Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Thanks, SueAnn.

Could I possibly get a super-close up of his face?

PS - Greetings from the UK!

Hrm....my monitor has been recently calibrated, and I can see the shadowed nose detail just fine. I would check your monitor's grayscale range....Here's a randomly discovered grayscale chart: http://www.vub.ac.be/BIBLIO/nieuwenhuys … index.html

At the bottom of the page, you'll see several grayscale charts. Can you see every step in them?

Yes, the nose is green. It was the middle of the night, and the only colors I had were black, green, and pink. I definitely need help with the nose and mouth, as you can see from this photo. The mouth practically disappears under the fur.

I tried making a very complex nose shape (see the sketch), but it didn't turn out at all the way I wanted it to, so I just shrugged and tried to do the best I could. I didn't mention the nose because I figured it was the sort of thing that requires practice to figure out.

One tip I did pick up about noses was to cut a shape guide and attach that, and then satin-stitch over that, to prevent fur from poking out. So at least my noses have improved a little. I really like the idea of the stuffed leather noses mentioned in Tilberg's book, so I think I'll just buy some scrap leather and use that. I tried to do it with microsuede and denim on Berkeley, and it didn't work.

Veronica,

Thanks very much for the input!

By over-pronouncing the U-shape seamline of the ears to the head, I hope to create a more pronounced ear pocket, so that the interior of the ear gets somewhat shadowy.

Your input on stitching the ears is something I had not thought of before. I think it may be a question of the effects of scale for me. On a human-sized project, apply an in-motion curve is the best way to go about it.

I'm quite distressed by your suggestion to trim my seams. It's something I do for my larger bears, but this little guy had a 5mm seam allowance - practically microscopic to my mind. I had trouble keeping the stitch even at such an unfamiliar shortness. I don't know how I'd be able to trim the seam any shorter. I did trim the fur inside the seam allowance, but I guess I did not trim it short enough (I'd say I reduced the pile length by half).

Oh, praise! The things I do for it 

SueAnn - I've been sewing for nearly half my life (that percentage is frightening to say), so I wasn't particularly worried about the shape. The size is a different story! I've never had to make anything so small. Five mm seam allowances! *shudder*

Thanks to everybody else for your kind words, but I would love some feedback - assuming you can see anything with just one photo.

Berkeley is the first bear I've made since signing up on Teddy Talk, or read through Tilberg's 101 Bears to Make. He is based off the Nanuk pattern by Suzanne Parkes, which I picked up through Beary Cheap Bears.

Stuff I did differently, thanks to the TT forums:

-German synthetic fur. Krishna on a clam shell, I never knew what a difference a woven backing can make!

-Finished each limb separately, including the tail and ears, and then tested various positions before finalizing their placement.

-Likewise, I used True Eyes to pick eye placement, and then used an awl to make the holes. Unfortunately, the only eyes I own are all 15mm. Fortunately, by testing placement of the eyes before making my final decision, I could make that choice work.

-Copying the pattern pieces onto cardstock, and tracing the pattern directly onto the fur made a huge difference.

-Trimming down the seam allowance before sewing resulted in much fewer machine gaffs that needed to be corrected by hand afterward.

- SueAnne Holcomb's suggestion regarding the ears definitely helped, although I think I should probably do a more pronounced u-shape next time.

I heartily encourage people to offer suggestions for further refinement of my skills.

There are a few posts in the backlogs which deal with making Child-Safe bears, but I wanted to reopen the conversation, with a specific look at fabrics and seams.

The circle of child-rearing friends I know are growing. I have one set who are expecting shortly, and a few others with children who are in the 3-5 range.

I'm concerned about the potential risks of these kids tearing open my bears and getting at the stuffing inside. I also know that "standard american synthetic fur" tends to easily give up fur fibers when pulled on.

Am I being paranoid by worrying about these concerns? I machine stitch, and wonder if using a double needle might be a suitable precaution against rips at the seams.

I also wonder about the advisability of using animal fur available at most local fabric stores, given how easily the fur pulls off the fabric backing.

(Links to previous conversations welcome)

If you want to change around your site design this often, I suggest switching over to a Word Press implementation. That way, you can keep your content formalized, while changing your look as often as you want. Of course, you'll need to learn CSS....

The base pattern I like to work off of gives me a very plump 29" bear (Kwiksew pattern 3246), since I started by sewing clothes for myself and moved into bears. The 12" bears are just too tiny for me to work with.

I'm currently working on a 54" bear, and my hope someday is to make a 9 foot bear. Needless to say, I'm not stitching by hand.

