How to Sew a Bunny Quilt

Use the diagram below to copy out the bunny design onto dressmakers tracing paper. We’ve used squares for scale - we used 4” squares to create roughly a 1 x 1 metre quilt.

Using your scaled-up paper design, cut out pieces of each section in your chosen fabrics. I pinned each piece to my pattern paper to see which colours are next to each other. I did cut my pieces the exact same size to make it easier to cut out but you can add 1/4” seam allowance to each join if you want to.

Once you have all your shapes cut out, start joining them together with a 1/4” seam allowance. You may need to keep an eye on the order you stitch them, look for large blocks to make up then join each large block together. Press seams out as you go.

Once you have your bunny sewn together, use your iron to press the outer edges under by 1/4” or less.

Next, get your quilt front. Either a plain piece of cotton to your desired measurement or you can cut strips like I've used and sewn them together for more texture. (I cut strips of 4” x about 45” and joined them with a 1/4” seam allowance.) Make up your quilt frontage however you like.

Get your finished bunny appliqué shape and pin in place on your quilt front. Try and centralise it as much as you can. Stitch this in place very close to the edge.

Now you have your finished front, we can layer our quilt. Start on a large surface by laying out the backing fabric. Cut this slightly bigger than your final quilt size. Then lay your wadding piece on top. Then lastly add your bunny front piece. Use safety pins to keep all your layers together, pin from the middle outwards.

Now for the quilting. I used my even feed foot and a straight stitch to create rows of stitching going vertically up the quilt. Using the side of the foot to create the next row. You can quilt in whichever pattern or design you like. The important thing is to keep an eye on the layers and make sure you're not moving it too much or you'll get puckering.

Once you're happy with your quilting, use a long ruler and your rotary cutter to trim off any edges to make it all neat and to the exact size, you like.

Make up the edging by cutting random strips of matching fabric and sewing them together in a long line, I cut strips with a width of 2” and kept sewing until I had the meterage to go all the way around the quilt plus a little extra.

Use your iron to press your long strip in half, lengthways, to get a good mid-way guide for sewing.

Sew your binding along each straight edge using a 1/2” seam allowance (if strips are 2” wide). When you get to a corner, sew at a slight angle to take it off the corner. Then stop, take your binding out and fold it at a right angle (like pictured) to sew the next edge. Repeat until all four sides have binding, overlap the ends for neatness.

Use your iron to tuck under the other edge by 1/2” and then hand sew this pressed edge to the other side to finish.