Bunny Paper + Procreate =💜 🐾🐾

The most meaningful pieces I create are those that celebrate our beloved pets – sometimes as a celebration of the life of a special dog or cat who now lives in their owner’s heart. This handsome boy, Ashe, lived to the distinguished age of 22 💜.

First step, a terrific photo:

Those eyes! Next, import into Procreate (making sure to tap “fit screen”, circled in red):

You will want to do this to ensure you are actually working in the scale you want, not creating a pattern for a 3” cat…ask me how I know 🤦🏼‍♀️😉. Now, the fun begins…creating a new “layer” for every fabric you plan to use (eg, white, cream, medium grey, etc), draw the outlines of your pattern with your Apple Pencil. Un-click the base photo layer and you can see you the pieces of your pattern line up:

At this point you may be wondering, why a layer for each planned color of fabric?

Ah, this is where the magic of Bunny Paper comes in! No more tracing. For each color, press the Mistyfused fabric to the paper and run it through the printer:

Simply peel the fabric from the Bunny Paper, trim your pieces and line up to fuse – it’s an incredible time saver! Each sheet can be re-used multiple times. https://www.mistyfuse.com/products/copy-of-bunny-paper-8-sheet-package

Most of the kitty fabrics here are from Windham Fabrics’ awesome Lava Solids batik line – I simply love it! http://anthologyfabrics.com/fabrics/lava-solids/ As soon as these fat quarters hit my studio, I Mistyfuse them so that they are ready to use. (Tip: save all fused batik scraps by color for future artwork…I use gelato jars with screw top lids.)

I find that my iPad can come in handy as a light pad as I align the pieces…

The eyes are my favorite part of these projects! I usually opt to employ reverse appliqué by carefully cutting the shape of the eye from the “fur” fabric, then backing it with the perfect scrap of green. Ashe’s eyes were mesmerizing and I sifted though many possible green fabrics to create the right effect. Once fused, black Tsukineko ink re-created the black eyeliner look that he rocked!

Next, thread…

No shortage of my favorite Aurifil to recreate fur, eyes and whiskers! Different weights are perfect for different parts of the portrait: 50wt for eyes…28wt for fur (oh so much fur)…12wt for whiskers. Thread palette sorted:

Lots of stitching later…

…and yet more stitching ;)…and he was ready. A simple radiating stitch to quilt the background and my favorite small quilt binding (satin stitch once, repeat adding piping to create a more substantial binding) prepared the piece to be mailed.