Anybody here make stuffed animals? A question about noses....

[csziggy]

I'm making memory bears from my Dad's old shirts. I've got all the bears sewn, most are stuffed (that's my husband's job), I'm having no problem sewing the stuffing holes shut or sewing the buttons on for eyes.

The problem I am having is with noses. The pattern instructions (I'm using Simplicity 5491, out of print pattern) says to cut a felt nose, stitch it on the stuffed bear, then satin stitch over that with pearl cotton. The pattern doesn't say what size pearl cotton to use. I've got black in sizes 5, 8 and 12, but I'm having no success stitching a good looking nose in any of those!

I've done a lot of embroidery and can do a mean satin stitch on taut fabric with everything from pearl cotton to untwisted flat silk but my effort at satin stitching the nose on an already stuffed bear is horrible.

I'm thinking of bailing on the stitched nose and getting some buttons for the noses. The eyes are 1/2" half ball buttons in a shiny black - I'm thinking a flat black button in 3/4 or 1" might look good.

Any suggestions?

[SheilaT]

1. I'm inclined to say just experiment.

Do any of the pearl cotton threads look better than the others after stitching? How about just stitch with some random yarn that strikes you as looking good?

[csziggy]

2. I've decided to just stitch the felt pieces on

With regular sewing thread. Mom has a memory bear made by a volunteer group from a shirt of my BIL who passed away. The nose is just felt and it looks OK. I've stitched four noses on now and I'm OK with how they look - better than the volunteer's version.

Next problem are the eyes. I realized I need a doll making needle - long 4.75 - 5" needle - so I can better tie off the thread. I'll have my husband pick up one on the way home from work this afternoon.

When I'm finished with the bears, I'll post a picture.

[SheilaT]

3. Oh, good. I'm looking forward to seeing how they've turned out.

[csziggy]

4. I finally remembered that I promised to upload an image!

Here are all the memory bears I made. I made one from each of the eight shirts we had of Dad's, then made two more from pieces (the ones at each end on the arms of the couch).



We took them to Mom's last month and she loved them all. She gets to distribute them to my sisters and her grandchildren but for now they are in Mom's bedroom on a bench so she can look at them every day.

[SheilaT]

5. They look great!

And what a wonderful thing to do with Dad's shirts!

[csziggy]

6. Many hospitals and hospice volunteers make memory bears

Mom has one made from a shirt of my brother in law who passed away in 2007 - the hospice that helped during his final days made it for her and others for my sister and her kids. Mom likes having a remembrance of him. That's why my sister wanted memory bears from Dad's shirts.

I found the pattern on Ebay - it's a discontinued Simplicity pattern. And then I found a series of YoutTube video tutorials on sewing memory bears from that same pattern. That gave me the confidence to sew them myself. I had been hunting for someone to make them for me since I haven't done much sewing for decades.

Here is the first video - the others can be found from there:

[2478shilpi]

7. learn

i also want to learn how to make soft toys can anyone teach me