How to make a cute Easter bunny bag
Little kids (and big ones) will love these cute Easter bunny bags. Perfect for collecting treats in during your Easter egg hunt. They’re also cute enough to be given as a gift or used as an everyday bag.
The bunny bag is the perfect beginner project to make together with your children. You can make at least one in an afternoon. Older children can help cut, iron and sew, whilst decorating is perfect for the little ones – you could get them to glue on embellishments or write their names using fabric pens.
The rabbit’s face and ears in this project are made up of small pieces of fabric, perfect for using up your scraps!
Materials needed:
- Downloaded patterns
- 3 x 30 x 30cm pieces of medium weight cotton fabric for the bag body
- 3 x 30 x 30cm pieces of patterned cotton for the bag lining
- Patterned cotton scraps for the ears and nose of the rabbit (can be matching, or can be mismatched, it’s up to you)
- ScanNCut High Tack Adhesive Fabric Support sheet CASTBL2
- Iron-on appliqué paper like ScanNCut CASTBL1 Iron-on Fabric Appliqué Contact Sheet
- 2 x buttons for the rabbit’s eyes
- Pins
- Thread that matches the body of the bag
- Thread that contrasts to the body of the bag
- Hand sewing needle
- Popper closure
- Chocolate eggs!
Equipment needed:
- ScanNCut
- ScanNCut Rotary Blade (or Auto Blade)
- Iron or heat press
- Sewing machine – we used the Innov-is-A80
- Scissors
General instructions relating to ScanNCut:
- Always choose the correct mat for your material. The material should stick to mat securely. Test a small piece on a corner of your mat to make sure you can remove it again without damaging your material. You can find our handy mat and blade guide for ScanNCut DX models here, and the ScanNCut CM models mat and blade guide here.
- We recommend that you do a test cut before you cut your design.
- Patterns can be transferred to your ScanNCut via USB or WiFi, depending on your model.
Step 1
Prepare your mat for cutting fabric by adding the High Tack Adhesive Support sheet. Follow the instructions on the packaging. You can use the ScanNCut rotary blade to cut your material, or the Auto Blade. The rotary blade provides a finer cut and better definition, but it’s not integral to the project.
Step 2
Load Pattern A for the bag outsides. Place fabric for outer bag smoothly onto the prepared mat and make sure there are no air bubbles or wrinkles. Cut twice, each time removing the material gently from the mat.
Step3
Load Pattern B for the straps and cut out using the same material as the outside of the bag.
Step 4
Repeat Step 3 using the material for the lining.
Step 5
Repeat Step 2 using Pattern C for the bag lining, using the lining pattern fabric.
Step 6
Iron your appliqué sheet onto the back of the material you’re using for the bunny’s nose, face and ear inserts.
Tip: even though the bunny’s face cut outs are all on one pattern they don’t all need to be of the same colour. Use the screen on your ScanNCut to delete which parts of the design you don’t want to cut this time round. You can use your saved ScanNCut template to do this as many times as you need.
Step 7
Load Pattern D - Bunny Bag Inserts and make sure it fits on the material you’re using and cut all pieces.
Tip: to use up scrap materials: place your scraps on your mat and use the background scanning function on your ScanNCut. This allows you to move and manipulate pattern pieces to fit onto the scraps perfectly.
Step 8
Create the bunny’s face. Place the cut outs, glue side down, onto the right side of the front bag piece. Turn your iron to as hot as the fabric you’re using can withstand.
Iron pieces to fabric. Repeat for the ears, on the fabric you’re using for the outside of the straps. It’s better to press the iron down hard, rather than move it around. If you move the iron back and forth you can dislodge the pattern.
Step 9
Use an appliqué or decorative stitch and sew all around the bunny’s face, ears and nose.Tip: use a contrasting thread to make the pieces pop and to bring your own touch to the design.
Step 10
Using a hand sewing needle sew the eye buttons in place.Step 11
Turn over the top seam on the outside pieces of the bag body by 0.5cm and iron. Hem using a standard straight stitch in a thread that matches the colour of the body of the bag (we used white). Repeat with the lining.Tip: remember to backstitch a couple of stitches at the beginning and end of your stitching to secure in place.
Step 12
Place the two pieces of the outer bag right sides together (so the bunny’s face is on the inside), pin and sew round the sides and the bottom using a standard straight stitch and a 0.5cm seam allowance. Leave the top of the bag (where you hemmed the edges) open. Repeat with the lining. Place both to one side.Step 13
Take one of the outer strap pieces (with an ear cut out on) and one lining piece. Place them right sides together, pin and sew round the side and top edge.Remove the pins. Trim the corner points off – be careful not to cut through the stitches! Turn inside out through the open bottom seam and push the corner points out carefully with a crochet hook or pencil. Repeat with the other ear.
Step 14
Cut small triangles around the corners of the bag – on the inside where you have sewn it together. Be careful not to cut through the stitches. The cut outs will ensure smooth corners when you turn the bag inside out.Step 15
Turn the main body of the bag the right way around, push the corners out and iron flat (be careful of the button eyes!). Iron the ears flat making sure the seams are lined up and straight.Step 16
Pin one ear to the front of the bag (on the inside) and one to the back. Make sure the ears extend under the top of the bag by 1cm.
Step 17
Keep the lining of the bag so it’s inside out.Step 18
Place the lining inside the body of the bag and line the top seam of both the outside and lining up. Make sure the ears are sitting in between the body and the lining, then pin in place.Step 19
Remove the accessories storage compartment on your sewing machine so you can use the free arm. Slip the bag over the arm so the bunny face is facing out. Stitch along the top seam of the bag, 0.25cm from the top securing the body, ears and lining of the bag together.
Step 20
Take the bag off your sewing machine and with the hand sewing needle attach the popper closure to the top of the ears. On the front ear sew one side of the popper to the lining fabric. On the back ear sew the other side of the closure to the outside of the ear, making sure they line up.
Step 21
You’re ready to go and find those treats!
