Assembling teddy

I measure from beneath the neck joint down along the seam to place the arms ...

I don't have a pic of the legs, but to place those I use a long sturdy doll needle which I insert where the body pieces meet at the base of the body, then I hook a fabric tape measure over it and measure along the seam to where I want to place the legs, mark the spot with my awl and then assemble.

To determine where I want to place the limbs I first hold the bear's body up with one hand (head attached) and then take one arm and hold the cotter pin/bolt against the body at the point I think it will suit the bear best ... then I keep my thumb nail at that point and measure down from the base of the neck joint to see how many cms before marking the spot with my awl. Then I repeat the measurement for the other arm, this means they are always level.

To site the legs, I simply turn the body upside down and repeat the process on one of the side body seams using one of the legs to establish the measurement needed, then I measure from the doll needle and use an awl to mark the position of the second leg using that measurement.

I prefer to site my leg joint holes slightly to the back of the side seam, the arm holes can be either side of the seam depending on the look I am aiming for ...

This little chap has his arm hole joints slightly behind the side seam to create a relaxed, 'hanging down' arm.

And 'Peppercorn' has his arm hole joints a little in front of the side seam so that his arms sit comfortably in his lap.

This is a pic of one of my big bears 'bottom up' just before I close one of the seams on his leg. the leg joint holes were sited slightly behind the side seam ...stand, but he does anyway! 

Incidentally, I never pierce the actual seams because I don't want to weaken the integrity of the seam stitching.

As you can see from this pic, I aim to have the bear sitting comfortably on his bottom, rather than perching on the tops of his legs.

Jointing in this way can help the bear stand without a wobble. This little bear wasn't deliberately designed to stand, but he is nice and steady on his feet.

I think successful jointing is one of the most difficult elements of bearcrafting to get right because any problems in the overall pattern design will usually be highlighted when the bear is jointed.

Attaching the head to the body

Before we get started on fixing the head to the body, here's a pic of the tools I'll be using. I like to use two separate pairs of pliers for jointing, a round nose pair and a flat nose pair. The joints for this bear are traditional hardboard discs held in place with split pins and washers in the head and arms. I use nuts and bolts in the legs for extra strength. You can see a stuffing stick in the photograph, which is self explanatory, a tape measure and a thin headed chisel, which I use to make the holes in the hardboard discs slightly larger to accommodate heavy duty split pins and bolts. The phillips screwdriver and ratchet thingy are to tighten to nuts and bolts. I'll explain the wadding when we get to assembling the arms and legs.



Oops, I just realised I forgot to include the awl in the tools photograph above - good job I'm not writing a book here!

This bear will have his head attached using the traditional cotter pin and hardboard joint method.

I use the pointy end of the awl to make a small hole in the centre seam of the bear's chest, about quarter of an inch from where it meets the back. This is where the bear's head will be inserted.

Here I am inserting the split pin at the base of the bear's head into the hole I just made with the awl.

This particular bear needs a 2.5" hardboard disc to give his head the right amount of support. Here I am slotting the disc over the split pin which is now poking through into the bear's body.

I have added a steel washer over the split pin to protect the disc before I use the round nose pliers to begin tightly curling one side of the pin.

I find the flat nosed pliers work best to finish curling the split pin securely.

Once it's curled tightly on one side of the pin. I repeat the process on the other. It's important to get this as tight as possible to hold the head steady for years to come.

And it really is as simple as that! Freddie's head is now securely attached to his body and he's waiting patiently for his arms and legs ...

Putting teddy together

To give Freddie his arms, I need the following tools and components:

4 Hardboard discs to make the moveable joints, 8 steel washers and 2 good strong split pins ... I buy those from a local fixtures company. I am their only teddy bear maker customer apparently!

I also need my two pairs of pliers, long nosed and round nosed to make the crown joints I described in my earlier post about assembling the head because I'm going to assemble Freddie's arms using the same technique. This will give nice free moving arms. I need my trusty fabric tape measure, my sooper doopha stuffing stick, my awl and an implement such as a small chisel to make the holes in the discs slightly larger so they accommodate the heavy duty split pins. I also need a curved needle (like the kind used in upholstery renovation) and some extra strong thread.

