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Churton M Jun 16, 2019

Hi everyone
I am making a very special bear; it's for my mum who really wants an antique looking bear with a musical box (it's taken me a long time to find the tune she wanted but have finally found one :-) claps).
So now I'm wondering how do I actually insert it into the bear?
How do I secure it into the bear? - I was wondering about sewing a pouch onto the inside of the body piece that it can slip into.
The hole for the key; how do I make sure where the hole is through the fabric does not fray and wear away too quickly to cause damage? - I was wondering about using the button hole function on my sewing machine.
Any help or advice would be much appreciated
Karen

JulieK Jun 19, 2019

I haven't tried inserting a music box but had been thinking about it. I thought about inserting it and then seating the key between ladder stitches when closing up the back with some extra stitches around it to reinforce that area.

I have some general bear making books I was going to look through for some extra information on these so I shall ping some other solutions here if they are different from the above :)

Julie

dangerbears Jun 23, 2019

I have made bears with music boxes, and did as Julie suggests, more or less.

When you’re closing the back opening, the fabric backing is folded over, right? So you don’t have a raw edge to worry about. If I remember correctly, I placed the music-box key in the middle of the opening, then did a complete (tied off and finished) run of ladder stitch from each end of the opening to where the key sticks out.

Other than that, I just used polyester fill to cushion the music box—but you don’t want to “bury” it. 

Becky