To get back to the question that started this topic, stitch size shouldn't affect the proportions of your bear. Assuming you are working off a pattern, then the relevant question is seam allowance. Are your stitches even? For a 12" bear, I'm guessing you should have a seam allowance of about 1/4"

Body proportions are ultimately a question of personal taste. If it doesn't look right, I'd stop what you're doing, and try working on it from scratch using duck cloth, or some other cheap fabric - remnants can be used to good effect, and might give you a bear you'll end up keeping. The point is, try the pattern using a fabric without nap or pile, and see how it comes out.

Why not try a 7-day auction, starting at $1, with a Buy It Now for your typical retail value? That would clearly indicate to buyers what quality your bears are, while also pulling in interested bidders.

Mind you, I've never sold anything on ebay, but I used to have a friend who supported her family of three entirely by selling paintings on ebay this way. Of course, her Buy It Now price was usually around $200 for a small piece which took her only an hour or so to make.

Ooh, yes, that was me! It's so nice to be remembered by nice people.

As you can see, I definitely appreciated the information you gave me 

Charlie T. Bear, a 26" plush monster cuddler. This is the first bear I've made in five years, and the first time I tried any of the tricks suggested in 101 Bears To Make - with questionable results. Still, there's no doubt that he's extra-cuddly. I'll try not to gripe about his imperfections.

Incidentally, this is the bear who was subjected to my ill-advised attempt to use goose feathers for stuffing. You can see bits of feather poking out of the face.

I've been toying with sketches for a two piece bear, with the two pieces being Front and Back, rather than left or right. The reason I want to do this is because a friend of mine bought me a Classic Pooh Art-to-Sew panel ( a 10 in square of fabric with a 6 in panel of art centered on it), which I'd like to use as the chest of a teddy bear.

Has anyone else ever tried this?

http://www.celebrateon911.com/viewtopic.php?t=8

A friend of mine is trying to get this rolling. I keep complaining to him that the front end doesn't make it very clear what the purpose of the website is, so I'm linking straight to his explanation.

I tend to think of fractalchez as a bit of a loon, but I have to admit that there is something....oddly appealing to this idea. Let's make it a wake, not a funeral.

Veronica is very wise. You are doing an awful lot to add bear-making onto that list. As someone who also seems to live my life in bursts and fits, I encourage you to stop looking at that bear as Something I Should Have Done By Now, and think of it more as Something I'll Get To Do When The Craziness Settles Down.

It's been my personal experience that the number of comments I get is inversely proportional to the size of my own entry. If I write four screenfuls, I'll get no comments. In my last 50 entries, this is the post that got the most number of different people to comment: I miss hanging out at somebody's house and helping them pick out something to wear to the club, or a date.

Blogs are wierd, because on the one hand they're an effort to reach out and connect with the world, but on the other we have to learn not to expect that effort to be returned. If you want to get  a sense of how often your blog is read, you could install some traffic monitoring software (I use http://www.statcounter.com ).

As a novice bear-maker with years of fashion-sewing experience, I prefer the look of three-flap leather noses over the satin-stich embroidered ones, although I have yet to try one. With several friends who have children on the way, my goal is to make child-safe, extremely cuddly bears, and the clay noses worry me in that regard.

As a professional photographer, feel free to ask me any questions you may have about photographing your bears 

I prefer to make softer, "cuddly" bears. Does this mean you'd suggest stuffing A or B?

I'm opposed to marking lines, myself. My feeling is that if I start by eyeballing it, my skill will get better, while if I mark a line, then I'll become dependent on those lines to make it work - in stark contrast to when I'm making clothes, where lines are important, since clothes need to conform to a body shape.

Since you're already working in muslin, why not rip off several muslin legs and practice attaching them? Or just, you know, build more bears 

In Tillberg's 101 Bears to Make, she mentions coiled acrylic fiber as a by-product from the manufacture of synthetic fur. I'm very interested in this idea, using by-products from the fur manufacture. While at the ABC Unlimited convention in Schaumberg last month, I was told that the nearest source for such material to me (I live in Chicago), is a place called Monterey Mills. They also told me which stuffing was the best to use -- only I forgot!

Is anyone familiar with the product in general, or the company in specific?

Is there, hope beyond hope, someone in the Chicago area who uses this stuff, who might be willing to let a novice bear-maker see the end result?

http://www.montereymills.com/Catalog_c64005.html

http://www.bearycheap.com/ezimerchant/category154_1.htm

I purchased the "Sparkle Plenty & Morrie" pattern from the above URL to learn the ear design which Ms Holcomb uses (most visible on the white/black bear), but the pattern doesn't show how to make them!

I'd like to make ears where the primary fabric curves over the top, with the contrast interior appearing to be set slightly inward.

I'm a fairly new bear-maker, someone gave me Nancy Tillberg's "101 Bears to Make" a few weeks ago, and it's been very helpful, but I'm having a hard time figuring out the ear part.

Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated.