The brightly colored streamers on this adorable Easter windsock flap gently in the breeze, bringing a welcome touch of spring to your yard. Three smiling bunnies romp about a cylinder of pink ripstop nylon, a material that holds up well to the elements. This is a fun project for those with a little experience in appliquéing.

You will need:

60" -wide ripstop nylon fabric: 1/4 yd yellow, 1/4yd purple, 1/2yd raspberry pink, 1/4 yd turquoise, 1/2 yd white
1/2 yd of fusible webbing, such as Wonder Under
28" length of plastic tubing with inside diameter of 3/8"
2 ½" length of 3/B"-diameter dowel
Three 24" lengths of string
Black fine-tip permanent marker
Swivel hook

tape measure
scissors
pencil
towel
threads to match fabrics
fabric glue or glue gun
long needle with large eye

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What you do
(114" seams allowed)

Cutting

1. Using grid lines on ripstop nylon fabric as guides, cut two 4" x 45" lengths from yellow, purple, raspberry pink and turquoise fabrics for streamers. From raspberry pink fabric, also cut one 5" x 6" piece for cars and eyes and one 13" x 26 1/2" piece for main section of windsock. From white fabric, cut one 9" x 35" piece, one 4" x 26 1/2" piece and one 3" x 26 1/2" piece.

Fusing

2. Note: The right side of ripstop nylon is the shiny side. Bond fusible webbing to wrong side of 9" x 35" piece of white fabric by pressing with iron set on steam and following manufacturer's directions. Bond fusible webbing to wrong side of 5" x 6 " piece of raspberry pink fabric. Using full-size patterns, trace three bunny shapes on paper backing on white fabric; trace three eyes and three inner ear pieces on paper backing on raspberry pink fabric. Cut out all pieces, leaving paper backing on each piece.

3. Remove paper backing from the bunny shapes and, following manufacturer's directions, fuse bunny shapes to raspberry pink main section, spacing them evenly.

Appliquéing Note: Do not hurry when machine appliquéing; guide fabric under the presser foot slowly. Experiment on scrap fabric to get the feel of machine appliquéing and to get the proper setting on your machine.

4. With sewing machine set for close zigzag stitch, machine-appliqué raw edges of each bunny to main section, using white thread.

5. Remove paper backing and fuse one inner ear and one eye to each bunny, then appliqué each piece using pink thread.

Assembling

6. With right sides together and edges even, machine-stitch 4" x 26-1/2" piece of white fabric to top of main section and 3" x 26 1/2" piece of white fabric to bottom of main section. Using appliqué stitch, topstitch along each seam to give the windsock a finished appearance and to prevent unraveling.

7. Hem each streamer on all sides: Turn fabric under 1/4" to wrong side; turn under 1/4" again and topstitch. Turn under bottom of main section to wrong side and hem.

8. Arrange streamers and attach to main section: Place right side of one short end of each streamer to wrong side of bottom of main section. Overlap streamers, if necessary, to fit 111cin exactly along length of main section: do not leave spaces between streamers. Machine-stitch in place.

9. Turn top of main section 11-12" to wrong side; press, using iron on a cool setting. Turn raw edge under 1/4" and machine-stitch close to this fold to form a casing. With right side facing, machine-stitch short sides of main section together, leaving casing ends open. Turn windsock right side out.

10. To determine length of plastic tubing needed, measure width of flattened windsock and multiply by two; cut tubing to measured length. Insert -1/8"-diameter dowel into one end of tubing. Thread tubing through casing; connect other end of tubing to dowel. To close casing, fold one casing edge over the other; apply fabric glue to secure; let dry.

Finishing

11. Using long needle and one 24" length of string, insert needle at casing seam line, going from inside of windsock to outside. Reinsert needle 1/4" to side of first hole, going back to inside to form a loop on outside of windsock. Adjust string to make ends even. Push both ends through loop and pull ends to close loop snugly against top of windsock.

12. Repeat step 11 to attach two more lengths of string to top of windsock, spacing them evenly. Knot all string ends together about 4" from the ends.

13. With black fine-tip permanent marker, fill in nose and draw lines for leg, arm, eyelashes, mouth and whiskers on each bunny.

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