This DIY felt bunny is probably one of my most versatile DIY felt ornament patterns, because you can make it in pinks for Valentine’s Day, in pastels for spring decorating, in natural colors for a woodland mobile, or in sparkling white for a wintry tree ornament!
Let me show you, step by step, how to sew your own DIY felt bunny ornaments – and be sure to check out my shop for the instant-download PDF pattern, which you can print on the dissolving stabilizer I used in this tutorial. You can also print the pattern onto freezer paper, or any printer paper if you’d prefer to simply trace the design onto felt.
DIY Felt Bunny Ornament Supplies:
- My Felt Bunny Felt Ornament Template
- Soft White Felt (not the stiff/rigid kind)
- White Thread (I like Coats & Clark Hand Quilting Thread – it’s thin enough for beading, but strong enough to sew the ornament together)
- Green Heavy Duty Thread (optional – for hanging)
- Black Thread (for the nose and stitching on the eye bead)
- Transparent Silver Glass Seed Beads (I typically use sizes 10/0 OR 11/0, but you can use what you have)
- White, Clear, or Silver Bugle Beads in both a 5mm AND 9-12mm size (this pack has multiple lengths)
- Pink 5mm or 6mm Bugle Beads (optional – for inside ears, could use white/clear or skip)
- 3 mm Black Bead (for the eye)
- 1″ White Craft Pom Pom
- Poly-fil or Wool Batting/Stuffing
- Beading Needle
- Hand Sewing Needle
- Short Fabric Sheers
- Printer
- Fine Tipped Sharpie + Printer Paper OR Gypsy Quilter Freezer Paper OR Stick N Stitch Self Adhesive Wash Away Stabilizer
- Stuffing Tool (optional)
How to Use My Felt Ornament Pattern:
This pattern is a digital download, available to use immediately. It’s scaled to 8.5 x 11″ and can be printed with any printer onto any paper, cut out, and traced. Alternatively, you can purchase Gypsy Quilter Freezer Paper OR Stick N Stitch Self Adhesive Wash Away Stabilizer. You can then print the pattern onto either material and follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Here’s a rundown of each method:
- Printer Paper: Print the pattern onto any printer paper, cut out the shapes, and then trace them onto your felt with a thin sharpie. Cut out the felt shapes.
- Freezer Paper: Print the pattern onto freezer paper, roughly cut out the shapes, iron them onto the felt and then cut out around the template. Remove the freezer paper. Benefit: it’s a steadier process than simply tracing and you don’t need to draw on the felt.
- Wash Away Stabilizer: Print the pattern onto stabilizer, roughly cut out the shapes, then stick them onto the felt. Cut out the shapes and stitch on the beads. Then dissolve the stabilizer with water. Benefit: this option allows you to take advantage of the additional details on my pattern, which indicate where to place the beads.
Pattern Usage Rights:
Please note: this pattern is copyright protected and is for your PERSONAL USE ONLY. It is not licensed to be shared online, used for commercial purposes, or sold.
How to Make a DIY Bunny Felt Ornament:
- Print out my felt bunny ornament pattern.
- If using plain paper: cut out both of the shapes and trace onto felt with a fine tipped permanent marker.
- Cut out both shapes, inside the marker lines, with short fabric shears.
- If using Freezer Paper or Wash Away Stabilizer: roughly cut out both shapes first, then either iron/stick onto felt.
- Cut out the both shapes, following the pattern, with short fabric shears.
- Remove the freezer paper, but if using wash away stabilizer you can leave it on for the beading steps below – remove before sewing together the ornament.
- Thread a beading needle with white thread, for the following 2 steps:
- Stitch on a sprinkle of glass seed beads for “snow”.
- Stitch on bugle beads for the chest “fur,” ears, and whiskers.
- Still using a beading needle, switch to black thread for the next step:
- Stitch on the 3mm black round “eye” bead (or use a black seed bead).
- Switch to a hand sewing needle and white thread for the following 7 steps:
- Using a blanket stitch, sew together the front and back of the bunny.
- Stitch starting behind the ears, around the face and along the bottom of the ornament until the bum (marked on pattern).
- Stop sewing and stuff the ornament with poly-fil batting.
- Use a pencil/capped pen or stuffing tool to work small sections of stuffing at a time into the face and legs.
- Once the bottom has been stuffed, keep sewing but stop every inch or so to add more batting.
- Repeat until the ornament is fully stuffed, and you’ve sewn the ornament fully closed.
- Once you have sewn the bunny closed, knot the thread to secure it, bury the end and trim the thread.
- Stitch through a 1″ pom pom, securing it onto the bum.
- Still using a hand sewing needle, switch to black thread for the next step:
- Add a few stitches, starting from the back, to create the “nose” shape.
- Knot the black thread at the back of the ornament (on the “nose”), bury the end and trim the thread.
- Still using a hand sewing needle, switch to green thread for the next step:
- To hang, use a needle to string (preferably green) thread across the top of the ear.
- Form a loop with the thread and secure with a knot.
