This is the final post in my blog series, I will show you how I stuff and finish my hand woven teddy bears.
The head is the first bit I stuff and use a fibre filling. I cannot use glass beads as with the rest of the bear because the head droops with the weight. Once it has shape I then work on the hand stitched nose and glass eyes. These need to be placed precisely to create a cute and appealing face.
When the head is finished it is then closed up, using a ‘drawstring’ technique. At the same time the first half of a cotter pin joint needs to be trapped inside. Cotter pin joints join all of the body parts together and allow them to move.
The body, arms and legs are then all joined, but not stuffed, using four more cotter pin joints. As the joints are put in place it is important to get them tight but not so tight that it stops movement, so some adjusting is usually needed.
The body, arms and legs are then stuffed and then hand stitched closed. I use small glass beads to stuff the body parts as it gives the teddy bear a beautiful weight and feel.
Finally, each teddy bear has a Creative Threads button of authentication sewn on.
I hope you enjoyed reading about how I make my hand woven teddy bears. If you would like to see any of the posts again they can be found here.