Doctor Bunny

As Halloween moves ever nearer, I really need to pick up the pace on this costume. Now I've checked off yet another box on my list, in that I now have her beloved furry companion! Dr. Harris Bonkers is described as a New Zealand white rabbit, so this is what I'm trying to emulate. Cute, right?

I debated between my list of craft proficiencies while deciding how exactly to bring Dr. Bonkers to life. Crochet is a great vehicle for stuffed animals, and there are always a million knitting patterns. But sewing would work as well. After failing to find any good yarn-based patterns for a semi-realistic rabbit, I went with the latter craft. I thought I'd try my hand at pattern-drafting as well. It's not something I'm accustomed to, so I was prepared to fail! (Such is the nature of experimentation). The few times I've done it before, I've started by piecing paper together like so:

Okay, that's roughly rabbit-shaped! I found about half a yard of white flannel that I had lying around and cut out the pieces with about a quarter inch of seam allowance. If you work with light fabrics, I really recommend grabbing yourself a water-soluble fabric marker: it does wonders when trying to trace and label pattern pieces! Chalk works similarly for darker fabrics.

All pinned and set to sew! I did most of my sewing by hand just because I have limited access to a sewing machine around this time (sad, I know!). It was quicker for me to do by hand than to go through the work to borrow a machine. Since there were so many small pieces to this amateur pattern, I really made use of my marker for labelling.

leg. 
So detailed. So useful.

Individual components got sewn, stuffed, and attached to the main body. Next up was to add the detail work, with some felt eyes and an embroidered bunny nose.

He's really looking like a rabbit! But wait...

Does something look... off to you?

I can't quite put my finger on it...

...oh. Maybe it's that this bunny is seriously buff. Dr. Bonkers, have you been experimenting with steroids??? It seems that in making the paper pattern, I failed to take into account the stuffing, which makes the pieces considerably... bulkier than the paper suggests. Hence the ripped rabbit.

Well this just won't do. I have no problem with Dr. Bonkers refuting the dichotomy between brains and brawn, but this is just ridiculous. Time to do a little emergency surgery to reduce this bunny's bodybuilder physique.

I removed a considerable amount of stuffing and took in a lot of the fabric on the legs. This is where a stitch like the ladder stitch comes in handy: it's nigh-invisible on the front of a project if done well! It's a really useful stitch for finished stuffed animals and the like, and well worth learning. Anyway, back to the rabbit. Let's look at a side-by-side comparison of the back leg size, before and after.

Ohhh much better. Let's finish the job, shall we? We can't have a lopsided bunny!

Now that's a rabbit! He's still a bit muscular if you ask me, but that's okay. Dr. Bonkers believes that a sound body and a sound mind compliment each other. He listens to news podcasts while he lifts (with a spotter present, of course). I should probably follow his example.

Jokes aside, I'm really proud of how this rabbit turned out! Pretty good for an amateur pattern, eh? He's about the right size for a rabbit, too. There's just one thing missing, though...

Now that's a handsome rabbit!