Throwback

 

I do still sew, in case anyone is curious. Not as much as I used to, especially since in-person craft shows didn't happen in 2020, but I do still enjoy it.

What sewing I did last year was mostly custom work, and this was a job I was happy to get. A former co-worker reached out to me in February. Her mother-in-law had just died and her husband wanted to do something with four of her favorite nightgowns. (She had been house/bed bound for a long time and cycled through the same several gowns, and they were what everybody thought of her wearing). 

Remembering what I used to do on the days when I wasn't in the office, she suggested that I make bears out of them - and then ordered ELEVEN.

She drove out to visit and we had a lovely masked chat on the back porch when she handed over the gowns.

Sewing-wise, I flinched when I opened the bag, because they were all very stretchy polyester, and not even all the same. Some were two-way stretch, and some were four. Some were fuzzy and some smooth. All were going to be a nightmare to make small pieces with.

I decided that it would slow the process initially, but speed things along in the end, and I used fusible interfacing on all of it, then cut out the pieces. It kept them from stretching in every direction at once, and saved me from embedding too much profanity into what were supposed to be nice memorial bears.

A while back I had ordered safety joints for use in future bear projects, and I tried to use them here. First off, I think I ordered them slightly too small, but also, the fabric was just so limp that no matter how I tried, the arms and legs just dangled off the body. I removed them - no small feat with a locking joint - and went back to my original method of stringing them through the shoulders and hips with hemp cord.

The longest part of the process was trying to decide on the fabric arrangement. A red plaid, a pink and gray paisley, an ivory with navy blue toile, and a bright white with red cardinals. Other than the plaid/cardinals, none of it really worked. After some thought, I decided to tie them together by using the plaid in the same place on each one - head panel, inside arms, and foot pads. Then the rest of the pieces could be of the different fabrics, and each bear would be trimmed with lace from the neckline of the "head" nightgown. Each bear got a red ribbon to finish.

She picked them up the other weekend - another coffee/chat on the patio, this time rainy and chilly - and she carried them off to Delaware. They'll be distributed to her husband's various siblings and relatives once it's safer to gather as a family, but judging from the photo she sent, he seems pretty happy with them, and maybe his family should be worried about getting them from him at all.

Blanket Bears

The receiving blanket bear / bunny / animal project is still moving along - at this point, it's my best-selling Etsy listing.

There's a lot going on right now, gearing up for show season, and I'll have a lot more to show soon.  For now, I'll just leave you with a selection of some blanket bears, old and new.  Most of them are the classic stripe, but every so often someone surprises me with a totally new blanket and it's a treat to work with.

  

Still more blankets

The world will never run out of that striped receiving blanket.

And I'm okay with that.

This little Claire Bear headed off to Annapolis, MD, yesterday.

Let it be (bear)

I'm still working at my friend's office 3 days a week.  It's going well so far, not taking too much time away from the business.  Most of the time, anyway.  I need to get better organized and also not spend so much time watching the repeating car wreck of the news.

Last week I made a bear for a coworker. Her son is turning 13 and she just found his baby blanket.  It's a John Lennon design, not something I'd run across before.

It perfectly matched some blue cotton from the doll stash, so I used that for contrast, embroidered his name and birth date on the legs -- have I mentioned how much I love my embroidery machine? -- and carried him back to work for photos and delivery.

I may not like spending time in an office but you can't fault the view.

Home, and some news

The bear that started it all

Well, we're back from our break in London.  More about that in subsequent posts -- despite my vow to not take a ton of photos, I took a ton of photos and I look forward to sharing them.

While we were away, a few things happened.  The day before we left, I was contacted by a writer at Babble, inquiring about the receiving blanket bears I sold on Etsy.  I answered a few questions by email, packed my bags and promptly forgot the conversation.

Then, shortly after we got to London, when we checked into our Airbnb flat (which had wifi), my phone made this loud "CHA-CHING!" We both jumped.  It's not a noise I hear that frequently -- when something sells on Etsy, I always miss the cash register sound.  This time, since the phone was turned all the way up, it sounded like a Vegas slot machine, right in my pocket.

