Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

That has always been a dream holiday of mine!

if you do it one way and don't like it then use hair product to get it to go the other way.  I recently brushed some mohair after making a bear with it - big mistake it 'grew' in volume so much and went really frizzy.  I then sprayed it with water and put a heap of hair gel in it - after a couple of days the gel came out with some 'finger' combing and my bear no longer looked like it had been playing with the loight socket.

Thank you all.  I must be very patternly challenged 'cos I still don't get it.  I am going to try the pattern draping though i figure that by doing that I will get a visual at least and i may go and revisit some cloth doll patterns.  I am very much a visual person and have real problems translating script into pictures!  I really do appreciate all of your help though.  Thanks again.

Can anyone post a diagram?  That may help me as I now don't get the crescent shape or the dart!  Sorry to be such a klutz.

I must be missing something obvious here.  I looked at the photo but it looked like a 'normal' leg to me with a seam down the front.  If I am wrong blame it on my eyesight!  I don't know if I even explained what I am trying to do very well - rather than have a seam down the front of the leg I want it at the side of the leg but I can't get my head around it.  Please keep posting ideas - I may eventually get it.
Thank you all.

OK so this is what I want to do:  legs that have a front and a back rather than two side pieces.  If I manage this then how do I do the feet?  and what about the footpads?  And will it work if I put the joint through the seam (if I can get this sorted)  any suggestions will be most welcome. Thank you all in anticipation of your speedy responses!

I was boarding with a family in the early 90's as I was chronically ill and they very kindly took me in as I had no job and no money.  There were 4 children and they all called me 'Clarebear' it was the first nickname anyone had come up with that I liked!  A couple of years later someone said to me with a name like that I needed to make a teddy bear and bought me a book of patterns and some fabric.  I had to teach myself how to sew first (a pastime I had always hated) but eventually i made a bear and it just went on from there.  Some of the more memorable ones I have made were 'Chemo bear' for a friend with breast cancer and I painstakingly plucked out all the head fur which she thought was hilarious, I made another one for my friends husband after she died which was very much like 'chemo bear' but this time it had all it's fur intact and I made a large mohair bear that was donated to the chemo ward at the hospital with a pair of tweezers so that patients having their chemo could help pluck the fur out of it's head.  Apparently it was very cathartic!  I am yet to sell any bears as I feel that you can never recoup the cost of time that goes into the making of them and I prefer making them for friends, family and special occasions.  I would rather give them away than undersell what their worth is.

Just sending best wishes and hugs.  I truly hope that things work out for you both and hang on to that love you share - nothing else really matters as long as you have each other.

I am forever grateful that I live where I do and thank God daily for the freedom that some of us have in our home countries.  Reading your story brings home to me what a truly universal art bear making is and of course that is the thread that bought us together and the thread that keeps us together.  Hope you are using the strongest thread available!

That is one great link thank you

Julia can't wait - yours is hopefully going to be finished this week and in the post next weekend.  It has been a very slow process with my shoulder.  Incidently, after suffering for over 8 weeks now they have jsuust discovered a full thickness tendon tear in the shoulder so may have to face surgery.

I'm also a fan of the alligator clips but as for walking foots the only ones I have ever tried are on the bottom of my legs  :crackup:   :crackup:   :crackup:  ps i don't understand sewing machines and avoid them at all costs.  I have resorted to one only when doing a bear over 20inches tall and then only for the body, arms and legs.

More of the above i wouldn't have known where the gusset was so you always go right ahead and do what you want to do.  As an aside where would all those anime bears be if noone had 'broken the rules?

I have a very bad tendon tear in my left shoulder (funny I just don't bounce like I did when I was younger - note to self - give up quad bike racing - you are 53 years old woman - oops that right I already did)  which has put my bear making on the go slow but it is getting there - I have finished sewing it and now it just needs assembling and stuffing.  Hopefully it will be done by next week and sorry for the delay.

PS What are you going to call yourself now?  Pumpkin, Pickle and  Princess? lol

Gemma it is great to have you back.  I look at my Pumpkin and Pickle bear everyday and think of you.  Imogen is a beauty!

just how many bears do you have??  Have you ever thought of publishing a book of your collection - with your talent for photography I would be lining up to buy it.

What  a treasure - i certainly don't think he is past the restoration process.  There is such a lot could be done to him in the right hands.  Lucky you for finding him.  Keep us posted on his progress.

Who won the last one?

I have used a nail file to mat the fabric.  I also pluck the fur out in areas that would naturally wear.  Some tea stains dabbed on in the areas where the dye is so it looks well handled.  The file I just run over the fabric a few times in all directions.

Sorry Sorry I meant that noone had received my cards yet but looking today I see that they are starting to arrive.  I didn't mean to worry anyone I just meant that noone had 'virtually visited" Alice Springs yet.  Perhaps it is because I have been on so many virtual vacations in tha last few weeks I missed the postie!

Getting a tad worried here looks like noone has 'come' to Alice Springs yet!

great to hear you are getting back into the bear making Sandra.  It was one of your strange bears that first inspired me.  That sounds rude of me but I meant one of your 'cute' strange bears lol.

I was the last post anyone want to help revive this yet again??

So that's what they mean by crocodile shoes LOL!  Well done.

Anyone got a link to the video????   PPPPLLLLEEEEAAAASSSSEEEEEE!