Please ignore the screwdriver and ratchet thingy ... they will be used to assemble Freddie's legs later.

Finally, I'm going to use some 5 ounce thick polyester wadding so that the paw pads can be beautifully even when stuffed ... no lumps and bumps! I'm going to cut this into 4 rough rectangles, each piece big enough to cover the paw pads of both the arms and the feet. (Put the legs aside for later).














The first thing to do is to lay the polyester wadding piece over the inside of the arm paw pads, then tack it to the arm piece taking care to keep the tack stitches (I use a running stitch) on the outside of the machine stitching seam.










Once that's done, I simply trim round carefully to make a neat finish and then turn the arm inside out so that the mohair is on the outside.










The next step is to slip a washer over a cotterpin, put that to one side and slip a hardboard disc into the top of the arm cavity. (You will note I've stitched around the entire arm when sewing it together, but have left an opening big enough to insert the hardboard disc into.)











Now I'm going to use my awl to make in the arm for the split pin to go through. I put the awl through the centre of the disc and out through the fabric to do this.

When the hole is made, I wiggle the split pin through the disc and out through the fabric.


Then I trim around the cotter pin to enable the arm to move freely when assembled and to ensure I get a nice tight joint when I turn the cotterpin using my pliers (as per the head - see below) into a crown joint.


Now it's time for me to stuff the arm making sure it's even throughout. Suitable stuffing is important for good finish. For Freddie, I'm using a polyester fibre/cotton mix, which will give a lovely weighty feel to the finished bear. I like to stuff firmly into the paw pad and take care to keep the stuffing even for a professional finish. As I stuff, I constantly feel the arm until I'm happy with the result. I want my stuffing to be even throughout and reasonably firm, but I don't like a rock hard finish. I like my bears to be huggable!
















When I'm happy with the stuffing I can close the seam using the curved needle and extra strong thread. I prefer to use ladder stitch for this as it gives an invisible finish if done well.


To ladder stitch, I don my faithful thimble and after fastening my thread to the top of the seam, take small alternate stitches from each side of the mohair.


After every few stitches I take, I use my thumb to press down on the stitches and carefully pull them tight until the seam closes neatly. The I finish off the seam with a couple of tiny stitches sewn tightly over the seam before weaving the end of the thread back and forth invisibly through the arm.


To assemble the finished arm, I measure from the base of the neck joint down the side seam of the body and mark where I prefer to place the arm using my awl to make a small hole in the fabric just behind the seam. Then I place the split pin which is sticking out from the top of the arm, through the hole and assemble in exactly the same was as I assembled the head to the body previously, inserting a disc and washer over the split pin on the inside of the body cavity, then turning the split pin as before, using the crown joint method.


So that's arm number one and needless to say, to position arm number two, I simply repeat the whole proceedure and assembly the second arm on the other side of Freddie's body!

The legs are completed similarly, but instead of using split pins, I like to use nylock nuts 'n bolts through the discs. I stuff to halfway up the leg, taking great care with the footpad in particular, then I insert a hardboard disc, this time with the hole make larger to accommodate a small bolt. I slip a washer over the bolt, put the bolt through the disc and fabric and into the body cavity. then I slip a matching disc and washer over the bolt on the inside of the body cavity, beofre tightening with a screwdriver and ratchet tool. To measure where to place them on the body , I decide where I want them placed, then use a long doll makers' needle which I insert through the upside down body where all the seams join. I then slip my fabric tape measure over the end of the needle and measure down from the seam, marking the appropriate spot, once again with my awl, slightly behind the seam. Because the bolts are wider than the split pins, it may be necessary to make a larger hole in the fabric to assemble the legs.

Once the leg is assembled, I repeat the process for leg 2 and finally, stuff firmly, paying special attention to the area around the joint, which needs very firm stuffing. I close the seam using ladder stitch and hey presto, Freddie has arms and legs!

All he needs now is a tummy full of plastic pellets, his body stuffed good and firm so that he doesn't slump until he's a very old bear and a voice ... of course! I always add a traditional growler to my bears' tums! Once his ears have been stitched in place using my curved needle, extra strong thread and ladder stitch and I've stitched some teddy bear claws with embroidered thread, I can slip his smart new sweater over his head and ...

Very pleased to meet you Freddie!