Week 3 – yay!
If this is all new to you and you are wondering what this SAL is all about – please go to this page for all the details.
This week, we are going to be stitching the wonderful inquisitive rabbit.
All the stitches are completed with 2 strands of DMC in the colours given unless otherwise stated.
Woodland Rabbit
Stitching the Rabbit
Just like you did for the Fox – the rabbit is stitched mainly in Long and Short stitch. Here’s the stitch guide for all the little bits that make up the rabbit…
As you can see, apart from a few little areas, the main area is long and short stitch.
About the thread…
#105 is a variegated brown. If you unwind about a metre and a half you will see that the colour varies from dark brown right through to a very light beige – the colour change is subtle on the skein however – you will find when you stitch a small shape like this rabbit – it doesn’t always look so subtle.
If you look at my rabbit above – I started on the body with the darker shade – by the time I stitched down to the feet – you could see the colour variations subtly. When I got to the head – the thread was on the lighter end of the spectrum which I did on purpose and I’ll explain a bit more as we go.
Start with the body…
As always with long and short stitch – outline the area you are going to fill in with back stitch first.
Treat each of the areas on the rabbit as individual shapes and fill with long and short stitch. There are 3 shapes to fill in on the body with #105…
- The right hind leg shape
- Small hind Leg Shape
- Front Paws.
Start with the right hind leg shape: Using the photo as a guide, stitch from the top edge downwards to the foot. The arrow indicates the stitch direction you are trying to achieve…
Next, move on to the smaller hind leg:
Don’t merge the shapes by blending them into each other. Stitch up to the edge of the shape with the long and short stitch so there is a distinct line – this helps to define the area otherwise it will all look like a big brown blob.
Finally, fill the front paws shape… The paw on the right is supposed to look like it is over the paw on the left. To achieve this – stitch down to fill the left one first and then start at the top again and go down and fill in the right paw. Use the white arrows for stitch direction.
To Complete the Rabbits Body…
Stitching the Head…
Outline in Back Stitch first.
Fill with long and short stitch vertically on the face – leave a gap for the nose. Extend up in to the ears and leave the centre of each ear free.
When I started to fill in the head, the variegated thread was dark brown (above picture on left) and then it quickly went to light. I didn’t like the sharp change in colour as it looked odd so I stitched over the dark bit again with the lighter colour. This looked better to me as the head blended nicer.
Your thread will do different things so your rabbit will look different which is absolutely fine – it doesn’t have to have a light head like mine – it was pure chance my thread went light when it came to the head – it is definately the same colour thread just happened to have a colour change at a distinctive point!
The darker brown back stitch on the edge does show through a bit but this doesn’t bother me as it still matches and doesn’t look out of place.
To finish the Rabbit…
Use the colours and stitches above to fill in all the areas still left to fill.
For the eyes, use 2 strands of black and stitch a french knot (wrap twice around the needle) for each one.
For the Nose, stitch the triangle in small straight stitch and then stitch a tiny vertical stitch from the centre down to finish.
And now you should have your wonderful rabbit proud as punch in his (or her) spot on the sampler.
Next, Stitch the Tree and Leaves…
Last week, you completed some leaves in fishbone stitch, so this should be a nice little recap for you…
To finish the block… #221 – Back Stitch around the edge.
And that’s Week 3 all done.
Share your finished block on the Happy Stitching FB Group or send me some pics and I’ll post them here.
Don’t forget you can also share your stitching on Instagram with #stitchdoodlesembroidery.
Happy Stitching!
Don’t forget – you can join in any time and take as long as you want!
Find out all about how you can get the pattern and join in with all the fun here.
Also, check out how everyone else is getting on and share your progress with the Happy Stitching FB Group…
Hi,
I love this SAL but would like to print it. Please tell me how to do this. I have looked on your site for options, but can’t find any.
Thank you.
Hi Josie, with this being a free tutorial, the blog posts are not in a printable format – they are intended to be followed along online. I will be providing a full pattern after the stitch a long is finished which you will be able to purchase from the shop. in November. x