I looked, and sure enough, it was one of those bears.  Soon after, I got an email from Etsy, telling me I had an unusual amount of traffic on one listing, and that I should check to see if I'd been featured on a blog or something.  I looked at my traffic, and it was all coming from Babble.  Before I could even look for an article, I got another sale!

Finally, I had a moment to check the website (remember, I'm on vacation here, and really not thinking about the shop) and found the article, which is linked here.  They used photos from my listing, some of my words and a lot of the email I'd sent to the writer.  I'm pleased with the article, and apparently it was attractive enough, because for the entire rest of the trip, each night when we got back to the flat, as soon as we were climbing the stairs and the phone picked up the router, I would hear "CHA-CHING!"from deep in my jacket pocket.

It got to be a running joke, how many times it was going to happen before we reached the room, and whether or not it would wake us up at night.  I offered to turn down the volume, but Mario was as into it as I was and said to leave it on, he wanted to hear me making money while I was on vacation.

A few days later, I was contacted by a writer at Scary Mommy, who said she'd read the Babble article and wanted to do something similar on their site.  She asked more questions, asked if she could use my photos, and said she'd let me know when the article went up.  Soon after that, the whole cycle started over again.

We got home Thursday afternoon, and there were already 2 packages with receiving blankets waiting for me.  Two more arrived yesterday.

This is going to be fun.

Mickey, Minnie, Bear

One very large pair of mice

I know I've said this before, but this was probably the most difficult memory bear I've had to make.

Some fabrics are harder to deal with than others.  Old, nearly sheer t-shirt fabric would be one of those.  Also, prints/patterns/graphics can be weird.  Ditto, extra-large Mickey and Minnie.

But it had to be done.

My client contacted me and said that her best friend's mother was dying, and that the mother was very, very close to her friend's little boy.  They had gone to Disney together and this was a souvenir shirt that she had worn nearly to pieces.  She thought that turning it into a bear would be a comfort for him when his grandma passed.

Pre-cut denim bear being used as pattern
because pattern pieces have vanished

I could certainly see where it would, but when I received the shirt and saw those enormous mice, I wasn't sure what to do with them.  There wasn't a whole lot of time to wait for inspiration to strike - I knew from speaking to my client that grandma was unlikely to last the week, so there was already a serious likelihood that the bear wouldn't arrive on time for her to give it to her grandson.

The faces were just so large that there was no way to turn them into the bear's face, so after some puzzling (until my puzzler was sore, as Dr. Seuss would say), I laid out my pattern pieces very carefully to take advantage of the features of each.  You can see from the photo that everything fit on the front, but only just.  I did end up using denim for the insides of the arms and legs, and for the accents on the ears, just to break up the white t-shirt fabric.

I also interfaced the -shirt before cutting it apart, just so I wouldn't lose any of the image to stretch.

I haven't totally decided if the combined Mickey-Minnie smile is creepy or fun.  I think it's a little of each.  I was just pleased that I was able to get the faces onto the bear's face in some form, and it seemed more logical to try to do that than to have a half smile appearing under its ear.

The deadline wasn't met, though - I got the bear turned around and shipped back out in 2 days, but my client emailed me the same day that I shipped to tell me that her friend's mother had passed away.

She also emailed me a few days later to tell me that the little boy loved his bear.  If nothing else, it's very suited for all the tears it will have to absorb.

But that's what a bear's for, after all.

Soccer Bear

Change is good.  My latest custom bear isn't a memorial piece - I was contacted by a mom whose daughter is graduating high school this May, and she wanted a bear made from the daughter's soccer jersey.

It really is that bright.

Originally I thought I'd add in some denim to break up the bright colors, but when I looked at it again, I decided that it should stay as is.

There was enough solid red and solid blue to be able to split the arms and legs.  The body is solid blue on all sides, but that doesn't matter because I appliqued her number on the front and her name, "Lady Lynx," on the back.

The face is my favorite part, because it uses the red and blue chevron lines from the front.  I do love playing with stripes.

This one got finished the same morning as my scheduled run to the post office, so it didn't get a better photo shoot than this.  Looking at my photos now, let's just say it's beyond time that I dusted the mantel in the bedroom.  (I did clean off the bear's feet before I packed it up!)

