Brown Teddy Bear

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I finished the brown teddy bear for Chris’s niece. I’m pretty pleased with it overall, although as always there are a couple of lessons learned for next time.

This bear is based on Oliver in Sandra Polley’s book, “The Knitted Teddy Bear”. I used one strand of Lion Brand Suede, held together with one strand of Lion Brand Tiffany (eyelash) for everything except the soles of the feet, which are just the suede. It makes a very sturdy fabric that the stuffing doesn’t show through (which has been a problem with previous bears). The facial features are stitched on – the recipient is still small, and has a baby brother on the way, so I decided against the plastic eyes.

The bear is thread-jointed in the legs, so it can stand up. It’s so pot-bellied, though, that it isn’t very stable without leaning against something. It sits up pretty well. Standing, it is nine inches tall; sitting, it’s seven inches. I think it would probably stand up better with firmer stuffing, but then it would be less huggable. I used “Touch of Silk” stuffing, and it’s nice and soft to squeeze.

The arms are thread-jointed too, but all that really does is allow it to beg to be picked up.

49 replies
  6. admin
    admin says:

    I still worry about the safety eyes – I know they’re supposed to stay on through biting, etc., but the hand-knit fabric is so much looser, I’m not sure how stable they’d be. I like the stitched look, too, though – and I figure we can work our way up to fancier bears with eyes and clothes as the kiddos get older.

  9. balanceinchaos
    balanceinchaos says:

    My artisian soul admires your workmanship, but my inner child is crying out “I WANT ONE OF THOSE” he looks so sooooofffftttt. (wife and I have a huge collection of all kinds of stuffies)

  10. hopeevey
    hopeevey says:

    I’ve always admired the look of glass eyes, but they may only be safe for display-only dolls. All the dolls I’ve made have been meant to be played with, so I haven’t even looked for where to buy the glass eyes.

  11. admin
    admin says:

    Thanks! They’re surprisingly easy to make; there’s a certain amount of tedium in doing all the piecing, but it’s not a huge undertaking. I really need to make up five or six to have on hand for occasional gift type things.

  17. unluckymonkey
    unluckymonkey says:

    OH I love this! Lucky little thing! I’m hoping to find venues for selling my knitting and I want to try more wacky child/toy type things to wear. VERY inspirational!

  24. admin
    admin says:

    In the thinking-about stages, is a matching hat of the same stuff with bear-ears that she can wear. We’ll see if it happens before Christmas or not!

  42. quasipsyco
    quasipsyco says:

    That is a great bear!

    I noticed you say it is easy to make, are there instructions some where so a person could try her hand at making cool bears like that?
    Also, what do you mean ‘thread-jointed’?

  43. admin
    admin says:

    I got the pattern out of the book, “The Knitted Teddy Bear” by Sandra Polley. There’s a link in the post above.

    Thread-jointing is a way of tying on the limbs with a string so that they pivot like real joints; it makes the bear more poseable.

  49. Anonymous
    Anonymous says:

    It is gifts like this that parents (and the kids!) treasure for years to come. Lovely little bear 🙂

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