Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

I made my walk out basement my art studio/craft room. I have to keep putting things away for I have one sneaky Siamese cat that will walk away with my fur and any item left out. I have a little living room on the side to sit and do hand sewing. It has a fireplace and TV too so it is nice and warm during our Minnesota winters.

Hi Caroline: what I do it flip my pieces and use my finger to keep my place to see how much space I take up in the fabric. You could use a marker that sewers use that disappears after a time period. Use the marker /pen to mark the fabric with notches as you move your pattern pieces. maybe that could help?

A thought would be to have an existing piece of fur or material that you already know the yardage. Lay out your pieces and estimate how much material it takes. So if you have a yard of fur or fabric, lay out your pieces to see how much room it takes and estimate how much you will need to order.

This is a cute book for teddy bear clothes:

http://www.amazon.com/Making-Lovable-Te … 0806997133

here is another book which covers bear making A-Z that includes making clothes for them:

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Ted … pd_sim_b_4

Thank you so much Jenny.

Jenny: one more question. Do you have to heat set the paint? If so on what speed and for how long?

Awwww....What a cutie! 

Thank you so much Jenny. 

Jenny: a couple of questions: what do you use the olive soap for and how is it used in your painting? Second, what is the ratio of paint:water:soap? Thank for being so generous with your tips.

Randy of Us Bears said it very well. We live in a world that lead some to want to "shock" because the teddy bear is so sweet, cuddly and comforting. The dichotomy of cute and horrifying somehow is appealing to, ummm,  shall I say, certain  types of minds. I wonder if they get some kind of thrill making others say "ewww" when looking at their bears. Though I think that is exactly the response they want to evoke. I am surprised there is a market for this. The world is very diverse and if people want to decorate their environment with this sort of stuff, more power to them. Thank goodness I don't have to live with it.

  So cute.

So cute. 

what a darling little bear. love your work! 

I understand your issue with knotting thread when hand stitching your bears. I too use Gutterman 100% polyester thread. The cotton thead knotted on me all the time. Also, many years ago, I use to drag the thread across bees wax. That worked well too. The key is to use polyester threat though.

I vacuum the cut out fur with my hand held dirt Devil. Word of caution, hang on the the bear pats tightly or you will be fishing them out of the bag. By doing this I don't have a problem with flying fur.

I am constantly fluffing and combing the fur? I use a dog comb to get the fur fluffed out.  If you have a long pile fur, you can mist it with water and fluff out or comb the fur in the direction you want it to go. some people use an alcohol-free moose to style the fur of their bears.

That is so cute! 

Fill the feet with ground glass or bebe's to the ankles. make sure the joints are real tight in the hips. Your teddy bear will stand great and will have a little heft!

my goodness that looks like it would hurt! And you know...there is always some fashion nut out there that will go out and buy them because they want to be with the "in" crowd or unique. I will stick with my sneakers....

Well I have several unfinished bears. I don't get a chance to work on my bears continuously, only when I get time. So what happens is that I forget about them or I get side tracked with starting another bear that seems more exciting to make. Sadly the later happens more often then not. So with that said, I hang my head in shame with those poor unfinished bears in my storage room collecting dust. Maybe someday, I will get around to finishing them.

Thank you for posting the tip. It was a wonderful tutorial on how to get the fur right. 

Well If you can't find an what you need, try using a wire hanger or electrical wire from a home depots store. I am not sure how big you bear is but the wire comes in various thicknesses. Just wrap one end of the wire around rhe screw of the joint and let it run down the length of the limb, stuffing around the wire so it sits in the center of the stuffed limb. Your bear will pose beautifully and it is economical!

Than you so much Jenny.

Thank you Jenny and Joanne. One more question: I used acrylic paints but it rubs off. I used folk art paint. So I think there must be different acrylic paints that are color fast. Correct.  Jenny you mention Createx. Is that only for airbrushing or can I put a dab on a paper plate and try to dry brush the color on the bear. Also, the shampoo tip is something intriguing. What are the proportions of shampoo to water? When you mix the solution, do you just rub it on the fur or wool felt to get it damp? And (I know lots of questions here) you add a dab of shampoo to the paint mix it around and put it on the dampened fur/felt? Is that the right process? Next, do you have to heat set the paint?

Thank you for all this information.

    very sweet.