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For artists and collectors sponsored by Intercal...your mohair supplier and Johnna's Mohair Store
I prefer Quilter's cotton as the mohair's backing is usually cotton and using the same fibre for sewing up as the backing is made out of causes less abrasion (if the fibre is stronger than the backing, it could wear it down in time) - using my experience as a handspinner, and years' of working with fibres and making fabrics, there! I found an imported brand (forget the name) which I can't physically break if I try to pull it apart, whereas the polyesters you often can.
If you think about it, those 100 year old bears will have been sewn with cotton or linen thread and they survive just fine. Although technically, the strongest fibre (if processed and spun in a certain way) is pure silk.
I have used Gutterman's which is polyester but only if it's a better colour match when I've done a bright coloured teddy.
For eyes and ears, I buy shoemakers' linen direct from a supplier I use when I make repro medieval shoes for re-enactment.
This beats anything I've found at teddy fairs or in the haberdashers' and is fine for standard teddy colours, and black and white. I've used it for years on handmade shoes and know it can take wear and tear, as the medieval shoes we have made are made inside out then turned, and nothing takes more strain than something you have done that to - then wear on your feet!
And it gets worse.
The second head for that bear, had a nose that went the best any nose has to date (and I'm a novice bear-maker only been doing this since Oct 2006). But you know what? I experimented with the head shape and the shape I'd already tried out in a longer mohair and it looked great - well, on reflection, despite its 'good' (for me) nose... I now decided I don't like head # 2 in this mohair on this bear. Off with her head!
Head 3 is on the sewing machine as we speak. Wonder what this nose will turn out like?!?
By the way I'm making 2 bears for a local craft fair competition. They have a category for people who have been doing their chosen craft less than a year, so I'm entering as a newcomer. I've found that the thought of them being looked at critically is helping me 'up my game' enormously. It's just a small local fair's 'toy' category, not specifically bears - so I'm hoping they won't embarrass me too much! But am finding the fact other people will be seeing these, not just friends and family, is making me improve my skills. What a learning curve this is!
On the plus side, look what I found - Teddy Club international's TV nose making masterclass.
I oversew them by hand first. Then machine sew them with the pad on top. I'll also make marks (little dots) right round a quarter of an inch in to remind me of the seam allowance. When I get to a seam, I stop, left the machine foot, check nothing's trapped, then carry on. I also tend to do this bit really slowly, sometimes even turn the machine by hand rather than use electricity so I can control it.
If I'm using leather, I handsew with a glover's needle.
LOL Christine. I just did a very pale grey one and was amazed I hadn't drawn blood once. On the home stretch, doing an ear, the inevitable happened - blood all over the bear's head and plenty of it! I sponged it off quick and lucky it left no mark, but that could have been several days' work down the pan! Like Sophie, mine prob have pet DNA - as my mini bull terrier follows me everywhere and is usually sat next to me when I'm making things! Maybe I should make bears with short, spiky ginger fur then there'd be no evidence! Actually doesn't seem to matter much with bears but it's worse when you;re knitting as the dog hairs seem to stick to wool!
Maybe you could find a specialist supplier who you can buy mail order, from? I've not needlefelted for years, but the needles I used came from a spinner's and weaver's supplier, and none of them broke. Also, I've noticed the things sold as 'leather needles' or 'glovers' needles' in local sewing shops or even craft specialists are feeble upto the 'proper' ones you can buy direct from a leather supplier. Again, the specialist ones seem to not only be stronger, but be in a different league from the stuff you buy in haberdashers'. And yet they cost the same!
Ah I just posted in a lighthearted way - nothing too serious. In fact, it struck me as funny. I'm not one to be defeated by anything - so ended up re-making the entire bear's head from scratch (as I'd already beheaded it and re-stuffed in case my nose wasn't stuffed hard enough, or something) - and then the first nose went on fine. It's just practice, as I'm a beginner. I think all in all, it took 9 attempts in the end. But no, I was just posting in a light-hearted vein, didn't mean to give the impression I was deeply upset!
Anyone beat 9?
What's your personal best (or should that be 'worst'?) for one teddy's nose? I'm on my SIXTH attempt with the latest bear's nose. Is that a world record????
Any tips or techniques for this? I'm making a couple of bears for a local craft fair competition, and I've seen some lovely bears with flowers/garlands on their heads. But how to do it? Sew them straight onto the bear's head and just build the design up til they look right? Or weave into some wire and make a separate garland (and how to hide the wire if I do that?)
Any recommendations?
