Cutting and Pinning

He's all cut out.

I want to mention two things about cutting out your pattern pieces.

#1 I don't fuss about the black line made with the permanent marker. The seam will hide that. You can cut just inside, on or just outside the line it doesn't matter. Just be consistent.

#2 The exception to this is when you are cutting out your ears. Be sure to cut off the line you made with the marker on the straight edge at the bottom of your 4 ear pieces. This edge will get sewed to the head without a seam and you will see the marker.

Both sides are put together with the right sides in and the wrong sides out.



I've also pinned him. (Gosh, I sure hope he turns out looking like a boy bear since I keep saying him.)

The book recommended learning to sew the bear without pinning it. Kinda getting a feel for the fur. Codswallop, fur is thick and it moves all over the place. Pin it if you know what's good for ya.

You'll notice the body and arms are pinned right around but you should have lightly marked where it's to be left open for joining and stuffing. The legs are left open at the bottom and I'll tell you later why I haven't cut the felt for his feet. The ears are left open at the bottom. The head is only pinned below the nose for now. That's the first place on the head to be sewed and I'll take you through how to sew the head later which will include the gusset.

The sound in the background, that you don't hear, is my husband ripping up our old floor in the kitchen. Yay, no more white floor!

Begin With Fur

The other day I told you about some of the things you'll need to be concerned about but where would you really begin? It would be the sewing part. With your first bear you'll want a fabric that's easy to sew, easy to obtain and doesn't twist. There are lots of decent fur fabrics you can get locally but to learn on I'd recommend a plush felt. It's basically felt with fuzz on the top. It comes in white's, tans, browns and black. Once you work with it you'll want to keep using it!


The bears on the right are made with plush felt.

If you were making an heirloom bear you would order wool felt for the paws but I just buy felt locally. I do wade through the stock though. Some sheets are thicker than others and the thicker the better.

A quick note about other furs. You'll want to try them and you should but wait. Every fabric does something different. One I used stretched out and another twisted when sewed. Sometimes you can work with these problems and sometimes you can't. Try the plush felt first because it won't give you any problems! I want to encourage you not discourage.