Grandpa Bears, Part 2

A while back, I mentioned that I was doing another set of grandpa bears.  Today, they got picked up, so I can finally share them.

My customer gave me 3 jackets, a handful of ties, a cashmere/silk scarf and a monogrammed shirt.  

She requested a mixture of bunnies and bears.  It's the same pattern, other than making floppy bunny ears (which are lined in tie silk, not too noticeable in these photos).

I was also given a peachy lace dress with pearls that belonged to my customer's late mother.  That was a fun addition - I made a lace overlay on the fronts of all the bunnies, and then strung the pearls (which were used to weight the bodice of the dress) and made a choker for each bunny.

The boys were more straightforward - one from each suit jacket, with tie ears and feet that coordinated with their bunny girlfriends.  Instead of neckties, which I made for last year's grandpa bears, I used the silk/cashmere scarf and made three tiny mufflers which were knotted casually around their necks.  One lucky bear got the cuff monogram from the shirt.

When she picked these up today, she brought along a large (almost 3 feet tall) Santa figure that she's had for years.  Her three sisters have similar Santas.  Her question was, after the holidays, would I be able to re-dress the Santas using new fabric and trim them up with her mother's fur coat?  

Also, would I be able to use the remainder of the lace dress to make dresses for three American Girl dolls?

Also, could I think of anything interesting to do with all those leftover ties?

I love a customer who assumes, because I made one thing, that I can make anything she can dream up. 

But you know what?  I'm gonna try.  

Grandpa Bears, Again

You may remember that last year I made a set of bears for two little girls from their grandfather's suit jackets and ties (he even picked them out specially before he passed away).

I was contacted recently by that same man's daughter.  It was her niece last year who had the bears done, and now this woman wants a set of 4 for her grandchildren, and she showed up recently with 3 more jackets, a bag of ties, a monogrammed shirt and 2 caps for me to play with.

He was a seriously well-dressed man, I'll say that.  It's such a privilege to work with nice menswear fabrics, even if I do feel like a criminal taking these garments apart.

On the other hand, it's like a tailoring lesson in reverse, pulling apart a jacket and looking at the stitching, chest pad, shoulder pads and all the other intricate things that go into making a piece look effortless.

I know how much work is involved, but seeing it all torn apart on the dining room table is a little alarming.

In a good way.  Mostly.

So there are either going to be four or six bears out of this lot.  We started with a four bear order, but she said if there was enough fabric, we could take it to six.

I think there's enough fabric here to make a small bear army, but six seems like plenty.

I don't have a photo handy of the ties she included in the package, but safe to say one of those is going back in its original condition.  I felt like enough of a criminal cutting up the jackets; there's no way I can cut up a Hermes tie and be able to sleep at night.

Some things are just too good to destroy, even in the name of teddy bears.

Rallying the Clan

A while back I received an email making some custom bears.  It was from someone I know online, someone I know who sews, but who said (more or less) that she would rather stick needles in her eyes than match plaid.

A friend brought this family tartan back from Scotland years ago, and she decided that she wanted to have bears made from it for her family and friend.

In the tradition of all good sewists, even though she didn't intend to use the fabric, she'd purchased a beautiful coordinating navy blue wool, which made my job even easier.

Here is the final result.  Well, actually there are 6 of them, but you get the idea.

Working with the tartan fabric made me realize that if I ever get to Scotland, my shopping budget is going straight to the nearest shop selling quality tartan.  It had a beautiful hand, the colors are more subtle close up, and it was a joy to work with.  Have to say, it was difficult to send the remnants back, but there's enough left that if my friend decided to, she could make herself a nice small jacket.

With matched plaid, of course.

Next up is another series of custom bears.  Remember the necktie bears from last year?  Well, that lovely man's family came up with more amazing garments for me to cut up and make a series of bears (and bunnies) for a different selection of grandchildren.  I'm looking forward to it, all except the taking shears to high quality clothing part.

But I always get over that, don't I?

