Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

He looks like a Chiltern bear to me - I would say definitely English anyway as it looks like he has worn off rexine paw pads.

Now that Canada Post has dropped the $100 included insurance on small packet air parcels - both to the US and International, I feel I can no longer use that method as if anyone claims they didn't get their parcel PayPal would give them a full refund and I would be out the cost of the bear and the postage. At least with the $100 insurance I could always count on getting that much of the transaction back. Now I am forced to use their new tracked packet rate and for smaller parcels my postage cost to the US has more than doubled from $7.60 to over $16.00. The smallest parcel internationally has gone from around $10 to $45 or $50 (and even more depending on the country) so my sales have effectively been cut back to just Canada and the US. My sales so far this year have been pretty limited with most being local sales in person with no shipping involved. My purchasing has also been significantly reduced too with these new greatly increased postage costs worldwide.

Congratulations on your well deserved award Berta! That is so awful to have your purse stolen. For many years now I have worn a small leather shoulder bag purse slung across my body when doing shows. It is flat, easy to get into and has just two compartments with closures - one zipper and one snap. It works really well and keeps my money safe.

Carlin is a miniature bear about 5" tall, fully jointed, made of vintage rayon type fabric with bead eyes with embroidered accents. He wears a vintage key on a red and white cord around his neck. Carlin is available on Bear Pile.

Thanks, it's always nice to hear positive comments!

Little Emmeline is a vintage looking miniature bear, 3.75" tall, made of a light gold colour vintage rayon pile fabric, fully jointed (loosely for a well-loved-bear feel), polyfil stuffed, black bead eyes, stitched nose, mouth, eyebrows, and claws, face shading, staining on ears, and paws, dressed in a non-removeable lace dress with silk ribbon and tatting trim and a silk ribbon by her ear. She is available on Bear Pile.

I have just listed this miniature bear set on Bear Pile. The little bear is 3.5" tall and has just discovered his first robin of the year, sitting on a log - it must be spring! The bear is fully jointed, black bead eyes with white embroidered accents to give him a look of surprise and wonder. He wears a hand knit little scarf. The robin is hand painted and glued to the wooden "log".

I am over the moon to have gotten an industry choice win in the miniature undressed category! First time I have entered in quite a while. I had checked the list someone posted on the weekend and my name wasn't there so thought that was it, I hadn't won,  but a few names were missing and mine was one of them! Here is my little "Oliver" with his hand puppet.

I am so excited!
Congratulations to all the other winners as well!

Daniel is a miniature teddy bear, about 3 1/2" tall,  made panda style with light and dark brown fabric, fully jointed, black bead eyes with white embroidery accents. He has a green silk ribbon with a jingle bell and comes with his little Christmas stocking.

Oh, Vicki - that really does hurt doesn't it and so unfair when it wasn't anything you did or had any control over. I can't understand how some people think - surely anyone could see that that would be a totally unfair thing to do even if she were disappointed - it was her own mistake! And why not contact you first! Etsy should have a policy to retract negative feedback given so unfairly - shame on them!

Hope - Guardian Angel

"Hope" is a tiny Guardian Angel bear just 1 3/4" tall, fully jointed. This is the third one (each different) that I have made for friends with serious health problems. The tag says "EVERYONE NEEDS A LITTLE HOPE IN THEIR LIFE".

They are adorable!

So cute!

He's adorable!

Elspet is a miniature elephant about 4 1/4" tall, made of a very soft vintage pile fabric, fully jointed, wired trunk, black bead eyes with embroidered accents, and a vintage bow by her ear.

Little Pansy is 3" tall, made of soft mini bear fabric in off white and pinkish beige - panda style, fully jointed, and with a couple of flowers by her ear.

Poppet is a baby bear just over 3" long, fully jointed, with his little hand quilted blanket to lay on.

So cute!

This is Ace, 4 3/4 " tall, made of short pile upholstery velvet, fully jointed, polyfil stuffed, black bead eyes with white embroidery accents, face shading. He has a felt scarf around his neck and his own little wooden plane.
Now on Bear Pile.

A two piece head definitely works better on a miniature bear than on a larger one. There is enough stretch on the bias in most fabrics to give you the shaping on a tiny head. On a larger bear I would use a gusset and split it as Becky said for a center seam.

Elsken is a baby elephant about 5" tall, made of mohair and fully jointed with a wired trunk and a little braided tail.

Big congrats to all - well done!

He looks a bit like a Winnie the Pooh bear.

The one teddy I would love to have to have back is the first teddy I ever owned and I made him myself at age 12 or 13 (won first prize for him in the local fair too!). I don't even have a picture of him. I kept him until after I was married and we had moved to Yellowknife, NWT. When we left there we had to pay for our own move back south so we got rid of nearly everything and even though I wanted to keep my bear, my husband talked me into giving him to the local thrift shop so some poor child who might not have many toys would be able to enjoy him (talk about a guilt trip!). Once I got into making teddy bears many years later I really regretted not having my first one!

Little Penelope is a 5 3/4" inch elephant made of pale pink sparse mohair. She is fully jointed, polyfil stuffed, black glass eyes, stitched eyebrows, face shading, cotton pink and white print fabric foot pads and inner ears, wired trunk, and an organza bow on her head.
Now listed on Bear Pile.