Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Thanks everyone, glad you like Abigail!  She was definitely fun to make

Hi everyone,

Thought I better not post this in the Teddy Bear & Friends section as it's more of a doll, but I wanted to show everyone what I've been working on.

Her name is "Abigail" and she is my very first cloth doll creation!  Not sure what kind of style you could call this?  But I was quite pleased with how she turned out.  I drew the face with watercolour pencils and she is completely handstitched including her little cotton print dress.

I'd love to know what you all think of her :)

P.S.  She is now available in my Etsy shop

I've had it too, but not from bearmaking - it was when I was training to be a court stenographer - too much typing!

I went to a physiotherapist I think and had arm massages as all my muscles were inflamed too, had different hand exercises I had to do every day and wore braces for a while.  I haven't had it since.

Beautiful Catherine, well done! 

Great design brownen! very cute 

Just letting everyone know my clown bear was a disaster, in fact he's in the bin!  The head just went all weird and wasn't up to my usual standards.  Still hoping to get another one done before the deadline......

Thanks so much everyone for your comments, glad you liked the photo!  He is certainly a beautiful boy and the light of my life 

Thank you so much everyone for your replies and suggestions, it has really helped me a lot    :hug: Sounds like a few of you have some "oldies" but "goodies"

Taking in some fur samples definitely sounds like the way to go to find my perfect machine!

I mainly work with synthetics, but I do use mohair occassionally.  I'm starting to get into cloth dolls too, so I'll be using thin fabrics as well....hmm, alright, it's given me lots to think about

I'm thinking of buying a sewing machine primarily for bear and dollmaking.  I have no idea what features to look for, what are good brands etc...I only have a small budget.

The only time I've ever used a sewing machine was in high school and I hated it!  I'm hoping I have more patience for it now though 

Any recommendations or tips on what to look for would be appreciated.

Thanks

Hi all,

I just had to share this pic of my beautiful 15 month old son, Thomas after he had his bath the other day  :photo:   He's growing up so fast.  Poor little boy is teething so bad this week I haven't been able to leave the house in days!

I built both of my websites using Frontpage, but I started with a basic template to get me started and then customised colours and backgrounds and added text and graphics etc....

Congratulations on your website Kelly, you did a great job! 

Mine's nearly finished!

I've put it in my favourites too.  My mother-in-law has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer - it's a worthy cause.

I received that email too - at first I thought it was for the Australian Ronald McDonald House until I read it was in New York!

It's a great charity.

Very clever!  Interesting website too, never visited it before - thanks for posting the link

Now that's a good ad!     Thanks for posting Pauline, loved it 

They are just the sweetest pics Melissa, thanks for posting

Congratulations Nancy!  :clap:   That's great.  I love that magazine, I buy it when I can.

The fish is fantastic cat!  I love him   I just don't know how you come up with these ideas and execute them so beautifully, you are very talented!  :clap:

I think he's great Natasha!  I didn't notice he was a grumpy bum until you pointed out his angry lines :)

I don't have any pointers for you regarding aging bears, I've never done it myself but would interested to hear others suggestions.

Just wanted to pop my head in.  All the clown bears are just gorgeous everyone!    Well done  :clap:  :clap:

I haven't got around to making mine yet, but hopefully soon!  Deadline is coming up 

She looks like a bear to me!  I think she's just fabulous 

I've just had a quick look through my Teddy Bear Encylopedia.  There are several bears in there with vinyl faces that look a bit similar to your bear - made by Gund, Knickerbocker and Ideal.

Gorgeous!     Really well done 

Thanks Dilu and Jane for your replies.  Sounds like it will be good so I might go for it!