Jackalope Taxidermy

Hey there ghouls and creeps! This week I decided to tackle another faux taxidermy project that has been on my mind. Having a garment construction background, I don’t have as much experience drafting patterns for plushies. Consequently, these projects are typically more of a challenge for me. However, I do enjoy the troubleshooting that is often involved with these projects which is part of why I continue to include them in my project rotation. Let’s get started!

I rated the Jackalope Taxidermy project as being difficult. This project requires small seams with small pieces, which may be challenging for some. Other skills and techniques covered in this project are laser cutting, painting, applique, and some minor hammering.

Step 1: Antler Prep: Using the JPG file below, cut your antlers and antler support pieces in Cricut Design Space. Once cut, wood glue antler sets and antler armature pieces together.

Use chip clips to clamp sets together until thoroughly dry. Be careful to line up holes of antler armature to insert nails later.

Step 2: Painting: Attach hanging hardware to the back of your plaque prior to painting.

Using a foam brush, apply turquoise paint to your wood plaque until the paint is opaque.

Paint front and back of antlers white using a detail brush. Once white paint is dry, carefully paint antler sides turquoise.

Once turquoise paint has properly dried, draw horizontal lines with a fine tip permanent marker 1/4″ apart on antler front and back. After drawing the lines, I went back and made every line thicker to give them more visual weight.

Set plaque and antlers aside in a safe place.

Step 3: Cutting your Fabric: Use the PDF pattern file below to cut out your jackalope head pieces. Fabric types, piece quantities, applique placement. and other pattern details are noted on each pattern.

Step 4: Face Appliques and Head Front Assembly: *Important note: all seam allowances are 1/4″.

Peel paper backing off of each applique.

Using the applique guides on the head-front and neck-front patterns, position appliques and iron in place. Pro-tip: make sure that the head-fronts are mirrored before ironing appliques! Edgestitch around each applique to reinforce bond.

Sew both head-front darts.

Transfer eye mark located on the pattern to the backside of both head-fronts. Make tiny clips at the eye marks until you can negotiate a safety eye through each hole. Don’t put the safety eye backs on yet, you’ll want to remove the eyes again to attach the eyelids.

With the eyes still inserted, determine eyelid placement. Remove the eyes and edgestitch along the top of both eyelids.

Sew nose piece to head front pieces with a 1/4″ seam allowance.

Place head fronts with right sides together. Fold nose piece in half in-between head fronts. Sew a 1/4″ seam around the nose and jaw, leaving the back of the head open for turning(reference yellow line in the first photo). Pro-tip: Match up the nose appliques for a professional finish!

Flip head-front right side out, and reinsert safety eyes. Put on eye-backs to make them permanent!

Sew neck-front center seam and both darts. Press neck-front center seam open and darts toward center front.

After centering neck applique, iron in place and edgestitch to secure. Match up center seams of the head and neck-fronts and sew the top of the neck to the bottom of the head.

Step 5: Head Back Assembly: Iron Pellon 808 Craft Fuse to the wrong side of each ear interior piece. With right sides together, sew around the ear sides leaving the ear bottoms open for turning. Trim seam allowance near the ear tips and turn both ears right side out.

Sew center seams of both head-back and neck-back pieces. Clip head-back seam allowance and press open center seams of both head-back and neck-back pieces. Match up center seams of both part sets and sew the neck-back to the bottom of the head-back.

Using the ear notches on the pattern, attach ears to the head-back. Fold inside of the ears over a 1/4″, this gives the ears more dimension. Pro-tip: by attaching the ears with one stitch line, the stitching between the ears can be used as a guide when slip stitching the top of the head closed!

With right sides together, sew the front of the jackalope to the back of the jackalope. I found that pressing the neck and head joining seams up allowed the seams to catch better inside of the perimeter seam allowance. Start at the outside of one ear, and end the seam at the outside of the other ear. This will leave an opening at the top of the head for turning and later inserting the antlers.

Flip head right side out. It’s a bunny soon-to-be jackalope!

Step 6: Taxidermy Assembly: Insert nails through the antler support holes with antlers inside the support structure. Then thread the two additional support layers onto the nails.

Insert the support into the jackalope head and position the head and antlers on your plaque. To do this I visually centered the head and had the tip of the neck-front hit the edge of the plaque. Insert the nails through the back of the jackalope head.

Reposition the head and antlers on the plaque like before, and nail antlers into plaque. Continue hammering until nail heads are flush with the antler support.

Fill Jackalop head with Poly-Fil until all areas are smooth.

Slipstitch the top of the head around the antlers.

Congratulations, you’re finished! Hang up your faux taxidermy jackalope to compliment your other whimsical decor! This would be great in a living room, bedroom, or nursery!

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Ready for your next project? Here are some tutorials on the blog I think you’ll like! Frame Flip tutorial: https://britnijade.com/frame-flip/, Macrame Wall Hanging: https://britnijade.com/macrame-wall-hanging-w-bones/, or the Spider Web Macrame: https://britnijade.com/spider-web-macrame/. Enjoy!