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mulberrybendbears Sep 16, 2011

I stumbled upon Ted Menten's awesome blog today and he does the sewing for his bears in a very particular way: http://tedsteddytalk.blogspot.com/2009/ … parts.html

I have a question for you - do you sew your bear pieces WITHOUT cutting them out first? I've always cut and then sewn, but perhaps this is a cleaner way of doing things and prevents accidents with your seam allowance? Has anyone tried this method?

Do you think it would work for big bears? This is a very cool idea I think and it might work for me as me and my sewing machine are still making friends....and sometimes I have issues with speed and direction with it. This might give me a cleaner finish.

Thoughts?

DENBY30 Sep 16, 2011

Hi, I have never sewn the parts that way, but he is doing it mainly because it is such a small bear. I always cut out, pin and then sew and turn.  I have never thought of it any other way.  Maybe I will try it and see.
He is a fabulous bear maker, I have several of his books.
Enjoy Pat

desertmountainbear Sep 16, 2011

I do think that this is a very good way to sew a small bear on a machine.  I have never seen this before.  I know for myself I make larger bears, I trim the fur out of all the seam allowances before sewing, this way would make that impossible.

Joanne

rowarrior Sep 17, 2011

Like Joanne, I trim the seam allowances, so i always cut then sew, but then I mainly make bigger bears.  I may try on a wee one out of sassy though, just to see what happens.

lovenshire Sep 17, 2011

I think it works great for tiny bears but never for big ones.  I like to make sure that everything fits right before I sew on the big ones.

Gabriele~GJOYfulBears Sep 17, 2011

Regardless of the size I cut them out and pin them, whipstitch (only on bigger bears), back-stitch and then undo the whipstitch and turn them in the right way. I have never thought of another way. Would be good for smaller bears though.

Ursa Major Creations Sep 17, 2011

I cut the pieces out fray check the seams, over stitch and back stitch seams by hand sewing.I can machine sew if I wanted but I seem to always make them by hand sewing.

Michelle Helen Sep 17, 2011

I did sew a mini like that on a machine and it was cute. I had to buy a special needle that was very thin for the machine. There is something about hand sewing that I love and I think you have more control of the detail. so for minis, that is my preference.

Francesca Sep 25, 2011

I always cut out my pieces before sewing. I also prefer hand sewing my bears, I feel I have better control, expecially when I sew the gusset piece and the bottom of the feet. Perhaps it's that I'm not that good with the sewing machine, and I have my grandma's old Singer which is veeery basic
Another thing is: if I sew with the machine, I feel I'm always tense and sweaty, I'm so afraid to get it wrong. If I hand sew, I'm relaxed and can even do it 'listening' to the TV 
I see that not everybody is the same, many of you are good with the machine and it certainly is faster!

Francy

kallie214 Sep 25, 2011

The only pieces I sew without cutting them out first is ears for tiny bears. I feel like I use so much more fabric just for a set of ears. .(Its probably really not that much more fabric, it just seems that way....) I would never do a big bear that way for the reasons stated above in this post. I like the control of pinning them, making sure they fit correctly, trimming fur, fray check, etc.

Bear Hugs,

Kim

WaizeBear Oct 2, 2011

I do only hand sewing my bears and so this method is not useful for me.

This method is practicable for bear makers who have to produce a greater number of bears I think. But I don't like these machine sewn bears. It reminds me to a kind of mass production. But this is only my private opinion.

wubbiebear Oct 3, 2011

If you didn't cut out your bear, how would you be able to feel what you were doing?

Gabriele~GJOYfulBears Oct 3, 2011

I definitely agree there's something special about hand-sewing. I only ever hand-sew.

wubbiebear Oct 3, 2011

I hand sew, but it's mainly because I like to sew while I'm doing other things.  I don't have a problem with machine sewing, I just don't want to buy a sewing machine when I already have one built in, lol.