Making a Teddy bear... a Mamsey. Part one

        It has always been my intention to create my book characters as stuffed critters to hug as you read.  When it came to making Mamsey Bear and Mopkin, I wanted to design them as teddy bears, including all the outfits they wear in the book. .First, I had to learn how to make a teddy bear again. I have not  sewn a teddy since my 32 year old son was a baby.

 I gathered all manner of information. Each one of these books has bear patterns, but I wanted to make my own pattern. So with pencil and notebook in hand, I drew and cut and crumpled up one paper pattern after another, taking notes and  studying proper techniques. It was trial and error all the way.

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I gathered together several of my bears to study their "anatomy". Three of these bears are very old and stuffed with excelsior and 3 of them are collector bears from various bear artists.

I am starting with Mamsey, the mother bear. She isn't meant to be an exact replica, but a representation of her book counter-part. Her fur should be blond and wavy, her nose somewhat long and her body stout. Due to the nostalgic nature of my books, I want my bear  to be a  traditional and classically historic teddy with jointed arms, legs and head.  I purchased yards and yards of brown and blond Plush Felt to make the practice parts and it's a good thing I did!

 My first head was too fat and wide. It may work for a Mopkin Pattern though.

This one's forehead is too wide... and the muzzle too thick.

     I love the long nose on this one, however, the head is too large and the back of the head too flat, for my intended 18inch bear.  Back to the drawing board.

Seven heads later, I finally achieved the look I was after.

 I went through the same song and dance with all the body parts. Butt too flat, Tummy too small , arms to long, legs too short.... on and on and on.

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 Into the basket they go!

 The body parts selection grew and grew, but none of them were Mamsey Bear.

 However, with all these anatomical bits and pieces, I should be able to create quite a few unique bears later on. ...after all, bears come in all shapes and sizes just like we do.
Once I had a pattern I was pleased with, I took a deep breath and laid out the Mohair fabric.This stuff is really beautiful but VERY expensive, 1/4 yd costs $30 and up. Now you know why I used practice fabric to begin with.

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When cutting into mohair, you slide your scissors between the cloth and the "fur" You don't want to cut the fur, it will just pull apart when you remove the pattern piece.

Lots of pinning to be on the safe side. 

.These are the ears.. I wanted to sew the head first, as it is the most important part.

It was exciting and a bit scary to turn the head inside out but it here she is 

 in her lovely blond Mohair fur, with her nice long nose...

Here she is from the front looking all wild and crazy! Now,  another scary thing to do is to trim her muzzle. Don't want to take off too much fur, take it slowly and carefully. This is where her personality will be formed.

  And determine the final shape of her nose.

 So strand by strand I cut away the mohair from her muzzle until satisfied, Next I tried several different noses using my brown felt patterns  and settled on giving her the wide nose, as in the book.

The felt nose was fabric glued in the proper position and I inserted the amber colored glass eyes.

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  Next, using the thick and lovely #5 Perle cotton strands, I embroidered  over the felt nose, using it as a template.

So far so good, I just want to kiss her!
 Her ears are attached in the proper place. I refer to my Mamsey book often for reference.

 

Plastic safety joints are used to attach the limbs and the head. She will be able to swivel her head in any position and, because her arms are moveable, she will be easily dressed.

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All body parts are ready to attach to her  stout, round tummy.

 She is ready to stuff!

   This lady takes a lot of stuffing, but I want her to be quite firm so that her clothing ( which I will be making next) fits her nicely.

When I designed the pattern, I made the feet smaller than most Teddys, because her wooden shoes must accommodate that foot! I will stain those shoes to a nice golden pine.

   

Mamsey still needs embroidered claws and more "stitching up". Her fur needs to be teasled around the seams to make them invisible. But her fur is messy and wild, and that is what I want.

I learned a lot with this project and will still need to tweak the pattern a bit more. I will have a much easier time making Mopkin, since I now know what I am doing.  In the next post, I will show you the clothing she will be wearing for her first outfit. In the book, the bears have at least 15 outfits and I am making every single one of them!

 When the entire project is complete, I will offer these bears AND their frocks, as patterns and kits. There will be two ways to make your Mamsey and Mopkin; as a collector bear, using the glass eyes and mohair with wool stuffing OR as a Child safe bear using synthetic fur and plastic safety eyes and polyester stuffing.

This was quite fun and can be accomplished using basic sewing skills. My hat's off to all Bear artists, no wonder you love to make bears!

Who can resist a Teddy Bear, even James likes her.
 See you next time with  a  finished and fully attired Mamsey!