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VallierBearsHello everyone,
People are always on about vintage Rayon! Snooping on ebay today I noticed, Well what I thought to be a good deal... Eight pieces of vintage rayon approx. 9 inches square dated from the 1950's at just £7.99! also do postage to Europe at just £3.00 and N. and S. America, Asia for £4.00
Just thought i'd mention it incase someone wanted some and missed up on a bargin.
Richy~
EDIT: forgot to put the ebay address!!!! :crackup: http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Wendys-Craft-Market . Her UK ebay user name is laisydaisy1
Pumpkin & Pickle Bearslaisydaisy is a wonderful lady called Wendy who I have purchased MANY things from in the last 6 months or so. She sells fabrics etc for such fantastic prices...unfortunately she doesn't sell as much bear making stuff as she used to (I think she's given up the bears?).
I have only tried vintage rayon once and I found it quite difficult to work with with as it frayed quite alot but it looked lovely when made up!
I actually bought a mixed lot of nut & bolt joints (80+ complete joints in total) from her yesterday for £4.99! A few weeks ago she was selling 20g balls of merino wool for 50p!
Gemma
The rayon this lady is selling is the short pile rayon and a whole different beastie than the long pile stuff you would have used. the long pile stuff is a total mare - i agree with you there - it frays like nothing else and I have never used it successfully.
This stuff on the other hand is a dream to work with - this is what I make my micro minis from (the 1 inch babies). it has the most beautiful cotton backing that needs no fraystopping. you can take the teensiest seam allowance and never ever have to worry about a seam busting open (unlike with the gridded pile upholstery velvet). I think it's the best fabric for someone starting to make minis to work with in terms of ease of use. the only thing is, the pile is so short, that your sewing does need to be quite neat and tidy or else errors will show. it also mats down when you are sewing it so you need to give it a brush up to use it - a tooth brush is perfect! (unused of course :crackup: )
This fabric is the same type as I used to make Libby- if you are wanting to know how dense the pile is, she measures about an 1.75 inches - so you can see it's fairly short. (pictured below) - i would recommend anyone to try it if they are curious about trying a mini bear. It's also great to use for clothing for bigger bears as you don't need to hem it - I've seen people make cute little one piece jackets from it.
Jellybelly BearsWhat a gorgeous ballerina 
fribbles, ltd.I had just bought a large amount [about 60+ pieces] from an eBay seller [tereantiques, I think the name was]---went in with a librarian friend of mine who is starting to get into making minis. I think I wound up paying $70 for the lot of my stuff---I had a larger proportion of the sale than she did, but it wound up being approximately under $2 apiece.
I unfortunately thought it was the 3/32" pile or longer--so I was pretty bummed out when it arrived, the seller called it "vintage long pile" and so I thought it was...am so glad I saw this thread, I had used some of it previously and it wound up getting smooshed/compressed/flattened and I didn't know how to improve the appearance of it. Toothbrush sounds great for fluffing it up!!
I still want to find some more of that long LONG vintage stuff---it's even longer than the Sassy longpile that Stephanie has. I think it must be the Malden Mills stuff, but am not entirely certain. I received a TON of it from a wonderful bear artist who is mentoring me, and her previous sources were exhausted.
Amelia
Wild Thyme OriginalsI'm a big fan of the shorter pile vintage rayon as well, and echo everything that Melissa saud. I too use a toothbrush, or a wire golf club cleaning brush to fluff up the pile afterward. It's the BEST stuff if turning the pieces is a really difficult task for you. They practically slip through!
Kim Basta
fribbles, ltd....huh! That's completely weird, I found it exceedingly difficult to turn---but I was also making my smallest ever bear [a HUGELY tiny 1 1/2"] too. I suppose that's the problem!! *LOL*
Perhaps I should try a normal sized bear [meaning 3" or so] with it. I just thought it might look a bit funny since I'm used to using a longer pile for the bear look...hrm. Might wait to see what my librarian's bear looks like, she just is finishing up one made with the short pile stuff.
Bear clothes is a GREAT idea! Am going to have to give that one a try!!
Amelia
It's the BEST stuff if turning the pieces is a really difficult task for you. They practically slip through!
oh yes...I forgot about that part...actually I see a lot of rayon micro minis in my future....though they don't sell so well, they are such fun. At the moment I'm making a 3 inch bear out of cursed imported synthetic. my my I am not enjoying it. turning those limbs is near impossible and I'm petrified of poking a big hole somewhere. the poor bear is going to be learning an awful lot of bad words....that's why I sew their ears on last, it protects them from all that angst! 