From a natural dyeing point of view, mohair and cotton are not great news! Has occured to me that what I could most usefully do is take a small sample of mohair fibre, and maybe a little sample square of teddy fabric, and drop in each dye pot from now on, and see what happens! Is one of those ones where you'd need to build a range of hands on experience which I don't have, with these fibres. (Wool or silk - is a different matter!) But from now on, whenever I do a dyepot (and they're very irregular) will drop in some teddy samples (maybe alpaca too) and see how it goes.
Off the top of my head, I suspect substantive dyes like walnut husks, anything tree based with lots of tannin, and maybe the sort of dye pot like indigo/woad where you do repeated dippings and airings, might give the best results. But that's just a guess. We could also exploit the fact the fibre and backing take dye up differently, if it gave a depth to the colour, or something. But I really don't know. Thanks Bobbie, you've given me so much food for thought - now I'm going to start including teddy fibres and fabrics in my dye lots, just out of curiosity!
One thing we forget is that everything in the world was dyed with natural substances until 1861 - and look at the fresh and subtle colours you get on medieval tapestries, or, say, Regency patchworks. So natural dyes are not only ecologically sound but also last. And yet I've seen photos of 1930's red, pink or blue teddies where the colour has so much faded it's almost gone... So there is an aspect of durability to this, too.
I dye infrequently and may do 3 different lots in a week then none for 3 months, but will start experimenting and feedback on a new thread as I get results.
I oversew the pieces together by hand, then machine sew twice for durability. We made costume for re-enactors for many years and always tried to make things using authentic materials and techniques - so I enjoy making mine as close to the earlier bears as poss, in terms of materials and techniques - it's just my little way! Also my machine sewing is stronger than my handsewing! As we made costume for years we have about half a dozen sewing machines - most of them Edwardian (they're real workhorses). But I do most of the bears on my mum's old Brother machine which is the only electric one we have - she bought it in 1971, when machines were still solid metal! It seems to cope with anything. I've heard that the most mdoern machines are not great for bear making as they can sense the thickness of fabric, and 'read' mohair as much fatter than it is, so stitch too loose. I dunno if that's true?
Aw I'll do that. You tend to take your experience for granted and I didn't really think of my natural dyeing skills at all, when I started teddy making (only last October) as I know mohair isn't always easy to dye so presumed people would only be using chemical dyes (of which I have zero knowledge/experience!) But looking at this thread, it occured to me that natural dyed fibres would lend themselves to NF especially - something we'll have to explore! I'm a bit wary of getting into NF though as there's not enough hours in the day to do the crafts I already do! (Have started learning calligraphy too! Handy for bear labels, if nothing else!)
I've only been making bears since October and on probably on the 20-somethingth by now. Not sure as I lost count after 10.
I oversew all the edges by hand, then double machine sew as I'm interested in old bears and want to make them on the machine to be as close to the original as possible. But because of the oversewing, I'm not finding things quick!
Most of my bears are around 10", although I made one tiny mini bear (urgh!) and a couple 6-7" which were fun. And regardless of size, I spose I'm spending 12 hours or more. It seems with every new bear I make a new and interesting mistake - one bear has just been pretty well pulled apart and remade. I hadn't made any dressed bears but the two I'm working on now will be the first and have found that so far I've worked longer on the dress (as that was also re-made from scratch!) than on the bear! Also spend a lot of time browsing the charity shops (thrift stores) for vintage fabrics, interesting bits and pieces so am not even counting that time in! The latest bear will have a handmade patchwork dress with tiny patches, which will take me more hours than I dare add up but I do it whilst watching TV.
I've also recently gone over to just making the head first, and trying out prototypes etc. But am still a rank amateur and beginner. Getting a different thing *wrong* each time can add a lot of time to things.
Some beautiful creations here. Felting seems a 'freer' medium - I think I'm too limited in terms of talent to make animals but it is a useful skill, for bits and pieces.
Bobbie says:
"Spinners & weavers on some of my wool lists shot me down when I questioned this, but there's some sort of a stretching (I DO know they do this weighting to the hanks) or 'ironing' process involved which totally straightens out the natural crimp and curl in the production of top (those long, shiny, beguiling ropes of fiber that are so enticing when seen online but are much much harder to work with than the matte-looking fuzzy fibers.)"
Bobbie you are right - fibre loses its crimp during the industrial process that makes your tops, slivers, etc - in fact some mills go to the extent of putting the crimp back in, afterwards!
