Making a teddy bear, the process

Have you ever wondered how a teddy bear is made?  Each artist bear maker develops their their own methods through trial and tribulations, so a few months ago, I decided to create a bear in 'real time' and photograph his progress, step by step to show you how I create my bears. 

This is the story of how 22" Caspian was created.

He was pre-sewn yesterday.

This morning: head stuffed, ears and eyes positioned and pinned, nose area trimmed, half of muzzle trimmed. Now it's time for lunch! 

Nose stitched.

 

Mouth stitched and left half of muzzle finely trimmed.

Remainder of muzzle finely trimmed.

Eyes next ... but first it's time for a coffee break!

 Eyes inserted but eye area needs a trim so he can see where he's going!

That's better ... eye sockets trimmed to show off his baby blues.

 A little shading to make the eyes really 'pop'.

A little more muzzle trimming and hey presto, one teddy bear head ready for its body!

It's 4pm, so there's still time to joint his head to his body and perhaps stuff the arms and legs before I have to cook dinner. 

 

 Now he has a body ...

... and a pile of half stuffed limbs!

 Measuring where the arms should be placed.

 Arms attached. He's starting to look more like a proper bear now!

 Arms and legs attached.

 Unstuffed - this bear needs a substantial meal!

 Get stuffed bear!

 Well, I think that's my lot for today. It's time to cook the evening meal before my family comes home from work and it's too dark to take any more photos.

Everything is attached and bear's tummy is full, he even has a growler. His arms and legs will have to wait until the morning for final stuffing (they are only half stuffed at the moment) and I think I'll fiddle with the ears tomorrow too because I'm not sure about their position at the moment. So, if all goes well, he'll have his ears sewn on, stitched claws and a waxed nose by tomorrow afternoon.

A good day's work so far ... this has been fun!

 

 Day 2 and here we go again!

First, bear needs to have his back seam closed. Ladder stitching does the job beautifully.

 

 See, now he has an invisible back seam!

 Bottoms up bear, it's time to stuff the top half of your legs ...

 Sitting pretty! Legs stuffed, arms next ..

 One arm stuffed, the other one still to finish ... and those ears!

 Arms finished but his ears are really bugging me now!

 Not quite the look I was aiming for ...

 Howsabout placing them slightly lower ...

 ... like this? Nah, too cutsie for this ol' growler!

 Isn't this where they were to start with?! Well, maybe not quite ... they do suit him better a little higher though.

Right, time to make the final decision and sew those ears on.

 That's better! A tiny bit more trimming into the top of the muzzle area and with a little gentle sprucing up he's almost finished ...

 Come on bear, give us a twirl!

Lovely profile ...

Yes, this side is lovely too!

 

Hey, you're a handsome chap ... but ooops, I haven't sewn your claws on yet! Better do that next - and get that nose waxed.

We're almost there ...

Back later - yes, it's teabreak time! I'm going to put the kettle on now!

 

 Now to wax his nose.  Waiting patiently while the wax melts ...

 First coat of beeswax ... yuk, snotty!

Initial buffing for first coat ... looks okay, but hopefully will be even better after the second coat.

Second snotty! Poor ol' bear! Atishoo!

But all that ucky snottyness was worth the effort, now bear has a smart shiny nose and yes, that's him, sat by my computer screen admiring his work in progress photographs as I type!

We're not quite finished though, I still have his claws to stitch, but Fo's due here for her cup of tea soon, so I may have to do that a little later.

Finally I'll have to decide whether to trim him, or leave him bare ... hmmmn .... what do you think?

And then tomorrow he can have his posh pics taken on my posh Canon camera ...

 

Almost teatime on Day 2 and bear's claws are now underway!

He's a classic bear, so I've given him simple stitched claws ... very neat!

  Is it time for my trim yet Mum? Look all my claws are stitched now ...

A ribbon bow? Really? Are you sure about this? Yes bear, I am sure. It suits your baby blue eyes!

And finally, after many practise shots, a lovely professional photograph of my finished bear.  

All in all, he took about three days to finish. 

The process of making a teddy bear

 Making a traditional teddy bear is a very involved process...

Even a fairly straightforward classic teddy bear takes about twelve solid hours to create - from drawing and cutting out the pattern, trimming the mohair edges by hand to give a professional finish, then pinning the pieces together ready for sewing, setting in paws, stuffing, making the head, assembling, jointing and finishing. 

So I'd share my latest bear's work-in-progress photos to show the process. The picture above shows a stuffed head with muzzle closely trimmed on top.

I usually pin the ears roughly in place at this point and use a couple of black pins to give me an idea of where to place the eyes. Then I start to scissor sculpt the rest of the muzzle.

I always work on the head first and when I'm happy with the muzzle, move on to nose embroidery.

Once the nose and mouth are sewn, I think the bear really starts to take on his personality!

But as you can see, it's only when the eyes (vintage boot buttons in this case) are inserted, he comes to life ...

When both eyes are in place and he can look straight at me, my teddy bear is ready to be assembled.

After I have jointed the head to the body, I half stuff his limbs and measure where I want to fix them.

When making a traditional bear, the traditional method of jointing limbs and head is to use two hardboard discs, one inside the body cavity and the other in the limb, then make a crown joint using a cotter pin and washers to secure.

When teddy has been assembled, it's time to stuff him, add his growler and close all seams by hand.

Lastly, there are claws to be stitched and ears to be sewn on; again by hand.

To finish teddy, I like to give him a thorough brush with a teasel brush to remove any fur trapped in the seams and generally spruce him up before deciding how to accessorize.  As this is a traditional teddy, I opted for a smart satin bow.

Before teddy can be offered for adoption, I like him to have studio photographs taken for my website as it's important to represent the colour of his mohair as accurately as possible and the Iphone pics snapped in my workshop aren't really suitable ... and of course, a beautiful photograph taken on a decent camera is hopefully worth a thousand words!

So that's the tale of how one of my traditional teddy bears is made!

It really is a case of taking the process a step at a time, allowing yourself plenty of time to enjoy bringing your special bear to life.