Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Perhaps your felt head had more stretch when you stuffed it? But in any case, I'm jealous! My realistic bear has been put off until I get the basics of doing a proper teddy head! But yours turned out lovely and definitely an outcome that you've got significant bragging rights about! Great work! 

I would have to agree with the simple is best. Have you considered how you're going to attached the head? I don't see any neck armature there. You definitely want what ever is going to be supporting your neck to be part of the rest of the skeleton, just for stability and I've found it's best to twist usually two to three 16gauge wires together to create any spine/neck piece. You really don't have to go overboard on the batting wrapping, you'll be surprised at how well the synthetics cover the batting and hides the feeling of the armature beneath. Also once you have your fur in place, you can tuck poly fluff into any spot you think needs rounding out. I wouldn't worry too much about tying the batting down to tightly, it will wrinkle and frustrate you to no end!
If you pop over to the new members section, I posted a pic of my recent dragon. I've got a few inbetweens of him in progress if you'd like to see..  But what I was getting at is he's got a very very simple armature and light batting with poly fluff to round his hip and you can't feel anything but soft and fluffy for the most part

(Sorry, I ramble!    )

I've got a walking foot... I never even thought about it but maybe I should look for one that my foot o
Is compatible with!

Thank you soon much for bringing that up! I wasn't even thinking of the holy grail of furry fabric sewing!

So a little while back my old workhorse Sears-Kenmore Sewing Machine gave up on me and I'd like to get my hands on a new one. This is where you wonderful experts come in! Can you please give me any ideas on what to look for in a new machine? I didn't use my old one for anything but seaming art doll patterns, and now it's going to be Teddys (teddies?) I'm determined to get this artist bear thing right! I'd like to stick with a simpler machine, only because the ones with all the bells and whistles confuse me, but how simple is too simple? Is there such a thing as too simple?

I've decided to get one new and boxed, I had to do lots of babysitting with my old girl during the last little bit and I don't want to be surprised by a new used machines quirks... I just want to sew!

Thank you for any input and info out of your wealth of knowledge you can share on this topic!

Thank you so much for sharing your opinions! Your bears are all so lovely, I figured that this crowd would be the best to bolster my courage! And courage I need because I just bought myself some black and some white mohair because I thought the fuschia would look wonderful put into a panda like design but couldn't make up my mind on whether to use it for the dark or light sections.. So I got both! ?

I've learned my lesson over low quality and high quality with the faux furs, and I totally understand the difference now, I wouldn't dare purchase the bottom rung quality fabric to start with again! What a disaster that turns out to be!  I'd be doomed before I even began!

And thank you for the tips you left for me on my intro post, Becky! I'll be honest, i find cutting out the pieces of the patterns the most tedious part and a reminder to snip and don't rush is appreciated :)

Is it safe to assume that mohair behaves like a good quality faux fur? Do  I need to treat the cut edges to keep them from fraying or do the backings vary with the manufacturers, or is it fairly safe to assume most mohair I purchase won't fall apart on me half an inch in from where I cut and leave me finding fur in everything for the next six months?

Actually! I think I'll give the lovely Goldie pattern a go first once I figure out which of my new mohair purchases to pair with the fuschia! There's so many examples of people succeeding with it that design that maybe it will lend to my confidence!

In doing art dolls, I've used both high quality, low quality and everything in between in the faux fur categories, pieces that stretched and shed and unraveled, and pieces that could have been from a real animal, and I've used real animal pelts themselves as well with some beautiful results. But really nice synthetic is hard to get my hands on without ordering internationally, and if I ever get to the skill level I'm aiming for, I need to use mohair somewhere on this journey.

So.. I have this beautiful piece of kid mohair in purple with fuschia tips, and I'm terrified to touch it! The colour was so spectacular that I just couldn't resist purchasing a chunk but on the same note, it's so pretty that I'll be heartbroken if I wreck it Is faux fur harder or easier to work with? Am I worried about nothing? Or am I totally justified in being nervous?

Are there any tips for working with mohair that differ from faux fur?  Any help in banishing my fear would be greatly appreciated!

- Amber

(I know it's been years, well, I noticed after I typed out my reply, so I'm going to submit on the grounds that you never got one.. if you're still active? )

My guess is that there is a market for faux fur/synthetic bears out there, only because one of my favorite artists sells quite a few, and for a pretty penny, almost instantly once they go up for sale. Despite the fact she's across the planet, her faux fur line is amazing and after a few horrid attemps with ordering from an American company I've only ordered from her, at a much more affordable rate. I use synthetic myself only because I'm terrified of ruining mohair... I'm rather new with the actual teddy design so the chance of ruining the one chunk of kid mohair I have terrifies me! ?

https://furaddiction.myshopify.com/coll … tist-bears

Maybe it will bring someone else hope even if you yourself are no longer interested in finding an answer?