I suspect the fibre that's less good for spinning tht comes from crosses and meat sheep would be the best for NF - not the sort you can buy from established wool suppleirs, in other words - but the sort the farmers will give you for nothing if you ask! (Well here in the UK. My coalman - also a farmer - offered me 30 fleeces for nothing - he literally can't give them away! Ditto most farmers round here in Yorkshire!) Unprocessed fibre is messy smelly and revolting but probably the best for purpose if you can get it clean yourself.
How's Wensleydale for NF? I keep being tempted by the beautiful dyed locks I buy when I go up the Dales, here:
http://www.wensleydalelongwoolsheepshop.co.uk/
(Put that in for any Brits or anyone who may holiday here soon).
They would make brilliant teddy dreadlocks, and I keep wondering if I could NF them into my ted's heads? And whether they'd stay in locks and keep their integrity? What do you think, ladies?
This book is one of the standard intros to wool breeds and their uses although it was put together before NF really took off, it may still be useful to some of us:
http://www.amazon.com/Sheeps-Clothing-H … 1931499381
Although as I said above, the best wool for purpose is probably going to come from crossbreeds and meat sheep because they have not been bred to produce fine spinning/knitting/weaving wool for centuries, so the wool tends to be fairly low quality (therefore felts). Fournier's book will introduce you to the mysteries of wool counts, etc.
And for those in the UK, you can get entire raw fleeces for less than a fiver from:
http://www.britishwool.org.uk/
They publish a few guides to wools and wool quality, etc.
If anyone wants a hand with natural dyeing, do ask by the way - many natural dyes would have great affinity with teddy colours and to do naturally dyed 'eco-teddies' may well be a sellin point right now! Have been dyeing since the early 1980s, and have written many magazine articles about it to spread the word. Be nice to see the teddy world catching on to it!
[On my son's machine and it won't let me quote or do smiley, so forgive!)
I just made a dress for a bear and didn't like the finish, so hit on the idea of re-making the same pattern but cutting out a second one in organza, and sewing them together, turning inside out - voila! Very little more effort and you end up with a neat finish! Of course, there's only certain styles of bear dress you could overlay with organza or net - but as this is a party-going bear, I thought I could get away with it!
Oh these are fascinating answers - and I'm learning so much from them, so thanks to all who have replied here!
Have a Barnett drum carder - I think you can only get them in the UK, but for anyone in the UK who's thinking of buying a drum carder, I'd recommend them! (Just noticed on his website they're no longer being made, but spare parts are and they do come up 2nd hand from time to time....)
http://www.barnettcarders.co.uk/
Mind you for the amounts most people work in, you'd be fine with hand cards. I have some curved Schacht ones:
http://www.schachtspindle.com/products/ … arders.htm
Bearwise, felting's not my thing - although it might be fun to make some welt felted felt for clothes/paw pads at some future point. But you have explained a lot to me and sated my curiosity as I kept looking at NF bears and wondering...
Interesting about merino not being great for NF as the supplier I use most of all sells it specifically for that (and wool's very cheap in the UK, so 'merino' doesn't have the cache it might have elsewhere - even stuff imported from Aus!) I lived in the US a few years ago and was shocked to pay for a pound of wool three times what an entire fleece would cost me here in the UK - in fact, the farmers literally can't give it away, here! So it's a cheap option for us. I do admire the artistry of the NF bears.
I'm new to bearmaking (less than a year) but have been a spinner and dyer for 20 odd years, and first came across (and tried) needlefelting a few years ago, long before I started with teddies.
As a spinner who's worked with fibres - not just wool and silk but also mohair and alpaca, and others, for many years, I come with a bit of baggage. I have seen some amazing looking bits of beary needlefelting but as a spinner, everything I know tells me needlefelting isn't 'stable'. Also, that mixing fibres causes abrasion - the stronger fibre in a mix will abrade (break up) the weaker, over time. So felting wool onto mohair on a cotton backing may look good temporarily, but over time basically should fall apart - if everything I know as a textile artist, is right. Which is what would put me off needlefelting a face - as a spinner (and someone who has needlefelted wool on its own) in the past, I know that isn't a lasting thing. And yet people are using it a lot all of a sudden in this new context of bears. A fully needlefelted toy would not be stable either and also has other problems as it's not easily cleanable - but I can see it would have some integrity, as a fabric, even if it can't stand up to a lot. (I'm thinking of the Japanese lady who wrote the recent book on needlefelting toy dogs - and what happened to her models they showed on TV at Cruifts! Not pretty!) But I don't see how it can be anything other than temporary when attached to other fibres - especially ones as strong as cotton/mohair. What I'm trying to say is - how do artists who do a lot of needlefelted features on a mohair teddy know it will last? What do you do to it to make sure you won't end up with a faceless teddy in a few years? (Nightmare scenario 
).
