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About me & Meet my Bear Tester
About Me...
I made my first bear in summer of 2001 from an old faux fur coat my mother-in-law gave me to try it out and I haven't stopped since. I don't make very many but I always have a few on the go. I work with all types of fur including mohair, any plush as well as real or faux fur jackets and coats. I will try and make a teddy bear from just about any furry material! During the winter I eye all the fur coats folks wear, real or faux, and wonder about the bear hiding in there!
I've been sewing since I was a kid. I used to sew all my own clothes until I decided I'd rather be comfortable, which means jeans and turtlenecks. I moved to Barbie clothes. That didn't last very long because there was no one to make clothes for, I have one son who's now over 21!
In the summer of 2001 my mother-in-law gave me a faux fur coat of a dear family friend that had recently passed away so I made my first big bear, Florence. She then gave me her mother's fur coat she had stored in the closet for 25 years (my mother-in-law never threw anything out :-). From that coat came Myrtie (her mother's nickname). I gave Myrtie to my mother-in-law for her 76th birthday and there the bear lived until she passed away at Christmas. Now Mrytie lives with us and is the bear displayed in the Treasured Memories page of my web site. The remainder of the coat was made into two smaller bears called Helen and Louise (named after my mother-in-law and her sister). They were given to my mother-in-law's sister Helen for Christmas two years later.
I buy fur from wherever I find it. I don't have much free time to create my 'fellows' as I call them because of a little thing called 'work'. When I do find time, I experiment with different pattern shapes with subtle soft sculpting of the facial features.
Although I hate having my picture taken, I was happy to pose with my favorite bear "Chester" who won First Prize at a Local Store's Bear Contest. Chester was one of my first coat bears.
Meet my Bear Tester...
My official Bear Tester is my mother! Every time a new bear is completed I take them over to my Mom for hugability testing. She was a professional seamstress all her life. She could look at something and then whip it up on her sewing machine without a pattern! She's now over 90, a great grandma, doesn't sew anymore because of her arthritis but really seems to enjoy the testing of all my big fellows. Every time a big bear is finished, it visits her at the Senior's home she resides in. She checks out his paws and face, points out any strings left dangling and gives him a big hug :-)