What I've been up to

I got a custom order a while back, a referral from a previous customer.  She wanted a set of 8 bears made from some of her late father's things -- a denim shirt, a tan t-shirt and a plaid fleece blanket.  She has 3 siblings, and they each have a child, so everyone would get a bear.

I got them cut out and stitched pretty swiftly, then craft shows intervened for a bit.  This past week I finally got them closed up and threaded, and I didn't think I would survive the threading process.

Putting the bears together involves a large doll needle, hemp cord and a pair of pliers, but generally it's not too bad.  Right now I'm hoping to never work with fleece again because even though it cuts and sews easily, it was nearly impossible to thread because it doesn't act like fabric, it acts like fuzzy plastic sheeting.  You can poke a hole in it, but the hole won't expand like it does with fabric.

There was much pulling and hauling and swearing.  But they're done, and I think they came out well.

The original referring customer also wanted another bear, from a sweater of her dad's.  I actually had some of her original accent fabric left from her first bear back in December, so I mixed that in.  I think he looks snazzy with his argyle body, plaid trim and black bow tie.

Last but not least was another bear from a former co-worker.  She and her husband have a place in the Pocono Mountains, and this was her favorite sweater that she kept up there.  At least it was until her husband washed it.  Now it's a chocolate brown teddy bear with a snowflake on his belly, who will sit on the mountain house couch and remind him never to do laundry again.

I'm dropping them all off tomorrow, if I can figure a way to get 10 bears packed up and onto the train.  Forecast says rain; my fingers and toes are crossed that it won't happen until later in the day.

And an update

For anyone who wondered whatever happened with my book, I've got a bit of an update for you.  I heard from my agent recently; she's going to start pitching my book to publishers in February, so this month is dedicated to a few last minute tweaks and edits.

The agent I went with is an editorial agent, which means she feels free to make suggestions about the manuscript (before it gets to a publisher, who might make the same suggestions anyway).  Considering that I like rewriting far more than I like writing, this is not a problem.  I just sent in the most recent version of the book and I'm waiting to hear back.

Interestingly, two of the agents who turned down the book made the same constructive criticism about the opening, and it was something I'd been thinking about myself but not sure how to change.  After they each said the same thing, it became absolutely clear what was wrong and I was able to rewrite the first two chapters.  So I thank those two agents for turning me down with comments, instead of just "thanks, but no thanks," because it definitely gave me a better project in the long run.

In sewing news, nothing much new here.  At the end of the holiday season, my stock was pretty much depleted from all my craft shows, and the stores that I deal with were low as well, so I'm just trying to  rebuild the supplies at this point.  I've got an appointment to drop off a half dozen bears at a store in Center City Philadelphia tomorrow, so I should stop typing and get them finished off.  The two bears pictured here are some of tomorrow's delivery.

The Last Bears of 2014

I finished my final two custom bears this weekend, in between a last minute show on Saturday evening and an all-day outdoor event on Sunday (8 1/2 hours in 40 degree weather, but it was worth it).

Both bears are dad-fabrics -- the one on the left was an argyle sweater vest and a plaid shirt.  His daughter (buying the bear for her mom) said her dad always wore vests, either sweater vests or button-up, and was there a way the bear could look like he was wearing one?  I couldn't figure out a way to use the sweater as both the body and the vest, and still get any decent use out of the plaid, so I used the solid sweater for the body, the argyle for the head and feet, and the bottom two buttons of the shirt as a "vest."  I cut the section off, pinned it to the front section of the body, cut it into a vest shape, stitched it, and then sewed the sides into the bear seams so the vest sits loose on the body when it was stuffed.

The second bear was a brown polo shirt and another plaid shirt.  This is to be a little girl gift for Christmas, thus the pink ribbon.  If it had been for an adult, I might have gone for a more restrained (and coordinating) color.  The polo fabric was not fun to work with.  Somehow it was more stretchy and uncooperative than actual sweater fabric, and had to be interfaced to make it work at all.

One bear shipped out today and the other was hand delivered.  The recipient of the delivered bear is planning to order one for herself after the New Year, but as of now, I'm letting the bear pattern sit for a while.

Actually, I took Monday off completely.  I slept in, had breakfast, read, took a nap, talked to the cats, took another nap . . . basically anything at all but sewing.

