Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Having never done much more than sew a button on Stitch was a bit like jumping into the deep end of bear making. Made out of material scraps laying around the house he now sits on his own pin cushion and glares at all my efforts.

Well six months later Bertie was completed. Around 5 inches high, fully jointed and made from 6mm sparse mohair. Lots of mistakes but a bit of progress I would like to think.

My bears are just made for my enjoyment but our first grandchild due very shortly is likely to result in making some  child friendly furry friends I don't doubt.

Stitch, my greatest critic

Bertie. Progress?

Hi Rin,

I've had just the problems you've found. Try what I might I just can't get the joint tight enough. If I understood your descriptions correctly I've tried them both and been left scratching my head wondering if I was just being incompetent or just plain stupid.

If it's any help I've used the methods described in books by Julie Owen and also in the recent book by Sue Quinn "making heirloom bears". Sue's book describes  jointing the head.

I think it's a case of "if it works it's right"

Which way do folk find it best to pack steel shot into small/tiny teds?

I like the feel that added weight gives to teds and have read what I can find on the topic. On the whole the suggestion seems to be to make up a small fabric bag, fill it as required, and pop it in the bears tummy. My problem arises with small bears, say around 4 inch or under, as a bag popped in either gets tangled up with the leg joints or leaves a  bit of a lumpy feel. I've tried padding around with poly stuffing. On my last effort I resorted to doing without any container and just filling the bears lower tum directly. This produced a nice result but was a bit tricky when it came to closing the seam without losing any filling. I'm using 1mm shot which I find gives a good feel.

Any advice for a newby much appreciated.