Ahead by a nose

I know it looks painful, but the long needle is an essential part of the process. I like to work with the head gripped between my knees, I don't know how other bear makers sew their noses, but this position works for me.

I prefer to use a traditional block design for nose embroidery and like to work straight onto the mohair without a template, but you could sew over a felt template if you feel more at ease that way. 

This bear's nose will be a lovely rusty colour. Starting in the centre of the muzzle, I work first out to the left of the bear's nose in satin stitch, watching carefully where my needle is exiting each time, so that all the stitches are neatly aligned. There is a knack to sewing a good nose and it relies heavily on tensioning the thread equally for each stitch and ensuring all the stitches are the same length.

I use a traditional block design for nose embroidery and prefer to work straight onto the mohair without a template. This bear's nose is going to be a lovely rusty colour. Starting in the centre of the muzzle, I work first out to the left of the bear's nose in satin stitch, watching carefully where my needle is exiting each time, so that all the stitches are neatly aligned. There is a knack to sewing a good nose and it relies heavily on tensioning the thread equally for each stitch and ensuring all the stitches are the same length.

When I've finished the left side, I return my needle to the centre and repeat the process for the right side of the nose. This gives me a base layer of embroidery to work over. I can now see what size of finished nose will suit my bear before I complete my embroidery. By the way, a good stout thimble is essential to protect the end of your finger when stitching.

As you can see, the nose is now beginning to take shape but at this point, it's not really doing him justice yet. There is more work to be done if he's to have a nose he can be proud of ...

The next step will be to repeat the process with a second layer of embroidery but this time, ensuring the finished nose is exactly the right size and shape to suit the bear. So, I'm going to take the needle back into the centre of the muzzle, stitching to the left first, then to the right. This time the stitches exit fractionally higher on the muzzle so bear's nose will be the final size necessary to give him that all important 'bearsonality'!

Can you see it taking shape now? I used my thumb to tension each stitch as I sewed, so it is far from a speedy process, but definitely worth taking a little time and care over.

When I add a couple of finishing stitches horizontally across the top and bottom of the nose, the nose is almost finished.

Two little stitches lead from the nose down the centre seam of the muzzle, then this fella is ready for his mouth to be stitched in a traditional inverted 'V' shape. You can experiment with your bear's smile by placing a glass headed pin in the centre chin seam and moving the embroidery thread to achieve the width of smile you prefer.

Hey, hello Freddie ... he looks like a Freddie to me, does he to you?

So my new bear's head is now made and you've been the first to meet him, but he needs a body, arms and legs before he really comes to life and of course, please don't let me forget to sew his ears on ...!