Memory Bears
I have been volunteering with the local hospice group for about 2 years now. I do Pet Therapy with patients with my greyhound Chelsea, and have also volunteered with their Expressive Arts program to make Memory Bears for the families of patients that have passed away, using clothing provided by the families and usually something the patient would wear. Here are a few examples of bears I have made in the past, including one that I made with a fur stole.
The bear on the left in the photo above is the one I am going to walk you through today.
I use this pattern that I found on Pinterest (Click for link) but the link to the original is broken and sends you to a different pattern now. The original did come from j-flora.com but I made some adjustments to the head gusset, shortening it on the wide side. I also blew it up on my printer until the pattern pieces were as big as I wanted my bear to be.
First, you will take your pattern pieces and trace them out in the right quantity and orientation on your interfacing. I use an iron-on interfacing with all of my bears. Choose an interfacing that is meant to be used with the type of fabric you are using, especially if it is a knit and has any type of stretch to it. Otherwise, your pieces can get misshaped when you stuff them.
Roughly cut your pattern pieces out and place them on the wrong sides of your fabric and iron on. You can be creating with your placement to include or avoid certain parts of features on the fabric. Then, cut all of your pieces out and lay them out to make sure you have everything in the right quantity and orientation.
For this bear, I used a solid (with some embroidery embellishment) for the body and head parts and a print fabric for the arms, legs and ears. Even when I am doing the same fabric for the whole bear, I always use a contrasting fabric for the inside of the ears and the bottoms of the feet.
The first step is to place your head pieces right sides together and sew from the nose to the neck.
Then, you need to pin your head gusset in place with the large opening at the neck and point at the tip of the nose and sew one side.
Then, pin and sew the other side of the head.
Locate your marks for the ear cutouts.
Snip through the ear cutouts.
Take your ear pieces and sew them right sides together. If you are contrasting the inside of the ear, make sure you are sewing 2 different fabrics together.
Turn right sides out. I like to sew a small dart by folding in half with the inner ear on the inside of the fold. I find that this makes my bear look less like a mouse when the head is finished.
Place the ears inside the head, with the seam sticking through the cut you made earlier, and inner ear color facing towards the nose. You might need to cut your openings larger to accommodate depending on the thickness of your fabric. Sew through all layers and trim the excess.
Place a small hole at the center of the tip of the nose.
Place your nose piece through the hole and secure with the lock washer on the back.
Find the location of your eye, and place a small hole. Fold the head in half to match up the other side to make sure your eye placement is even.
Place your eyes through the holes and secure with the lock washers.
Sew your arm and leg pieces (Legs not shown) together, right sides together, leaving an opening for turning.
Pin your foot pad to the bottom of your leg parts and sew all the way around.
Take your body pieces, fold in half and sew the darts closed.
Then, placing right sides together with the darts both on the bottom, sew closed, leaving an opening for turning.
On your arm and leg pieces, turn right sides out and find the placement for your joint. Cut a small hole, and place the joint through the hole, with the large flat part inside and the "bolt" part sticking out.
Stuff and close with a ladder stitch.
On the head, stuff and sew a running stitch around the neck opening.
Place the large joint in the neck opening and cinch your thread tight and secure.
Then, lay out all of your bear parts. Everything will be stuffed and closed except your body part.
At the top of the neck, cut a small hole and push the head joint through the hole. Secure with the plain washer and the lock washer, making sure the head is facing forward. (The dart on the body front is smaller than the back.)
Find your arm and leg hole locations and secure your arms and legs using the lock washers. The holes for the arms and legs are slightly behind the side seams, but line them up to double check, depending on how stuffed your bear is.
Then, stuff your body part and use a ladder stitch to close the opening.
Add a ribbon to the neck, and you are all done!!
