Cotton Plush Bunny, Sage Butterfly Dress

Some soft toys are made for chewing and dragging through the mud. This one sits a little higher on the shelf. She comes in a sage green pinafore with butterflies drifting up the skirt, long soft ears, and fine green-striped legs that dangle off the edge of wherever you sit her. She is the one a child grows into and then quietly refuses to grow out of. Australian-made, and built to be kept.

Cotton, Linen, and a Dress Worth Noticing

Soft cotton with a linen face, about 35cm tall sitting down, and light enough to perch on a shelf or a bed without toppling over. She wears a soft sage pinafore that ties in a little bow at each shoulder, with butterflies in pink, coral and butter yellow scattered up the skirt, and her legs are done in a fine green and white stripe. Long ears in the same soft sage, a calm linen face, and a gently stitched mouth.

Like her counterpart in the range, she is made in Australia, which is a genuinely rare thing to be able to say about a soft toy at all. Most plush comes off an offshore line by the thousand. She is made here in far smaller numbers, and it shows in the finish.

The Dress Is the Whole Point

Plain, she would still be lovely. The dress is what makes her a keepsake. Each butterfly is a separate little appliqué, and they sit at their own angles up the skirt, no two arrangements quite the same, so every one of these bunnies turns out subtly its own. The pinafore ties in a soft ribbon bow at each shoulder that a small person will absolutely try to undo, and probably will. She is almost too pretty to hand to a toddler, which is exactly what you should do with her anyway.

The Nineteen-Year-Old Test

I bought this one for Asha. Asha is nineteen. She runs our Instagram, she has a diploma, and she is at uni training to be a teacher, so by any reasonable measure she is a grown adult. She also still keeps a cuddle teddy on her bed and made no attempt to hide it when this one turned up. She just claimed it. Next month she flies out to travel around the world, and she has informed me the bunny is going with her, in the top of the backpack, across however many countries she gets to. I did not expect a nineteen-year-old to be my toughest quality check. Apparently it passed.

Three Reasons She Gets Chosen

More Keepsake Than Teether

Worth knowing before you buy, because it changes who she suits. With the little dress, the butterflies and the beaded eyes, she is more of a keepsake and a nursery piece than a toy to hand a teething newborn to chew on. For the very littlest, she is one to sit on the shelf and grow into. For toddlers and up, she is fair game for cuddling to bits.

If you want the rugged, straight-in-the-mouth first friend for a newborn, her counterpart in the grey dungarees is built for exactly that, with a stitched felt face and nothing to work loose. The two of them make a natural pair, one for now and one for later.