Looking forward to January.  I have a sewing project in mind for me.

And more bears

It's getting close to the end of custom request season (there is a limit to how much I can get done before the holidays; I have to sleep sometimes), but I got an order a few days ago that I couldn't resist.

The buyer contacted me and said she's been keeping this sweater of her dad's since the 1970s and could I make two bears from it, one for her and one for her sister.  She also included two monogrammed hankies, a pair of cuff links and two fire department sleeve patches, and told me to use whatever I chose out of the lot to make them special.

All the stories I get with these custom requests are touching, but is there any better way to get straight to my closely-guarded soft spot than a 40 years dead firefighter dad, and you're still holding on to his stuff?

I don't think so.

These will be special.  For me as well.

Bear Season

It's been a busy time around here.  The upcoming holidays means the start of custom bear season, and here I'm sharing my last 3 orders.

First, a bear made from an argyle sweater.  The buyer wrote to me and said that she lost her husband a few years ago, and has two small children.  She and her husband were active in the youth ministry at their church, and children he mentored are now old enough to marry and have children.  There's a baby due soon who is being named after her late husband, and she wanted to have a bear made for them from one of his sweaters, complete with monogrammed bib.

The two little bears are for her kids, because I remember how much it sucked to lose my dad, and at least I was old enough to have memories of him.  These kids won't, but at least they'll have bears.

The second bear, the turquoise one, is from a sort-of repeat customer.  I made a bear and quilt combo recently from an outfit worn to a new mother's wedding, and was contacted afterward by the recipient, who turned around and ordered a bear for her brother made from the outfit that grandma wore to his wedding.

Lastly, a set of 3 bears.  The purchaser there said that her mother was a very elegant, tasteful woman, and to prove it she sent me two of her mother's jackets, a dark purple and a black one.  Very tasteful, very elegant.  Very dark.  I asked if I could add a third fabric to break it up, and chose a small floral that kept the dark tones but added enough light that you could actually tell the other two fabrics apart.  Lilac bows and embroidery for the nose/mouth finish the brightening.

I love doing custom work more than anything -- every piece comes with stories about the wearers of the clothing, the recipients of the bears . . . some lovely stories and a new challenge every time.

When Bears Attack

I've been on a bear-making roll lately.  I did a batch last week, then one for the custom order, and then another batch.

Aside from having craft shows almost every weekend of the summer, I dropped off batches at two local stores who do consignment.  Consignment isn't always my favorite -- obviously I'd rather get paid every cent of what my work brings in -- but on the other hand, it gets my work into areas where I can't always be, I don't have to be there selling it, and it makes me feel like I'm getting somewhere that shops want to carry my work.

In other words, I made 15 bears and got to keep 5.  So now I need to make more bears.

The ones pictured here are recent favorites.  I didn't send any of these to stores because I feel like they need the personal explanation from me to go with them -- they're made from the remains of a vintage feedsack quilt and really aren't meant to be played with.  They're either for display or for an older child, who understands what fragile means.  But I love how they turned out, the faded colors and the slightly blocky shape the quilting gives them.

They're probably among the most photogenic bears I've done to date.

New Kids on the Block

I've been on a bear and dressmaking binge this week -- both sold well at last weekend's event in Narberth, and I want more for tomorrow's show here in the neighborhood.

Anyone left unsold will be getting proper pictures taken and listed on Etsy, but for now, they're just hanging out on the bedroom radiator cover.

The purple and gold ones are made from sweatshirt fabric (left over from previous projects) and the black and white one is made from a work skirt that I outgrew, I'm embarrassed to say.  Especially since I made said skirt to fit.  And it did.

Still trying to decide whether I like the new safety eyes or not -- they're kind of starey.  I hope the kids who end up with them don't feel like the bears are watching them.

Gallery Bears

More often than not, the internet is a wonderful thing.

It's given me friends I would have never found otherwise; it's helped me plant, harvest, cook and preserve; it's taught me new sewing techniques (and more than a few old ones); it's been a big help in trying to build my business.

