these ultra cute bunny ears before the real bunny arrives!  Here's how!

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What you'll need:

Quilting fabric
1/2" wide elastic
Heavy fuseable interfacing (I used No.16 weight)
Poly batting or any other type of quilting batting you might have (I like the poly batting for this project because its a bit stiffer than the natural fibre battings.)
Cotton chenille, or something else fluffy for the ears
A pile of fabrics scraps of all different sizes to make fabric flowers

Cut:

1. Two (2) headband fabric pieces measuring 11" x 3" (this is the Pam Kitty floral you can see in the pic above)
2. One (1) piece of poly batting measuring 2.5" x 10" (for the headband)
3. Two (2) pieces of heavy interfacing measuring 11" x 2.5" (for the headband)
4. Two (2) pieces of heavy interfacing measuring 8.5" x 3.5" (for the ears)
5. Two (2) pieces of poly batting measuring 8.5" x 3.5" (for the ears)
6. Two (2) pieces of elastic measuring 3.5" long
7. Two (2) pieces of bunny ears backing fabric measuring 8.5" x 3.5" (this can match the headband fabric if you like)
8. Two (2) pieces of cotton chenille measuring 8.5" x 3.5" (for the ears)
9. Two (2) long strips of fabric for the ties measuring 2.25" x WOF (width of fabric)

How to:

Step 1: Fuse the headband interfacing to the wrong side of the headband fabric pieces as shown in the image above, leaving 1/2" of fabric bare on one long side of each piece and both short ends.

Step 2: Press the 1/2" of bare fabric on each long side of headband fabric so that the wrong sides of the fabric and interfacing are touching, as shown above.S

Step 3: Place the headband batting on the wrong side of one of the headband pieces so that it sits under the folded edge, then place the other headband piece underneath so that right sides of the fabric are facing.  Pin as shown, and set aside.

Step 4: Take the fabric for the ties and fold them in half lengthways, with right sides together.  Pin and stitch 1/4" from the raw edge the full length of the ties, enclosing one short end.  Turn the tube out the right way (I use a chopstick for this).  Press.

Step 5: Insert the elastic in the open ends of the ties until the open end of the ties and the other end of the elastic are even.  Pin to prevent the elastic from going further into the tube.  It should be sitting in the first 3.5" of the tube.

Step 6: Gather the tie fabric around the elastic to create a comfortable stretchy section of the head ties.  Pin at the other end of the elastic, to hold the gathers in place, and stitch about 1/4" from the end of the elastic.  See the image below if this is unclear.

Step 7: Pin the open ends of the ties in between the two headband pieces on the short ends as shown.  Stitch 1/2" from the edge of the short and long ends of the headband (not the folded side).  On the short ends, stitch the folded sections down.

Step 8:  Trim the seam allowances using pinking shears or normal scissors, being careful not to cut the stitching.  Turn the head band the right way out and press.  Set aside.

Step 9: On the back of one of the 3.5" x 8.5" pieces of interfacing draw a bunny ear shape.  Fuse the interfacing to the wrong side of the ear backing fabric.  Fuse the other piece of interfacing to the other piece of ear backing fabric.  Lay the the fused pieces on top of each other, with the outline of the bunny ear facing up and cut through both pieces at one time to ensure both ears are the same.

 Step 10: Place the poly batting between the backing fabric and cotton chenille, making sure that the right sides of the backing and chenille are facing out.

Step 11: Using a straight stitch, stitch 1/8" from the edge of the backing fabric to join the three layers.  Trim the excess fabric around the bunny ears shape, then zig-zag stitch around the edge to finish.  I used a 2.5 width and a 1.5 length for my zig-zag stitch.

Step 12: Using a pink or contrasting thread, stitch the centres of the bunny ears.  I like to use a messy free-motion style to do this and go over it a few times to make it really stand out, but you could applique a piece of fabric on for the inside of the ears.  Do whatever takes your fancy!

Step 13: Place the ears inside the open folded edge of the headband and pin in place, making sure they are nicely centred and angled outwards slightly.  Topstitch the opening closed and continue to topstitch around the edges of the entire headband.

And your headband is nearly finished!

Now you just need to embellish it with some lovely scrappy fabric flowers.  I used this method to make my scrappy flowers and I pulled a pile of scraps of all different lengths and widths from my fabric scrap bin to make a few different colours, shapes and sizes!  I used a hot glue gun to make the flowers and attach them to the headband - it was a lot faster than handsewing, which wasn't an option for me the night before Rosie's kindy Easter bonnet parade!  Nothing like last minute to get the creative juices flowing ;)

The little concertina fan-shaped flowers I made by folding a rectangular piece of fabric on itself over and over again, stitching through all the layers and then putting a dab of hot glue on the top and squeezing the top pieces together to create a little fan shape.

If I'd had more time I would have loved to add a little fabric butterfly, and maybe some colourful buttons in the middle of the flowers.  I can even see a version of this headband made from lovely vintage fabrics!  So many options!

All that really mattered though, was the smile on this little face.  She was happy, and so was I.