A Beary Sweet Pincushion

I have been having fun in the designing area of things. I have been working on a bear pattern....well...actually it has been in the works for several years. Kind of an off again, on again thing. This pattern has been tweaked and redone so many times. Finally I have a pattern that I am ok with. It is still not perfect, or actually it still has some flaws, but I am happy about it. I have made many bears over the last 15 years, some I gave away, some I sold (in yard sales) and a few that I have hung on to. Most of these were made using a pattern designed by someone else. I have made some bears using my own pattern, but like I said before, these patterns really needed tweaking. Maybe one day I will be brave enough to show you the funny little bears. I absolutely love the process of making a teddy bear. The only problem that I have really run in to is that it is really hard to find the mohair. The company that I use to use Spare Bear Parts shut down a few years ago. Most of the companies that I have found are located overseas, Australia, Europe, etc.  So the shipping on these orders is usually around $20+. Bummer. Must do more research for US companies. I do love The Old Pincushion's mohair and her bears are so cute. She has very reasonable prices, but is located overseas. Her shipping is very fast, though. By the way, she also has a contest going on right now and you can win the most adorable pig.

Above: Little bear cut out and ready to stuff.

Above: Stuffed with excelsior, this is the traditional stuffing of vintage bears. She is also stuffed with wool and a little bit of poly stuffing.

Above: A vintage quilt square. Can you see the old newsprint? The ladies use to make patterns from old newspaper. Most of these prints are vintage feed sacks. I used this quilt square to make a pincushion. You will see it in the pictures below.

Above: Little bear almost finished. Trying to figure out with ribbon looks the best.

Above: WHOA.... Creative chaos at it's finest. What a mess!

Above: This sheet of paper is my work surface. For some reason I can't keep everything stored away. As soon as I am finished with a project I put everything away.

Above: Little bear all dressed up. She is sewn to the pincushion and the strawberry is sewn on also. It is stuffed with wool to keep your pins from rusting. 

Above: She is all finished except for her eyes. They have been ordered. The ones that I had for her looked too big. She is 7 1/2" (standing up) and those eyes would probably look better on a 9" bear. So, as soon as her eyes come I am going to list her on Etsy.

Above: All you need is a little bit of mohair and 15years worth of pattern goofing. This bear was the first bear that I have actually used mohair on. The other bears were made out of all types of stuff: fake fur, wool felt, old jackets, cotton fabric, velvet, blue jeans (really tough to work with-don't recommend it) and other fun stuff.

Have a wonderful and blessed day, and don't forget to keep those fingers busy!

Holly