Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Maybe you mean Ministoff, that's a german word and means miniature-fabric. It's mostly used to refer to cashmere, but also other fabrics with grid backing. Could that be what you are looking for?

Thank you, it's rare to get so many comments, so I really appreciate it!
I think I'll make some more chicks, I had a lot of fun making them - except for the feet, they were quite tricky. 

Thank you both!

I hope not, my garden is too small to keep poultry!

Hey everyone,
I just wanted to show off my newest creations, two lifesized chicks (11-12cm high). They are made of plush and faux leather, their heads are made of polymer clay and covered with fur. Aren't they cute? 

I use Picasa and I'm quite pleased with it, I think it's easy to use.

Hello gerirose, welcome on TT! Maybe you should tell us where you come from since it wouldn't make sense to order custom boxes from other parts of the world.

I've tried washing the hair of my rabbits but it always ended up as a lump of felt. Carding that would be painstaking. It worked better when I first needle felted it on and then washed the finished sculpture.

What an impressive collection!  But aren't there three missing?

If you want to use that pattern but without joints, you could just sew the limbs on, it's not necessary to have a special unjointed pattern (but as dangerbears already suggested, you could also use plastic safety joints).
For stuffing I would use something synthetic like fiber fill.

Sorry, I can't help with online classes, but I can recommend the CD-ROM by Rotraud Ilisch if you can get it. I think it has more information about techniques and animal design than any book.

Here is what I would try: sew a body of fabric a little smaller than you want it to be, then put the growler (wrapped in thin fabric) inside and stuff firmly around it. This makes a good base to needle felt the outer layer. I think thread jointing should be possible if you use a round needle and stich around the growler?

Seems like the girls had a lot of fun, they look so proud of their bears! 
I wish I had a chance like this when I was a child, drawing my own pattern and teaching myself how to sew at that age was a desaster. 

It's a kangaroo paw.
Since most of my creations have an armature the simplest way for me is to just poke the armature-wires from inside through the paws before stuffing. But you can also form a wire-loop and pull it into the paw, then you have the two open ends sticking out of the toe and form one claw, which can be cut to lenght and covered with glue.

I hope my English is understandable.

Susana, I do the same but use thin wire instead of nylon thread, so I can bend it to shape before adding the glue.

Michelle, you have a point there, but you can also learn quite a lot from working with a model (I guess it doesn't matter if it's made of clay or on the computer). When drawing a pattern by hand, most people tend to stick to "traditional" teddybearpattern with, for example, a 3-piece-head. But on the model you can put the seams in completely different places and try out new methods. Imagining and drawing such a pattern by hand is difficult and requires a lot of trial and error.

Designing Patterns Help
In this topic, Us Bears uses the software "Blender" to make a pattern. I might give it a try since it's freeware.

I tried the demo version of "easy toy", it was really easy to use and I had a lot of fun making some 3d-Objects. But to make them into a pattern you also need "pattern image". Easy toy costs 200$, for pattern image there isn't even a price on the developers website. I sent them an email asking for the price for both (just because I was curious) but never got a reply.

Anyway, I guess it's too expensive for me, so I will continue using clay to model my Objects and tin foil to get the pattern. Works like a charm for me. 

I really enjoyed it! Wish I were as talented as some of your members. 

When I'm struggling with a difficult shape, the easiest way for me is to make a clay model and take the pattern from it. I tried it out a few times and where always delighted with the result.