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kathytaylor Mar 18, 2008

Okay so here is the question, do you stuff your noses, I mean do you use something between the nose embroidery and the bear itself?? For example do you use a piece of felt or polyfil to stuff the nose so to speak. I notice that some of the noses on embroidered nose bears seem to really leap of the bears face, and I can't imagine that it had 500 layers of embroidery to acheive that look. I can get that fairly easily with mini bears, I mean two or three layers and you have an outstanding nose on a mini that is three inches or smaller. So since I am new to the larger bear I am wondering how do you acheive that great nose?? I was very happy with the nose I made on the first bigger bear I did but heck that was alot of stitches. So tell me do you stuff??  

Daphne Mar 18, 2008

Kathy - You can click on the LIBRARY menu right above your first post there, where the smiley face is waving and click on Noses. There are lots of great threads there for nose techniques... all in the Tips & Techniques forum.

I needlefelt a nice plump nose on first, then embroider over it. I've also done layers of felt, each a bit smaller than the last, stuck together with a bit of tacky glue then embroidered over that.

Swan Valley Bears Mar 18, 2008

Yep, I needle felt mine first too.

StarHawk2003 Mar 18, 2008

I hope i'm not Hijacking your post but, those who needle felt the noses first, How do you keep the stitches on?

I tried and the threads keep slipping off the sides...

Hugs,

Richy~

MerBear Mar 18, 2008

I generally do the layers of felt and then embroider but have also needlefelted and then embroidered as well.

Richy - if you watch the shape of the needlefelted nose you shouldn't have a problem with the stiches falling off the sides.

Marion

Donna Mar 18, 2008

I like to make a felt template for my nose.  I stitch it to the bear from one side around the bottom to the other side.  I then put stuffing under the felt template then finish stitching the template to the bear.  I then do my satin stitch embroidered nose over the felt template.  You end up with a nice little puff of a nose.  I learned that trick in a class from Armella Dana. 
Shane where are you?  Tell her how you build up your noses.
Good Luck with your bigger bear noses.
Donna

kathytaylor Mar 18, 2008

I did read thru those posts, and have experimented with the stuffing myself. I actually rolled a small piece of polyfill into the shape I wanted, then sewed it and sewed in onto the bear face then stitched over that for the base of the nose but it didn't seem as full as I wanted. I might try that layering the felt or stuffing under the felt idea, I think that is what I am looking for. I have yet to get into needle felting, and I am really going to use the fabric glue on the nose edges to help secure the thread.
Thanks all for your help!!

Little Bear Guy Mar 19, 2008

I'm here Donna    .  Well what we use is "Sticky Felt"  you can buy it at Michaels and it's really cheap.  It's just normal felt but has a peel off backing that is very sticky.  We cut out different sizes of the nose shape we want and then we lay them on top of one another.  Start with your largest piece first and then your next smallest piece and so until you have the thickness you want usually three or four is enough, then place on the snout where you want it.  Tack it in a couple of places to help hold it in place and then start stitching.  This saves a lot of time when it comes to stitching the nose, you should be able to do a really nice big nose in just a few minutes, maybe only needing to do two or three rows and viola you have a nice puffy nose.

Hope you understand what I mean, sometimes it's difficult cause I know what I mean but without being there in person it's difficult sometimes to get the idea across. 

big hugs

Shane