Bunny Bean Bags

Materials: Print fabric, about 10" x 12". Plain fabric scraps. Double fold bias tape to match plain fabric. White nylon tricot; a 6" circle and a 4" circle. White organdy strip, 1 1/2" wide, about 30" long. Fabric paints, black and red. Fine-point paintbrush. Absorbent cotton. Dried beans. Sewing thread. Paper. Pencil. Ruler.

Instructions: Enlarge body and ear patterns, below, for small and large bunnies by copying on paper ruled in 1" squares. For each bunny, cut two body pieces and two ears from print fabric. Cut two ears from plain fabric. For large bunny, cut four pieces of bias tape, 3" long; for small bunny, cut four pieces, 2" long, for arms and legs.

Place body pieces with right sides together; fold tape arms and legs in half crosswise and pin in place between body pieces, with ends at edge. Stitch body pieces together, catching in arms and legs; leave top open. Turn right side out.

For heads, gather around nylon tricot circles, taking stitches about 1/2" from edge. Before pulling gathers together, place a ball of cotton, about 1 3/4" in diameter, tightly packed, in center of nylon. Pull gathers tightly together and knot. For each ear, place a plain and a print ear tight sides together and stitch around, leaving bottom straight edges open. Turn right side out. Fold ears in half lengthwise. Carefully cut two slits in top of nylon head, from back to front, to fit bottom of folded ears. Insert bottom ends of ears in slits; turn in edges for slits and whip together, securing ears in place. Using picture above as a guide, with red and black paint, make features on front of head, painting eyes, brows, whiskers and two long front teeth with fine black lines; nose and lower lip red, inside mouth black.

For ruffles, cut organdy, 1 1/2" wide and 20" long, for large bunny, 10" long for small bunny. Hem one long edge of ruffle. Turn in and gather other long edge. Put dried beans in bodies; turn top edge of bodies in and gather. Insert excess fabric at bottom of head in top of body; pull gathers tight and stitch through gathers and head to hold securely. Gather ruffle around neck. Sew ends together.

Pattern Pieces: Large bunny body, small bunny body, large and small ears. NOTE: each square = 1"