Making a Mohair Bear part -whatever is next

I think I said in the last post that this bear was shaping up to be a girl. I am not so sure anymore! As the bear progresses a life of its own is taking shape. He is starting to behave like a scruffy school boy!!

I have now turned all the parts and started to carefully stuff the bear. I am using a silky Polyfil Premium blend. Small bits at a time is the secret to a great and even stuffing. Large wads are hard to control and you could end up with a lumpy bear. Unless you want one of course...

Arm wood disc and cotter pin- the one that came out- read on....

As I fill the arm at some point I need to stop and place in a joint for the bear. I decided since I was using mohair which is kind of traditional for bears, that I would use hardwood discs, washers and split pin/cotter pins as they strike me as being kind of traditional too. I did not go so far as to stuff the bear with wood shavings though. I use my awl to make a small hole at the location I marked in the arm and cover that hole with a drop of fray check. I do not want it getting larger. First I place the split pin/cotter pin through the metal washer and then through the wood disc. I now insert that whole lot into the bears limb with the cotter pin poking out of the hole I made. I finish stuffing the limb to how I want it to feel. I went for a softer feel on this one. My next step is to then carefully sew the limb shut using ladder stitch.  Once I have all the arms and legs done, I stuff the head. I stuffed the head to a really firm finish. Again using small amounts of Polyfil and working from the nose to the back of the head. After the head is stuffed, I put in the joint system and sew the neck opening shut. When I joint the limbs and head to the body, I will put the ends of the cotter pin through a wood disc and metal washer on the inside of the body. I fold the ends of the cotter pin into a loop to keep the limb attached to the body.

I had an interesting challenge on the jointing the limbs to the body. I followed my usual order of assembly: Head, Legs and then the Arms. I was putting the final arm joint in place and as I went to fold the split pin over- the other arm fell off!!! I have never had that happen before and had to put the bear down and walk away for a bit. I was not sure if I wanted to laugh or cry. I had obviously over tightened the split pin/ cotter pin and the round head shape of the pin collapsed, allowing the whole cotter pin to pull through the washer and come put of the arm. The only remedy here is to find your seam that you hand stitched shut, open it and replace the cotter pin. Once the arm is ready we try to assemble it again. Maybe next time I will leave the seams open and only sew them shut after I have assembled the arms and legs to the body?

I finally have a head and limbs attached so now I can stuff the body...

Body finished and now to the face...

He is now stuffed and sewn shut. Once my bear is at this stage I start to get a feel for how I want it to look. Another challenge I have found that I am not used to is that I can see the seams. With my normal plushy faux fur- I am hunting for seams by feel. I think this makes sewing with mohair one fabric where you must sew totally accurately. I also used a small stitch length so that if I did a hard feeling stuffed body the stitches would not be obvious. Glad I did that.

Seams are visible under the mohair

I normally do the eyes totally finished and in place before I add ears, but this time I chose an eye placement and sewed on the ears. I use a soft chalk pastel, well ground up and applied with a make up brush to add a touch of color to the ultra suede. Then ladder stitch the base of the ear closed.

Ear ladder stitched shut and pastel color added

I pinned the ears in several places before deciding on where they would end up. I also used my test eyes to see the size and placement I wanted. 

Ears sewn in place and test eyes to show size and placement

I have the ears in place and eye size chosen. I am looking at a cheeky boy here now. Not a girl which I first thought. I want to use a colored glass eye- a pale yellow topaz so I am going to create a whites of the eyes look with leather eyelids. Well- that is the plan right now- he may disagree : )