Give your floor a great big bear hug with this playful grizzly rug! Using a patchwork of floral fabrics, stitch together the body of the bear and then add the details (eyes, nose, ears and paws) with blanket stitch in coloured thread.
Have fun with a bearskin shape for this playful rug, or get inventive and use any animal outline you desire! Our tip? Pick up fabric remnants (upholstery pieces are ideal!) to keep costs down.
Beary nice!
BEAR RUG
Gather your supplies
- Large piece of brown paper
- Remnants of furnishing fabrics in various sizes
- Sewing machine and thread
You’ll also need
Ruler; pencil; marker pen; large scissors; small, sharp scissors; Perle cotton No 5 in one or two colours to coordinate; embroidery needle
Here’s how
STEP 1 Using ruler and pencil, mark up large piece of brown paper into a grid of 20cm squares with same number of squares as Bear Rug Diagram (see page 2).
STEP 2 Working on 1 square at a time, use ruler and pencil to draw bear outline shown on Bear Rug Diagram (see page 2) onto larger grid.
Trace over outline with marker pen.
STEP 3 Cut around shape with large scissors to create a pattern.
STEP 4 Using diagram as a guide, draw in eyes, ears, nose and claws and use small, sharp scissors to cut them out.
STEP 5 Arrange your chosen fabric remnants into a rough patchwork design a little larger than size of your pattern. (Remember, when cutting smaller pieces, that it is easier to join sections that have a common measurement, such as length, even though width might vary. This will save you having
to ‘set in’ awkward corners.)
STEP 6 Once you are happy with layout, use sewing machine to sew pieces together with French seams, as follows: With wrong sides facing each other, sew 2 pieces together, allowing
a 5mm seam. Fold pieces together along seam line with right sides facing each other and stitch again, allowing a 1cm seam. Press seam to 1 side so that it lies flat. Continue until all your fabric remnants are joined into a single piece of patchwork fabric.
DOWNLOAD THE PROJECT SHEET HERE
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