Transferring the Pattern to Felt + Cutting Out:
For this tutorial, I’ve used the wash away stabilizer (which has quickly become my favorite method for transferring ornament designs to felt). After using my printer to print on the wash away stabilizer sheet, I cut it out roughly and stuck it onto my felt. I didn’t do this for photos (so the pattern is more clearly shown), but if you’re making this bunny cut inside the black lines right away:
Stitching on the Beads:
If you’d like to follow my pattern, I’ve indicated where to stitch on beads to achieve the same look but please feel free to get creative! To stitch on beads, I use hand quilting thread. Grab a beading needle and knot the thread. Bring the needle up from the back of the felt, slide on a seed bead, and then push the needle back down from the front of the felt, just a mm or two over from where you brought it up. Use your other hand, if needed, to help position the bead:
For my felt animal Christmas tree ornaments, I like to do a smattering of beads across the backs of my felt ornaments to capture the sparkle of “snow,” but if you’re doing a bunny for another season, you can replace with flower shaped sequins or pink heart beads! Here’s a closer look at the beading process, using the seed beads:
For bugle beads, I use a similar method: I bring my needle up from the back of the felt, slide on a bugle bead, but then I position it in place first. Then I push the needle back down, at the end of the bugle bead. To ensure it is doubly secure, I like to stitch through bugle beads twice.
For the eye, I use a 3mm round black bead and switch to black thread. I stitch on the bead using the same method as outlined above – although I stitch through a few times to make sure it’s secure, before knotting the thread at the back.
Rinsing Away the Stabilizer:
Before sewing the ornament together, simply rinse away the stabilizer under lukewarm water, gently rubbing away the material as it dissolves. Then allow the felt to air dry before continuing to sew. To speed up the drying process, you can place the felt between layers of a tea towel and iron on low/med heat (no steam/water). I didn’t snap a photo of this process with the bunny shape, but here it is demonstrated with my DIY Felt Polar Bear Ornament tutorial:
If you have followed my winter bunny pattern, you’ll find yourself with something like this:
Sewing the Ornament Together:
To sew the front and back of the ornament together, I use a blanket stitch. Start the stitch by bringing the needle up through the beaded half of the ornament. I do this in order to bury the knot inside the ornament. Then hold the two sides together and loop the thread around, bringing it up again – this time through both layers of felt. As you bring the thread through, you’ll create a loop – push the needle through that loop. That secures the thread and becomes the first blanket stitch:
To continue the blanket stitch, bring your needle up again, from the back of BOTH layers of felt, a few mm over. Then push the needle back through that loop, and repeat.
Here’s a look at the blanket stitch process continued:
Stitch the most intricate areas of a felt ornament closed, first (like the ears, face, feet, etc) because it’s easier to stuff those while the ornament is open from the other end. Here’s another look at how to do a blanket stitch, a lot further into the process:
Stuffing the Bunny:
I like to sew my ornaments so the most difficult parts to stuff (ears, feet) are sewn closed first. In this case, I started behind the ears and went around the face and feet before stopping at the bum. Then I stopped and used my stuffing tool to work batting into those small areas, before continuing to sew the bunny closed:
Stitching on the Bunny Nose:
To stitch on the bunny nose, I thread my needle with black thread and brought it up from the back, a few mm from the edge of the ornament. Then I wrapped the thread around the front of the face and brough it up again through the same place, repeating until I was happy with how the nose looked and then I knotted off the thread at the back:
The finished nose doesn’t need to be more than a few stitches, as seen below, but you can also make it more of a fan shape.
Sewing on the Bunny Tail:
To sew on the bunny tail, stitch up through the back of the ornament at the bum. Then push the needle through the centre of the pom pom and push the needle back from the front of the ornament, securing the pom pom to the bum. Then knot the thread at the back of the ornament, hidden under the pom pom, and trim excess thread.
The Completed Ornament + How to Hang:
Once you have finished your DIY felt bunny ornament, you can add thread to hang it – or stitch a row together to make a cute bunny garland.
To hang the ornament, I thread some dark green thread onto the ear so the bunny looks like it’s “leaping”. If you’d prefer your ornament to sit more horizontal, you can add the thread across the back of the bunny. I know some people like to sew a ribbon into the ornament during the blanket stitch process, and you can totally do that if you’d prefer, but I like the flexibility of this and also prefer how the green thread disappears on the tree.
The finished DIY felt bunny ornament looks adorable, it’s one of my favorite felt animal ornaments – but keep scrolling to see other color combinations for different seasons!
DIY Felt Bunny Ornament for Spring:
Below is a cute pale pink bunny ornament I technically made for Valentine’s Day, with a little applique heart, but it looks cute for spring too! But of course the pale aqua version – with aqua flower sequins – is my favorite. Hoppy crafting!!
More DIY Felt Ornament Tutorials:
Find all of my DIY felt animal ornaments patterns here, and check out these other blog posts for more DIY felt ornament tutorials:
- DIY Felt Seal Ornament Tutorial
- DIY Felt Fox Ornament Tutorial
- DIY Felt Polar Bear Ornament Tutorial
- DIY Felt Gingerbread House Ornament Tutorial
- DIY Beaded Felt Moon Ornament Tutorial
- DIY Beaded Felt Heart Ornament Tutorial
- DIY Felt Cookies Ornaments Tutorial
