Stikkord: easter

DIY EASTER BUNNY AND CHICKEN

DIY EASTER BUNNY AND CHICKEN



MAKE CUTE EASTER FELTIES WITH YOUR CHILDREN – COMES WITH A PRINTABLE TEMPLATE

Photo: Hege Espeland Lygre

PUBLISHED IN A NORWEGIAN MAGAZINE

In 2016 I designed these easter felties for a Norwegian magazine called «Foreldre & Barn» (meaning «Parents & Children»). Every year since then I’ve always remembered them after Easter has already passed, but finally I managed to got them out prior to Easter.

Maybe they can become a fun project for you and your kids this Easter? 🙂


To help you make these cute easter bunnies and chickens I made you a free template which makes it easy for you to cut out the different parts. Eyes, nose and other decor is then glued on, before you sew the body together. A fun easter activity for children and adults to do together.

The assembling of the body can be done on a sewing machine by an adult, or it can be sewed together by hand with back stitch or blanket stitch (scroll down for illustrations on how to sew the different stitches).
Older children can do this on their own, and it doesn’t matter if the stitches are a bit wobbly, cause these felt figures look charming either way. Both the cutting and sewing are also good exercises for developing the childrens fine movements, and with a little bit of help from an adult this project is suitable for children from the age of 4 and up.


YOU’LL NEED:
• Felt
• Scissors
• Sewing needle
• Sewing thread
Pins
• Glue
Stuffing / Polyester filling
Greeseproof paper
• Marker

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Print out the template on paper size A3 (297×420 mm) and cut out the parts or transfer them to a greeseproof paper.

2. Fasten the cut out templates with pins on the felt and use the scissors to cut around them (you can also draw around the template straight onto the felt, but remember then to not use the sides with the marker lines as the front). The body is cut out in 2 parts, front and back.

3. Fasten arms, legs, wings, ears etc. with some glue on one part of the body, then they will more easily stay in place when you sew the parts together.

4. Put the other part of the body on top and fasten with pins (look at photo below).

5. Sew around the whole body with back stitch or blanket stitch (or any stitch of your choosing). You can also use a sewing machine, but either way remember to leave a small opening to make room to stuff it with filling.

6. Stuff the body with filling and sew together the little opening from the previous step.

7. Attach eyes, nose and other decorations with glue.


TIPS!
• Decorate the felties with beads, buttons, lace etc.
• If you don’t have black felt for the eyes you can draw them directly onto the felt with a black marker.
• Fasten a thread from the top of the head and hang them in the window or hang several together in a garland.
• Use only one part of the body and glue it onto a piece of paper or cardboard and turn it into a nice picture, or maybe an easter postcard that you can send to someone you love.

TEMPLATES IN SIZE A3 – CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO OPEN UP THE PDF

(The instructions on the template is in Norwegian but it’s the same as described in this post).


YOU CAN TRY ONE OF THESE STITCHES TO HANDSEW THE BODY TOGETHER (back stitch on the left and blanket stitch on the right)



HAPPY EASTER!



CROCHET EASTER EGG – Free crochet pattern (US terms)

CROCHET EASTER EGG – Free crochet pattern (US terms)

Easter is coming up but there is still time to make more Easter decorations. Here´s a pattern for some cute and simple crochet eggs that you can make in one evening!


DESIGN AND PATTERN: HEGE ESPELAND LYGRE
Please read the Terms of use for my crochet patterns.


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What you´ll need:

  • Yarn – thin cotton (the type you use on doilys)
  • Steel crochet hook – I used a hook with metric size 1,25 mm. I couldn´t find the exact US measure but a 1,15 mm is a steel hook 10 and a 1,3 mm is a steel hook 9
  • Easter egg – 3.5 inches/9 cm (height) x 2.4 inches/6 cm (thickness)

Stitches/Abbreviations:

  • ch(s) (chain(s)
  • sl st (slip stitch)
  • sc (single crochet)
  • dc (double crochet)
  • ch sp (chain space)
  • st(s) (stitch(es)
  • rnd (round)
  • 2 dc tog (2 double crochet together/decrease)
  • Here you can watch my videos on how to crochet the different stitches

Misc

  • Every rnd starts with 3 chs, they count as the first dc.
  • I haven´t tested the gauge for this pattern, if the «cover» is too big or too small for the egg you can try changing to a smaller og bigger steel crochet hook, or you can make one or two more or less rounds before you begin decreasing on rnd 10.

PATTERN

Chain 6, make a ring by joining with a sl st in the first ch. Start with 3 chs on each round (count as the first dc).

Rnd 1: The entire rnd is crocheted inside the ring: (3 dc, ch 2) x 4 = 3 dc + ch sp x 4

Rnd 2: (1 dc, 2 dc in next, 1 dc, ch 2) x 4 = 4 dc + ch sp x 4

Rnd 3: (2 dc (means that you make 1 dc in each of the next two st), 1 dc between second and third st, 2 dc, ch 3) x 4 = 5 dc + ch sp x 4

Rnd 4: (2 dc, 2 dc in next, 2 dc, ch 4) x 4 = 6 dc + ch sp x 4

Rnd 5: (3 dc, 1 dc between third and forth st, 3 dc, ch 5,) x 4 = 7 dc + ch sp x 4

6. omg: (3 dc, 2 dc in next, 3 dc, ch 5) x 4 = 8 dc + ch sp x4

7. – 9. omg: (8 dc, ch 5) x 4 = 8 dc + ch sp x 4

10. omg: (3 dc, 2 dc tog, 3 dc, ch 4) x 4 = 7 dc + ch sp x 4

11. omg: (3 dc, 2 dc tog, 2 dc, ch 3) x 4 = 6 dc + ch sp x 4. After this rnd you must continue working on the egg.

12. omg: (2 dc, 2 dc tog, 2 dc, ch 3) x 4 = 5 dc + ch sp x 4

13. omg: (2 dc, 2 dc tog, 1 dc, ch 2) x 4 = 4 dc + ch sp x 4

14. omg: (1 dc, 2 dc tog, 1 dc) x 4 = 12 dc

Make a string if you want to hang up the egg.

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Good luck! 🙂 

If you use my patterns please link back to www.HELdesign.com.
And if you need any help just leave me a comment in the comment box below or e-mail me at: hege@heldesign.com.


Would you like to learn how to crochet? Visit my YouTube channel, there you´ll find videos of the basic stitches and with time there will also be special stitches, various projects and requests.

Contact me if you have any questions 🙂