Remembering me Bears

Having finished Albert's wedding outfit, I was deciding on my next project when a friend asked if I would make her something from the clothes from a relative who had died during lockdown.  On further discussion, she decided that she wanted some (!) teddy bears and a couple of cushions making up for the families.  As the memory bear pattern would make up too big for the purpose, I suggested the Psycho Bear pattern due to it being that much smaller.  That settled I waited for her to drop off the clothes and to start proper.

She duly brought a bag of clothing and I began to sort it into colour ways so that each bear would be different.  I had a variety of teddy joints,  coloured eyes and noses/wool for the features so they were all gathered together and organised.  My machine was cleaned and oiled, new needles found and the table cleared for the mammoth cut out.  (Personally hate this process!)

Once the pattern pieces were cut, I realised that the cotton fabric was too thin to make up for the bears to last any kind of long term handling so I added lining to each piece.  In hindsight I should have realised this as the items of clothing were already lined and I had removed all the lining thinking I wouldn't need it.  So a hateful process was made twice as odious as I now had to recut all 4 bears' pattern pieces again only in lining.  (Deep breath.  Did I mention that I hate this part?).

Finally I had a pile of bear - and lining - pieces on the table along with their eyes, thread for nose and ribbon for neck bows/ties.

Two of the bears were for brothers, two were for daughters so, although I know we are supposed to be all equal etc and not gender specific, I didn't think that the guys would appreciate bears made with flowers on the fabric so I made their out of the darker, less flowery material but ensured that the ones for the two girls included more flowers.  I fussy cut the pieces for the inner ear and paws and was well impressed with the final products.

Finished bear left (minus bow) and bears in progress above.  I had already finished one bear and it had been given to one of the guys.  All recipients have loved their memory bear.  Now on to the cushions. (More cutting out 😣) LOL

See you later 💖

Outfit for a Page boy

So with Vic's quilt done, I could now concentrate on Albert's wedding outfit.  I know that the wedding is in September but I have a few projects in the house which need to be done and I am assuming that I shall be having the usual two clutches of ducklings (again!!) so I am going to be busy from now until September.  As my friend Carole and I say, "don't put off 'til tomorrow, what can be done today", so I got my creative hat on and began.

I had already planned out the shirt, collar and bow tie - see previous post - but I now needed to tweak it and obviously make it up in the white cotton, shirt material and pink bow tie.  I oiled and cleaned the machine, new needle and matching top and bottom cotton thread, found my material, buttons and prototype items made up from the green stripe.  The iron was set up in the utility room to give me some exercise getting up and down to press seams and I was ready to start.

I first sewed up the bowtie so that I could make sure that there were no issues with the machine.  I have previously thought all would be well with whatever project it was only to be thwarted at the first step because the machine wasn't set up right.  I made sure all stitches and tensions were ok on the pink material before I set about the shirt front as the tie is a simple square of fabric sewn, turned and then handsewn into the shape of a bow.  This was far simpler than the shirt front which involved curves, turning then the double seam up the front to mimic the buttons and button holes.  

Anyhoo, all went swimmingly.  The shirt front and collar were finished in no time.  I re purposed some of the buttons from the shirts I had deconstructed for Vic's quilt on the front to look like it had been buttoned up.  (see photo right.)

I have been thinking about making a waistcoat to add to the outfit.  Basically my sewing skills are basic and I make it up as I go along but clothes sewing is a whole different ball game and a jacket would be too far out of my skill set so I changed tack and thought about a waistcoat.  I have made them previously - Boner and Psycho Teds and Panda Groom - but they were very small. I had been able to find toy patterns via Pinterest but Albert's was quite a lot bigger than the one I had so back to Pinterest I went and tried to source a larger pattern.  

I wasn't really happy with any of the options on the pages but quickly realised that most of the patterns were very similar, so using Albert's measurements, one of the harnesses I use on our walks and the shirt front as a reference, I sketched out a front piece.  If I got it right, I would be able to simply reverse the shape on the material to make the other side, hopefully ending up with two matching sides.  

Again, I found some fabric to try out the prototype and eagerly awaited the next time I would see Albert for his fitting.  I already have a lovely dark blue fabric picked out for the final piece, but am definitely keeping this a secret from Karen.  She knows I am making the outfit, but not the waistcoat.  I have a couple of other ideas too but am keeping them from the post just in case they either don't pan out or I post this before the wedding. I am hoping that because he has white legs, it won't matter so much that the shirt doesn't have sleeves.  Plus if the weather is good, I don't want him to overheat with the extra fabric on him.

I have finished the final (!) outfit and it looks so good and Albert couldn't look any cuter.  I am not posting photographs as this is definitely a surprise with added extra accessories just for the day.  Looking forward to it and any reaction will be posted separately.