Going to the Chapel and We're Gonna get Mar - ar - ar- ried...........

Psycho Ted

I was asked by Psycho-Ted's dad, Lee, if I would make him bride and groom pandas as a 'wedding present' for him and bride-to-be, Sharron.  I immediately agreed, knowing that I had a tried and trusted pattern for the bears and had the confidence to faff with it order to get the 'panda' effect.

Firstly I raided my fabric hoard stash for black corduroy and some white denim - both fabrics make up my 'must-have' favorites - so this was an easy do.  Next was to check I had eyes - stupid question!! - again, my stash came up trumps!  The only things I was short of were the smaller teddy joints.  This would require a trip to Barnsley market - fave haberdashers - Bill's Haby and Craft Barnsley - https://www.facebook.com/barnsleyindoormarket/      Woo hoo :)

So list made of requirements - lots of things I knew I didn't need for this particular project but would, possibly need in the future..... - and off we popped and had a great day.

Mad Hatter's hat

Some days later, I started on the 'accessories' - top hat, waistcoat, bridal bouquet - and put all my other bits of fabric, netting, flowers and fastenings etc into a basket for the big sew!

I had previously made an easter bonnet for Boner Bear and (failed to make) a hard hat for Fix it Freddie so the idea of making a top hat didn't faze me.  Plus I had made a 'to scale' Mad Hatter's tea cup hat for my daughter, Emma, for a Halloween costume.

I made a 'mockup' of the hat using an empty toilet roll and piece of cardboard and was really pleased with the outcome.  I then worked out the best way to cover the card with felt so that there wasn't much of a seam showing.  Again, this was managed with a lot of odd facial expressions - mainly with my tongue hanging out of the side of my mouth! - and a few swear words thrown in just for good measure.

You can't see from the photo (right) but the underside of the rim and inside of the hat are all covered with the black felt.

I then needed to find a pattern for a doll size waistcoat.  All hail the all-knowing, never fail Pinterest website!  A few hours lost but pattern found and a trial one made using some plain white material.  As this was the first item of 'clothing' I had made (discounting the baby-doll nightie made in the last year of primary school - enough said!) I followed every last instruction without tweaking the pattern or cutting corners (unlike the baby-doll nightie - enough said!!).  To my complete and utter surprise the mock up looked fantastic and just needed a tiny adjustment on the dart (!) to fit the bear.  Black faux velvet and black lining (yes I did go the whole nine yards!) - was sourced from the stash and small white, pearl buttons found in the cache.  Brilliant effect and I was stoked!

In between working, housework, taking my new best friend, Henry, for walks and swims, and other 'chores', I managed to get both bears cut out from a skirt (sourced from the local jumble sale) and pair of white jeans (sourced from our exclusive boutique, Thurcroft).

In order to create the panda's black and white trademark marking, I firstly sewed a large white piece of denim to a smaller black piece of skirt and cut out the front and back pieces so that when sewed together, hopefully they would match accurately.  The only other real change to the pattern was to reshape the feet.  I felt that Psycho Ted's feet, whilst perfect for him, were a little too bulky for the pandas so I made them slightly more curved - perfect!

As you can see from the photo here, the white/black match is ever so slightly out but, in my opinion, not too much that it needed redoing.  Unfortunately, both bears spent quite a while in this particular state of production - creeping my younger daughter, Vicky, out  - as I really don't enjoy this stage at all.  However, I eventually bit the bullet and to disguise the joins I have used jewelry on the bride bear and created a bow tie for the groom. I am really chuffed with the results - I hope Lee and Sharron are too.

The flowers in the bouquet have been sourced from a charity shop and the veil was cut from a piece of netting my daughter, Emma, used in a project for college.  My Aunt made the red roses for the buttonhole on the groom and the highlight for the bride's tiara. All the flowers in the tiara have a little 'stem' which I was able to push through the netting to help fix it but the little red rose has been glued.

They looked great but I wanted to be able to 'present' them a little more professionally.  Brain cells on overdrive gave me the idea of trying to source a bread pannier (see right) to create a kind of arbour for them to sit underneath.  This would make it a lot easier to carry them to the venue and to display them more appropriately.  Unfortunately, this was Christmas time when I was looking and baskets are more Easter suited items so it was really difficult to find one.  I needed a Plan B!

My Aunt, again (!), came to the rescue and presented me with a wicker tray.  After some brainstorming ideas, I tasked myself with creating the arch from scratch using some wicker 'twigs'.  These were soaked until they could be shaped into the archway, secured and then the ends looped to make a kind of heart at the top.  This was fiddly and I could have done with at least another pair of hands but bulldog clips and some string helped me to create what I had envisioned and then I had to work out how I could fix the arch to the tray.

I love hot glue!!  Once the arch had dried and could stand up unsupported, I cut a strip of card which would eventually cover the bottom of the arch then hot-glued the arch to the tray.  Once the glue had dried, the ends of the twigs were covered with the card which itself was covered in some green felt.  (Sorry no photographs of the arch separately; I got carried away and forgot to take some).  I then added the remaining flowers, pink bows and ribbon to the arch for decoration.  (Again, apologies for the lack of separate photo).

To ensure that there are no mishaps in transit, I have secured the bears to the tray by simply sewing black thread around the legs, through the holes in the tray and round again.  Both bears sit quite happily underneath the arch with a few flakes of confetti to add to the scene.  The whole project is covered with transparent cellophane and neatly tied with a ribbon.  I am really proud of the end result and the few people who have seen it reckon it's a winner.  

As Sharron is not aware of them, I am not able to share this post until after they have been delivered to the happy couple next week.  So I shall be able to share their comments when this is posted.  For now I am a happy bunny.

Update:  Both Sharron and Lee love the bears! 💘💘