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congrats to u & ur daughter! :clap: :clap:
i just picked up crocheting for the main purpose of creating clothes for my bears. they look so lovely on the bears! 
but the thing is, i cant seem to find patterns/ instructions for them.
Does anyone know where i can find free patterns for mini clothes for bears?? preferablely the patterns should be simple enuff cos i'm still a beginner! 
thanks!!
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i like Sarchie Creations. 
'Sarchie' is a lovely unique name
wow! she's really wonderful. all that fantastic work on her face.. :clap: :clap: :clap:
:clap: :clap: :clap:
absolutely wonderful..
Ooo.. it sounds interesting! how do we go about joining it?
:clap: :clap: wow... fantastic work...
pretty!! such a gorgeous color..
juz another thought.
if u wanna use "Peta Smart's Originals" as ur domain name, the ' in it might pose some difficulty. so it will be www.petasmartsoriginals.com or www.petasmartoriginals.com?? might be a little too lengthy.
juz my 2 cents worth
i know it's way over the deadline. but can i still post my entry? finally got it finished...
ohh.. i tot she was real before reading the post. then i was wondering how u managed to get the cat to pose so beautifully for u :crackup: :crackup:
wow.. that mohair looks gorgeous on him...
she has such an elegant, princessy air..
Introducing.... Frosty, a little, shy Christmas bear!
4.5 inches tall & thread-jointed, so she can move her limbs.
i also made a little santa hat & dress for her. 
Pls meet Prince Charming. He's all dressed up and ready for a Christmas date!
He has a felted nose, a crown made of lace and hardened with PVA, a little red rose for his beloved and a smart new bowtie!! 
i also tried brushing on some fabric paint on his fur, so it looks like tipped fur.
and you should have see the thick woven plaid upholstery fabric I bought (for 2 & 3" patterns) when I first began in 1990!
:crackup: :crackup: :crackup: :crackup: :crackup:
I should have bought enough and re-upholstered the couch!
it's nice to know i'm not alone!! :crackup: :crackup:
Most bear makers just won't use stretchy fabrics for the actual ted, Kynthia. They are too much trouble. There are of course ways to line the fabric and tack it in place to stabilize it, which comes with experience, but it's difficult to express all of the possibilities in the limited amount of space given here, and in the abstract - not knowing the particulars of each fabric.
If they really love the fabric they'll find a use for it in clothing or accessorizing.
unfortunately, i learnt it that hard way.. bobbie haha.. i bought some velvet to make my first ted previously, but it was a disaster... i have since bought mini bear fabrics and it was MUCH easier to work with. since this topic came up, i just wondering if my velvet could still be salvaged for teddy making.. guess i can carry on making more cushion covers with it then!
cute!! :dance:
She recommends mixing PVA glue with equal parts of water and applying on the backing of the velvet to prevent fraying.
Did Julie recommend coating the entire fabric with sealant?
I've worked with Julie in the past in one of her books (may even be on the one you were reading) and found her to be a thorough researcher.
The times early on in my career that I thought to coat the whole fabric in advance of tracing and cutting out - turned out to be disastrous, because I found that I had lost all of the natural biasing of the fabric when I was stuffing.
As a beginner, one tends to 'just stuff'. But later on, one realizes that very judicious placement, especially using the curved tipped forceps/hemostats allows one to slide just that bit extra stuffing between already-firmly-stuffed-ted & fabric into all of those extra places that were built into the pattern pieces - to bell or bow out to bring out the character that was designed into the creation.Sealing the fabric up into a totally non-biasing fabric wasted several yards of fabric, as I tended do whole sessions of just drawing out pattern pieces, then cutting out and stringing together teddies in sewing-together-order, bagging them up and then always having some ready to grab & go. It wasn't until the 'grab & go' stage that I realized what a mistake I'd made!
Don't coat the entire backing! If you're using a really fragile fabric and feel the need to stabilize it with another fabric underneath, glue still isn't the way to go!
re-read that portion again. sorry, realized that she did not mention to coat the entire fabric. :redface: she only mentioned that we can try using PVA. if you hadn't pointed that out, i think i would have gone & coated the entire backing! :crackup: thank you!
i have this very stretchy and fray-able piece of velvet, i tried interfacing on it but it doesnt really stick on well. are there any other methods that i can try? PVA would only work for the edges but wont solve the stretchiness issue right?
i just read a book this morning on miniature teddy bears by julie k. owen. She recommends mixing PVA glue with equal parts of water and applying on the backing of the velvet to prevent fraying.
This seems pretty interesting to me, just wondering though, will it work if i use white glue mixed with water? anyone tried this method before?
thank you for your kind comments everyone! really happy that you like him.
felting is so fun! (except for the part where i prick my fingers... 
)
i'll definitely do another felted bear soon.
i love his footpads!!!
thank you everyone for your suggestions! i did the same way as Eva mentioned. only i went through with the thread multiple times in case it didnt hold :redface:
he can be seen here: :dance:
http://www.teddy-talk.com/viewtopic.php … 01#p404701
my very first needlefelted panda! 1.2 inches tall & made into a keychain.
hope you like him
i use this method for sewing the head gusset (i hand sew completely) to ensure equal-ness on both sides.
Never thought to use it for the nose as well. :doh: :doh:
will try on next bear. :dance:
