Another Green Bear!

 I hand-dyed this fabric a few years ago.  The color is yellow/green!  The fabric is very lush and thick and is a dream for anyone who sews miniature teddy bears.  It's wonderful to work with.  This fellow stands at 2-1/2 inches tall.  His paw pads are made from dark brown ultrasuede.  His nose, mouth, and claws are embroidered with matching dark brown cotton thread.  He has glossy black seed beads for eyes, and I have tied a darker green silk ribbon for accent around his neck.  He is string-jointed in his arms and legs and he has a cotter pin joint in his head/neck. 

Bruins With Crocheted Hats

 

Tatting thread is perfect for crocheting little scarf hats for my miniature bears.  The crochet needle has to be miniscule, and it took me more than a few tries to get it just right, but the finished product was well worth it. Each of these teddy bears stands at 2-1/4 to 2-1/2 inches tall.  I crocheted the hat to be especially long so that it would wrap around the neck of the bear.  I've added a silver-tone bell to the end of the hat, and I've used a delicate light pink mohair thread to the base of the hat that goes well with the shade of pink in the tatting thread.  I lightly stitched the hat to the bear's head over one of his ears.  The ear gives the hat some added support. 

 

You can see more of my bears with hats here and here in former posts on this blog.

The PANDA; Big and Small

 



  Pandas are a favorite.  Pandas aren't actually bears, but they look like bears so they are thrown into the "bear category".  The bears above are my little ones which stand at 1-1/2 inches tall and 1-1/4 inches tall (the panda with the quarter).  They are made from black and white upholstery velvet or plush upholstery fabric.  The eyes are made of miniature black seed beads and the area around the eyes have been darkened with permanent black ink.  Their noses and mouths were embroidered with black cotton thread.  As with all of my bears, they are fully-jointed and stuffed with polyester.

 

 

 These pandas are purses made from mohair. One is black and cream, another is black and white, and another is brown and cream. They stand at approximately 3 inches or 3-1/2 inches tall.

 

 

The pandas below are made with mohair torsos, heads, and ears.  One of them has sparse black mohair for the arms, legs and ears (pink ribbon), and the other one has upholstery velvet for the arms, legs, and ears (red ribbon).

 

 

Raggedy Dolls with Furry Companions

Raggedy dolls are cute, but they're much cuter when they have something cuddly in their arms. Everything you see here has been hand sewn. 

 

This Country Raggedy doll is made from tea-stained muslin, stitched with nylon invisible thread, and lightly stuffed so she is floppy and has lots of movement. I hand-stitched her cotton dress, and the sleeves, neckline, and shoulders of her dress are tied with thin cotton twine. I've added some crazy curly cording to her head and tied each strand onto the top of her head to create her hair. I've embroidered her nose with DMC floss to match her hair color. Her facial features were added with permanent ink. I have stitched her hands together and tucked a fully-jointed and complete miniature teddy bear into her arms. I stitched the bear to her arms so they would remain a pair permanently. I try to avoid using glue to my creations because most times glue will ruin the bear, so I just stitched the bear to the doll.

 

 

This doll show below is much like the one above except the fabric I used to sew her from is a darker tone of muslin.  Her hair is more coarse and her nose is embroidered with dark brown DMC floss.   The teddy bear she's holding is made from a light cashmere upholstery fabric which has no sheen, unlike the bear in the Country Raggedy Doll photos.   I love her crazy hair.  Both of these dolls are approximately 4 to 4-1/2 inches tall.  The miniature bears they are holding are approximately 1-1/2 inches tall. 

Terry Cloth Bruins

These bears are some of my absolute favorites. I put these bears and bear purses together in the same post because they were made from the same materials. I found this fabric at a fabric store rather than buying them from a company that sells bear fabric. This terry cloth doesn't fray like a normal towel would. It's fantastic to work with because you can pull and tug on it and it will allow you a lot of resistence as you stuff and shape the bear. It's a cream terry cloth and it's thick, just like a towel. I trimmed the fur around the eyes so they become more pronounced.  These bears range in size from 2-1/2 inches to 3-1/4 inches tall.  It would be impossible to make a bear much smaller than 2-1/2 inches because the terry cloth is too thick to turn on a smaller bear.  The terry cloth is very soft, as you would imagine a soft towel to be. It's such a unique material to make bears from that I have not seen any other bear artists who have made a terry cloth bear other than me. Some of these bears have cream ultrasuede paw pads and only one of these has dark brown, to match the nose on the bear. Also, with the terry cloth, it's easy to mold and sculpt the face because it hides the stitches well within the "fur".

 

 

 

 

Tiny Bears with Props

Back in the day when I used to do bear shows and doll shows, I also did miniature shows, where I probably bought as much as I made at the show. I bought little props for the bears I would create some day. I think I called that "reinvesting into the business". I still have some of those props and here are some photos of little teddy bears I have created with those props in mind. These are photos of the tiny miniatures, 1-1/2 inches tall. 

 

Below is a larger bear (3 inches tall) with a miniature paper chain as his little prop.  I spent a LONG TIME gluing this paper chain together for this fellow.  I found this to be a favorite of mine.  I lightly stitched the paper chain to him at his paws and on the back of his shoulders.  You can move his arms, legs, and head around, and he would still be holding the paper chain and it helped him to be a movable collectible bear with a movable prop.

 

 

My Version of a Famous Mouse

 

I happen to have quite a bit of ultrasuede on hand in dozens of colors and thicknesses so I thought it would be the perfect medium to build an antique doll of a famous mouse that we all know and love.  It took me many many many tries before I got this right.  This mouse is completely hand sewn with nylon invisible thread.  The black eyes and buttons are gently glued on.  Ultrasuede is very forgiving and stretches well.  The tail on this mouse is made from a black leather cord.  There is wire in his arms and legs.  His head is joined onto his body so that his head can turn around 360 degrees.  I can't remember how tall he stands but I think he's a little over 3 inches tall.  Possibly 4 inches tall.  It was fun to make him even if it took me three times as long to put this fellow together as it does for me to sew a little furry bear. 

 

Green and Yellow

 

I tried to find the orginal photos of this bear and couldn't find them so this little sampling will have to do.  This was one of my favorites because the fur is so unique.  This bear is made from a sparse yellow mohair with a lime green fabric.  I bought this fabric with much hesitation because who would want a green bear with yellow hair?   His eyes are made from small matte black seed beads.  His nose, mouth and claws were embroidred with dark brown nylon floss and his ultrasuede paw pads match the same color brown.  I added a 7mm yellow silk ribbon to his neck for added color.  This bear stands at 2-1/2 inches tall.  I shaved the fur around his muzzle so you could see his adorable face.  Again, one of my favorites!

A Winter Bear With a Friend

 

I'm not too thrilled with the quality of these photos, but they're all I've got.  This is a teddy bear made from a sparse cream mohair.  The fur is a little long so I had to trim it around his face so you could see his facial features better.  He stands at 2-3/4" tall.  He's a stout fellow with cream ultrasuede paw pads, small black glossy seed beads for eyes, and he is fully-jointed like all of my bears.  His nose, mouth, and claws were embroidered with dark brown cotton thread.  He is wearing a true kelly green crocheted scarf made from tatting thread.  I've lightly stitched it to his shoulders.  He is holding a little "Hallmark" Miniature Snowman Ornament.  (I took off the loop at the top of his head.)  I've also lightly stitched this snowman into the arms of this bear so he couldn't be removed. 



Teddy Bear with Green Crocheted Santa Hat

I won't bother to repeat everything from the previous post about the Santa hat.  This hat is similar to the red one except made from green tatting thread, and the bell used at the bottom of his hat is silver-tone.  This bear is made from a hand-dyed mint green upholstery plush fabric.  His paw pads are made from dark brown ultrasuede.  He stands at 3 inches tall.

 

Below is another bear with his own custom green hat.