As a spinner I have a houseful of merino and other good felting wool so this is of interest!
Has your friend tried to get it direct from the mill?
I had the same problem a couple of weeks back, and when I called the mill although it was a discontinued colour, they went and had a look and found 3 balls left. I only needed 1 but ordered all 3 'just in case'! If the makers sell direct to the public, they should be happy to go have a look for your friend!
1. Making that leap from using other people's patterns to designing your own complete bear!
2. Expression in faces.
3. Inspiration and ideas for new original bears - where to find it, the ideas behind your newest creations, etc.
Glad Gypsy's doing better. Hope she keeps getting stronger for you, every day! We lost of darling staffie Christmas week and am still not over it. We still have our other dog, fortunately - dunno what I'd do without her.
It's nice to see fellow fishie keepers here, too. 
I have 2 shubunkins in my 40 gal tank and they are my boys! We managed to keep one of my son's fairground fish alive 5 years, and these two are now around 5, too. I learned everything from the forums here:
Brilliant info that will help any fish keeper. The fish (Bob and Derek) definitely recognise me (go nuts when I go near the tank as I feed them - won't let anyone else!) And with good care, goldfish can live at least 20 years so that's a long time to have any pet. You do get so attached to them.
Am making a teddy for a village craft fair, and would like to give teddy her own toy humpty dumpty. So am looking to making a fairly tiny one. Anyone ever made an egg shape from felt, and how d'you go about it? Circular shapes with darts in, or triangular(ish) sections?
Hi there! If you become a confident spinner you'll probably graduate pretty quickly away from using commercial patterns at all.
My tip would be to learn to knit in the round ASAP - that way you can knit most things by simply making a tube, with 2 smaller tubes for the arms, shaping it (or not) as you go!
Elizabeth Zimmerman's books are great to encourage knitters to do this - and it's far easier and less fiddly than following a pattern.
You could also turn old tension squares into garments.
If you check out the Interweave website, you can find info about their magazines Spin Off for spinners and Interweave Knits, which also give you tons of beginners' tips and inspiration!
Thanks to Dilu, Bonni, Ellen and a beautiful little teddy card from someone whose signature I can't read, and I can't find the downloaded file to thank you!
Nah I can beat that, KJ. Three of our machines are somewhere round about 1900 - could be a bit earlier or a bit later. I think my husband also has one that was his grandmother's, that's 1920s or 30s, which is also still fully functioning. We've swapped from machine to machine for years, and none of the antique ones have ever needed servicing or fixing in 26 years' use. My mum's 1970, or 71 Brother machine is the one I use for bears as it's fast and that only needed fixing as it was stored somewhere damp after my mum died, and by the time I was old enough to figure out how to use it, the damp had got in the electrics! It's a beautiful duck egg blue and comes fro the time when they still made machines out of metal, so is heavy and inconvenient to move around, but it's a real workhorse. Its advantage over the antique machines is that it's a touch faster and you can do silk or fancy stitches or embroider but in reality, we only seem to use it for straightforward sewing. I understand the problem with more modern machines is the feet are sensitive, and self adjust but can't cope with the weirdness of mohair, so well, so can stitch it too loosely. The old machines rip through anything!
I haven't got any modern machines. We have a very old Singer (the Edwardian kind with a handle fitted to turn it), and a similar old one of another make I forget. Also, an Edwardian treadle one which is in the shed at the moment but we've made very many things on it in the past. The one I use for the bears is my mother's, a 1971 Brother. It's much sturdier than the modern ones, but does all sorts of tricks the old machines can't. It wasn't functioning until last year when we found a sewing machine repair shop in a back street and the very elderly ma in there worked for an entire day on it, to fix it. Cost us £75 ($150) but worth every penny.
I think an old re-conditioned machine is a good option, as they are much sturdier and tougher with less to go wrong on them. Now my mum's old Brother is repaired, it looks like it will go on for years. The very old machines have much stronger stitching than modern ones too, which is a consideration for bears. We made costumes for re-enactors for years and although we have now gone over to sewing medieval garments 100% by hand, for many years we made loads of things with the long and hidden seams machine sewn and we never had a single thing returned because the stitches bust. In fact we never had anything returned for any reason and some things we made 25 years ago are still in use!
