On a whim.

My head has been all over the place lately and I've felt lost in terms of what to make or do next. I have a list of ideas of things to make but none of them have been appealing to me. This type of mood seems to go hand in hand with headaches, stress and tiredness for me.

I did however take a whim to make something that I used to dabble in; and that was to make a hand sewn bear.

I started off making these types of bears before I found needle felting, but my sewing "skills" back then were awful, and although not much better now I have a little better understanding of what I'm doing at least. Thankfully I still had some of my old bear making supplies too!

So I set about refreshing myself by looking at a free pattern online and then I drew out my own design. The problem with that is that you can't really tell how it'll look until it's sewn and stuffed. I always start with a head with whatever I'm making or drawing and after sewing it, turning it (always the worst bit with small items!) and then stuffing it, I could see it was all wrong. The forehead was far too big!

 

So I tried again and it was better, a bit lacking in definition in the nose area though. Speaking of noses, when I tried to embroider his I was having all sorts of bother and I really couldn't stand to look at it because it bugged me! I was encouraged by lovely people on Facebook to keep trying though so it was time for another head!

 

I changed the pattern slightly to give him a better nose shape and I looked up some nose embroidery tips and opted to use a tiny piece of cut felt to follow it's shape with the stitches. It really helped! I was so much happier with how he was looking so was keen to finish him the next day. :) (Though, it is a bit lop-sided!)

 

Please meet Teddington Patch Bear. (Again, lovely Facebook and Instagram people helped with the name!)

 

I won't be making another one anytime soon as I only had one pair of those glass eyes left, but it was enjoyable... When it was going right, at least. :)

Thanks for reading and please do join me on Facebook if you don't already!

Sharon. Xxx