Jul 29

Jul 29 The Velveteen Bears, Inspired by Summer

They call a pack of bears a sleuth. I think one was in my backyard last night, making havoc, terrorizing the resident chipmunks and leaving ‘presents’ for me to clean up. I much rather like this other velveteen sleuth, they are more agreeable with sitting on pretty pink chairs and holding their arms up so you can play.

Handmade Waldorf Teddy Bear Doll by Fig and Me. Flower Power Edition.

Let me present you four little ones: Buttercup, Rose, Daisy and Forget-me-not.

These are the flowers currently gracing my view as I head out on my daily constitutional. They live on the edge of trails, in abandoned lots, in green spaces between houses and they brighten my day as much as songbird and rowdy little chipmunks coming to ask for treats when I dare to sew outside, in complete disregard to safety against the horde of mosquitoes.

Their making is sort of a mix of cunning masterplan, terrible upheaval and magical surprise. All in a day’s work! 🤭

You see, I was working on a set of furry teddy bears and the fabric pile was just too much to deal with. I am currently in some sort of creative space where I am choosing things that soothe me, more than things that irritate me. I love the furry bears, but they are going to take me much longer (think Fall) to create and I wanted to make them with flower hats.

Why flower hats? Well, since I made this tutorial for Miss Teacup, I have been dreaming of exploring the idea of different flower hats, and I wanted the petals to have more overlap and a nice chunky stem.

Strike while the iron is hot, they quietly whispered in my non-furry ear and so I did. Instead of making one style of flower, I made four. Hehehe, I win! Or should we say “haute”? I digress.

So I made four little ones, with four different hats. Though I sort of cheated with Forget-me-not and Buttercup. I used the same petal but sewed the hat slightly different. One is allowed small cheats when one is holding the sewing needle 🤭.

Going for the velveteen was a stroke of genius, even if it wasn’t my initial choice. Sometimes one must congratulate oneself after hoarding fabric for so many years.

This vintage, old pink velveteen was just what the doctor ordered after hand-sewing teddy bear legs by hand, through thicknesses that would make a viking shudder (and NOT in a good way). How am I going to turn them right-side-out though? We will cross that bridge when it’s time, for now we applaud the velveteen sleuth.

Fabiola, can you get to the point? Why, yes. These four little ones will be up for adoption tomorrow at Noon Toronto time (now that we are on this side of the Atlantic) and you can go and check them all out in the shop: Fig and Me Online Merchant for the Teddy Bear Aficionado.

They range between 9” and 10”, because you know…soothing and not irritating. They are thoroughly made with love, wool stuffing, dollmaking glass beads (for weight), cashmere, linen, cotton double-gauze and velveteen.

The hats are removable but not the capes. I didn’t want small parts getting in the way. They are what I call “thread-jointed”, they sit and stand, and they tell a good story.

I shall return to the velveteen for more bears (or other creatures) in the near future, but this is your chance to get them with flowery hats. The fur ones will have to keep in the slow burner until my hands recover (a bit) but they will also have their chance to shine.

People on the internet are very keen on how I made the hats, so I will pop the pdf of the petals and some sort of instruction on our Patreon channel. I just need to sit down and fiddle with all the papery bits.

Thank you for coming to read my ramble and for being part of the loving world of handmade dolls and toys. We keep the light burning, friends. We keep the creative light aglow.