Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

I'm a little late to the party, but to make a really stable jointed standing bear, use wood.

Really!!!   

Replace the cardboard with wood.  Round the bottom edges and make it a little bigger than the paw pad.  Sand it to get a good (edges even with the paw pad seam) fit.  It should be invisible from the outside.  Then get a square hardwood dowel.  Attach this to the center of the wood pad (nail, glue, whatever works).  Cut it to just beyond the center of the hip joint.  Drill to match the joint (assumes nut and bolt joint),  Taper/round the outside edge of the dowel near the top so it will not be noticeable in the leg.  Bolt it to the hip joint.

If you want to add some ballast to the feet, make a muslin bag to put it in first.  You don't want any pellets sneaking between the wood and the foot pads.

You can use a relatively soft stuff for the bear and it will still stand nicely.

Dale

Shelli:  My simplest sewing accomplishment: a few 4" bag bears made while I was in grade school.  My most complex: matching western square dance outfits and a wedding dress.

Laura Lynn:  My secrets out.  I guess I can't masquerade as one of the girls.

Dale

You can get realistic looking eyes by painting the backs of clear eyes.  Just clean them first with alcohol and use model paint or some other enamel.  The fine details of the iris require a single bristle brush and need to be applied first.  Like painting on the inside of a window, you apply the details first and the background last. 

Dale

Yes, I have made a few bears (about a dozen).  Most of them are 2" and under.  I have been sewing since childhood.

Dale

PS: See you in Albuquerque

When sewing on a normal pad, you replace the tip of one side of the arm with felt.  When you want the pad on the bottom of the arm, cut the pad as you normally would and remove 1/2 of the material from each half of the arm (preferably the bottom half).  Dont forget to leave the seam allowance.

If you want the pad slightly smaller than the arm width, adjust the pad size and remove slightly less than half the arm width.

Step by step:
Cut out a piece of paper the "finished" size of the pad you want. 
Fold it in half lengthwise. 
Lay it on the arm pattern, lining up the folded edge with the arm bottom sewing line (finished size). 
Trace the top back (towards elbow) edge.  The front will be cut straight to the arm tip. 
Add seam allowance.

This will yield a smooth transition at the back of the paw and shape the tip of the arm to the paw pad.

Dale

Not a new hero....just an old tired one (who stayed up way too late last night working on a computer for his son).

For a dye to be permanent it must penetrate the fibers.  Wool, Mohair etc are protein fibers.  Rayon and cotton are cellulose fibers.  Synthetics are in essence plastics.  Each of these types needs a different dye base to penetrate the fiber.

Everything you ever wanted to know about what dye to use for which fiber can be found at:

http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/aboutdyes.shtml

A quote from their page:

"Your choice of dye depends directly on what kind of fabric you are using. You'll get bad results if you use a wool dye on cotton, or a cotton dye on wool, or either on polyester"

Dale