I’ve been wanting to try making a traditional teddy bear for a while now. I knew I would never do it on my own, so decided to join in on a class. We worked from a kit- it had a pattern and all the materials. Here are 4 heads (no ears yet) from 4 people in the class, same pattern- I am always fascinated to see the way they each have their own personality.

Here is mine, all finished-

why I did this- I wanted to learn about working with mohair fur fabric, I wanted to try cotter pin and disc joints, I wanted to do a pattern with the center face insert- I’ve never tried it before (successfully). Now I’d like to try nut and bolt jointing, which I heard about from other people while I worked on this guy- new to me. As usual, when I use someone else’s pattern, I don’t really love the final result- somehow it isn’t from me… a craft project versus an art process…

The class was part of the doll club down on Cape Cod, where I taught my gourd head doll in the spring. The club meets at Tumbleweed Quilts. There is oh so much temptation there- they have a big room full of markdowns where I can always find some goodies. And there was some great trim I couldn’t resist. Now the problem is figuring out where to put this stuff!