Building your First Teddy Bear
Building Teddy Bears is a very fun and creative hobby for children and those who are kids at heart.
At TheBearShoppe, we've been working hard to gather the best products and information we've found on building your own bear to help beginners and experts alike excel and get ahead in this wonderful hobby.
To make it easier to get started, we’ve gathered some basic ideas. One of the best finds we've seen is the
Build-a-Bear Workshop: Bear Beginning Bear kit from Amazon, which provides everything you need for the first time. However, you can also find all the equipment through our site.
The first thing your should do it to pick a bear style which make you happy and you can love/cuddle with. Once you’ve chose your style, you can find a pattern for it by searching for "Teddy Bear patterns", or browsing through the pattern section on our site.
Once you have your pattern, print it out or draw it to real life scale. These instructions will work for bears with multiple pattern pieces. single piece patterns are much easier to make and will not require the following instructions.
Next, it’s time to Divide your bear into its basic parts: head, body, arms and legs. Cut each piece of your bear, taking care that your fabric pieces are "back to back" on body parts where require you to cut two.
Then, sew the arm pieces together, leaving a slit for padding/stuffing (usually at the elbows). Sew the leg pieces together(usually along the bottom) & Stitch the two head profiles together from the nose to the neck.
Next, you need to sew the gusset (a wedge shaped piece )between the two head pieces - from the nose or forehead to the back of the neck You will need to line it up at the neck and pin it in place before sewing.
Afterward, stuff the head and sew it to the top of the body, around the neck line & assemble the bear by attaching the arms to the sides of the body and attaching the legs to the lower sides of the body.
Finally, you can cut, sew, turn and attach ears (if you want them, not all bear patterns have them.) & add facial details (like nose and mouth, etc.) with embroidery floss or permanent markers.
You’re almost ready. The last step is to sew on the eyes, which can be buttons, or specialty parts (search for them above)
That’s it. At this point, you have your new friend to enjoy and or a precious caretaker for your child!