A month or so ago, I met Jed Williams.  He's an artist who owns a small gallery at 615 Bainbridge Street in Philadelphia (conveniently located not too far from the 4th Street fabric stores).  He was looking for someone to make a few bears for him out of some Spoonflower fabric that had been custom-printed with one of his paintings.

I used my standard bear pattern, but the bears look different because one of them was cut pretty straightforward, with the tile print running straight up and down, while the other was cut on the bias.  I like both of them; I think they look pretty different.  The black accent fabric really jazzes up the print, and the pink bow just makes me smile.

If the photo isn't clear, the writing on the bear's chest is the Jed Williams Gallery logo. A nice finishing touch.

There's some fabric left over from the initial order.  I think it's going to be a few small zip pouches and a gallery-themed tote bag.

Hoodie Bear

I got a custom bear order recently. I’m really enjoying doing the custom bears – not only are the fabrics supplied, taking the color/fabric choices out of my hands, but I really like hearing the stories that go along with them. A lot of times they’re memorial bears, and I get to hear about the special people whose clothes I've been entrusted with.

This is one of those bears. The woman who purchased the bear did so for a friend's daughter, who recently had her first child. Her father passed a few months ago, and the woman supplied me with two of his hooded sweatshirts to combine into a bear for the new baby. She also included a small charm (which had belonged to the girl's mother) to stitch inside the bear. Inside the box with the hoodies was a copy of the funeral program, telling me more about the father, including the fact that he was in heaven, probably listening to Johnny Cash with his wife while wearing one of his favorite hoodies.

The buyer also mentioned the fact that he put smiley faces on everything, including his checks. I ended up using more of my vintage daisy trim to accent the bear's neck, instead of a ribbon, because I thought it worked better with the more masculine sweatshirt fabric, and also because the big daisies reminded me of smiley faces.

Once finished, the bear is being sent directly to the mom. The buyer enclosed a card for her, and I think when I wrap the package for shipment, I'll find a few smiley face stickers to put on the box.

Smokey Bears

Back in October, I did a show in South Philadelphia.  While I was there, I was approached by a woman who was interested in custom teddy bears.  She couldn't stay and talk that day, but she took a card and said she would call me.  I never heard anything, so I figured she either lost interest or lost my card.

In early December, she called me and wanted to know if she got me the fabrics ASAP, if she could have 3-4 bears by Christmas.  I said at that point I had about a 10 day turnaround time, so it would be okay.  We traded emails and phone calls for two weeks, at which point it got too close and she said she'd follow up after the holidays.

Silence again until late February, when she emailed to say she was still interested, but having trouble getting it together.  I said that her custom listing on Etsy was open for another 2 weeks, so she had time.  (Listings expire after 4 months).  She paid immediately, and said she'd send the fabrics right out.  Then she emailed to say she'd send the fabrics at the weekend.  Then she emailed on the weekend to say they were going out in the morning.

They finally arrived, and the first thing I noticed when I opened the box was the handful of dryer sheets on top.  I'm not a fan of dryer sheets or their scent, so I chucked them, got on with my day and didn't take the clothes out of the box until later.  Then I was really sorry I hadn't pulled them earlier, because I'd been doing laundry and the reason for the customer's dryer sheets was to try to kill the cigarette smell in the clothes (despite her delays, she hadn't found time to put them in the wash).  My workroom immediately filled with the smell of Newports.

The two pieces were a woman's housedress in a blue wallpaper stripe with lace and a man's plaid shirt.  I was asked to do a single bear in each fabric, and the two remaining bears using both fabrics.  The fabrics are both blue, but that's about all they have in common.  I puzzled for a while about how to make it work, and decided to incorporate a bit of a third fabric (light blue denim) to offset the two and make them argue a little less.  I think it works, at least as well as it's going to.

And if you ever need to know how to get the smell of cigarettes out of fabric when you also don't have time to wash it (I'd done 3 loads of laundry on the day the fabric arrived; if only I'd known earlier), soak it with Febreze and hit it with a really hot iron.  That'll do the trick.

Of course, when I walk into the workroom, I still think I smell the ghost of a chain-smoking woman in a blue housedress.  If I didn't know better, I'd think it was my mom.