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Have you ever heard of the sweet Luna Lapin?
As the story goes:
"Luna Lapin was a quiet and kind rabbit. All rabbits are quiet, so it was not this that made her exceptional. What made Luna exceptional was the way she always said hello to passers-by and of course, her impeccable taste."Luna likes to read and draw, but more than anything she loves to sew, especially clothes!
She is the creation of Sarah Peel, and if you want to make you own Luna, kits are available on Sarah's Coolcrafting website (or, read on...).
Luna's wardrobe has gradually been filling with some lovely outfits as well, and now Sarah has written a book called "Making Luna Lapin" - preview at the end of this post - with patterns and instructions for Luna's clothes (and some for her brother Alfie), including the pattern of the stylish rabbit herself, of course. To celebrate the book (e-book and paperback versions), there will be a celebratory blog hop at Sew and So at the beginning of November. I have been asked to be part of the blog hop, so I thought it was high time to get acquainted with a more local cousin of Luna, who has been named Lily!
Lily Lapin
Lily is a full cousin of Luna and was created in my Studio, here in rural Ireland.
Lily has her origins in a place whose name derives from the Irish for "hill of the hares" and so, unlike Luna, she must be fully hare. There are no rabbits at all in this high bog land area! Since she is from the hare side of the family, her name should really be Lily Lièvre (French for hare), but a combination of a complicated family tree (rabbits...!) and the fame of Luna has resulted in Lily being known by the name Lapin (rabbit), just like her cousin. If nothing else, at least it is a little bit easier to spell for English speaking people...
Since Lily came to life in the green land of mists, mysteries and fairies (and dare I say it, leprechauns...), she has a touch of magic, too. This is quite obvious when you look at her closely: She has an unusual light blue skin tone and a rather pale nose, as well as dark and mysterious eyes. Of course she shows many similarities to her famous cousin, too: Have a look at her gorgeously bright Liberty inner ears, for example!
Lily came together really fast, thanks to the great pattern in "Making Luna Lapin". With step by step instructions and full size pattern pieces putting her together was a most enjoyable project! Using wool felt Lily was mostly sewn by hand, and when I make another Lapin family member I don't think I will get the machine out at all. The hardest part was deciding which buttons to choose to give her face a pleasant expression...
Even though the photos suggest otherwise, Lily didn't have to show much skin for long, don't worry. If nothing else, it would be much too cold for that! Fortunately, she has also inherited Luna's interest in sewing, and loves to make her own outfits! In her inspirational studio (or more fanciful "atelier", as the more elegant French Lapin relatives like to call it) she has developed a flair for sewing tasteful clothes with the help of Luna's book, and so her wardrobe is gradually filling up just like Luna's.
With the help of "Making Luna Lapin", a lot of sewing (and some knitting) has been going on, and a complete outfit for Lily has been created! However, more details on all that will have to wait till it is my turn on the blog hop next week. I hope to see you there!
edit: see the clothes I made at "the wardrobe of Lily..."
I leave you with a preview of the book:
And I'm off to sew, of course!
Sandra
