Work in Progress ... Custom Order #17

For Debra M.

from her family's vintage blond mink stole

to be transformed into 2 custom teddy bears

using pattern #1

(I will also use the name in the lining to make a sitting pad/quilt for the teddies) 

I had intended on starting on this order a month ago but I was having trouble with my vision. After several trips to the doctors and a variety of treatments, I am able to see what I am doing again. After 30 years of bear-making I could probably make a teddy with "my eyes closed" but since I am using someone else's mink stole I did not want to risk making a lop-sided bear. So now ... back to work!!!

This is Debra's family mink stole.

I don't have a lot to work with because it is on the small size

with a small collar.

Debra wants to save the embroidered name

so I will make my usual little sitting quilt to display with the teddies.

Unfortunately this mink stole was not the in best condition BUT

fortunately the stole was only falling apart along the seam lines.

The pelt, for the most part, seems to be holding up pretty well. 

Of course, the real test comes when the teddy is all sewn together

and I start to stuff it ... I've actually had borderline condition pelts SHRED APART when I start of stuff. Now THAT is frustrating to say the least.

The fur is a very pretty blond color.

Before I lay out my pattern pieces I have to figure out the direction of the hairs.

What I really like about this particular mink stole is that the pelt is solid, as opposed to a lot of little pieces of mink sewn together.

I've deconstructed the mink stole and laid out my pattern pieces. And as I expected I have NO room for error ... there is JUST enough mink pelt for the two requested teddies.

These are the pattern pieces cut out, there about 60 pieces.

Each pattern piece has to have the seam line trimmed about 1/8 inch all around.

Here are all the pattern pieces, organized, trimmed, and 

ready to start the hand-sewing.

I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas and New Year holidays ... the holidays definitely got in the way of my sewing schedule. Well, to be honest I did very little sewing over the Holidays ...

But now I'm getting back on track:

all sewn up ... finally

cleaning up the seams

These are the steps that I do next to complete each arm and leg:

1. stitched arms and legs turned to outside
2. cotter pin joints added
3. wire armatures added
4. stuffed
5. opening stitched closed with a hidden ladder stitch
6. turn body to outside 
7. attach completed arms and legs to body with cotter pin joints
8. stuff head
9. attach neck
10. stuff neck
11. complete head by scissor sculpting face, add glass eyes, embroider nose then wax nose and seal it, finish scissor sculpting face
12. attach completed head to body
13. stuff body and close opening with hidden stitches
14. sew on ears
15. hand-paint face
16. do final detailing

Thankfully everyone on my waiting list is very patient ... as you can see each and every mink teddy that I hand-make is very very time consuming.

Well, back to work ...

eyes and nose attached

starting to scissor sculpt the face

This is one little face ...

this is the other.

Now just have to attach the bodies and

do the finishing touches.

All finished!

I also finished to little quilt from the stole's lining with the original owner's name.

Now I just have to finish the final photos of the teddies and I will introduce them in the next post ...

Teddy has a companion puppy ...

Custom Teddy #15 finally has a puppy as a companion:

It has been a few years since I've made a Teddy-Puppy set and I'm remembering why I designed them ... because they are absolutely ADORABLE!!!!

Someday I'm going to have to make myself one of these sets ... someday.

To see more photos and a description of this wonderful pair please

CLICK HERE

Puppy for Custom Teddy #15

I had originally (before I restricted my Custom Work to teddies only) promised a companion puppy with Custom Teddy #15...

They did not have a contrasting colored mink stole to send me for the puppy so I will be using one of my light colored mink stoles.

"Companion Puppy"

As you can see in the photo above, 

I designed my puppy to be smaller than my teddy bear.

Due to the small size I need to find a mink with short dense hairs 

and a full pelt (and not the typical mink with pelts that are

sewn together in tiny strips)

This is the mink that I found in my supplies ... it is beautiful!

it is a very pale beige ... or possibly an ivory color.

it has beautifully dense hairs.

and best of all, it is a full pelt.

I have to mark the direction of the growth of the
mink hairs on the back of the pelt ...
then I have to lay out the pattern accordingly.

I have no doubt that I purchased this mink stole with the intention of it becoming a series of pandas ... or polar bears ... and with the remainder of this stole, after this puppy, I will be looking forward to finding some time to making more pandas or polar bears or mice or bunnies with this beautiful mink stole.

*** Update ***

30 little pattern pieces, cut out and trimmed

 ... ready for hand sewing ...

Teddy is patiently waiting for it's puppy to be finished. It is getting closer: it is in 3 pieces now (rather than 30). The head, the body with legs, and the neck. The adorable white dog watching me work is my daughter's sweet dog, Tenley ... actually she wants me to STOP working and play ball with her instead.

I forgot how much work my little dogs and teddies were to create because I can only sew them by hand (the seam allowance is about 1/8 of an inch). Every seam has to be precise or the puppy or teddy will not look symmetrical. It a challenge! I'm pretty sure that is why my teddies started getting larger as I got older. Not that an 11 inch teddy is large but it is large for me because in the 1990s the typical sizes of my mink teddies was between 3 to 8 inches!!! 

Custom Order #16 for Pat

Laughing Dog

To see more photos and details 

CLICK HERE

A Challenge ... AKA: Custom Order #16

Work in Progress 

for 

Custom Order #16

(this should be an interesting WIP to watch progress)

Custom Order #16 comes from my long time friend-collector, Pat. She may live on the other side of the world from me but she has always taken great joy in continually challenging me with her Custom Order requests. And Custom Order #16 is no exception. While I am currently limiting my Custom Order to teddy bears only. Pat personally handed this mink to me way back in 2012 while she was visiting Laguna Beach. My long time friends know that they can request anything (not that I will agree to make it but they can ask). For example, Pat just asked me for a dog ... with teeth. I've never made anything with teeth and don't plan to, so I agreed to make her a dog with an open mouth.

This is what I have to work with:

I have scraps. Originally she gave me a mink stole and asked me to make her a bunny. Which I did but she didn't like the bunny. So someone else adopted it and I kept the scraps until she decided what else she wanted.
It's unlikely that there is enough usable mink scraps for a larger dog so I will use some of my mink.
I won't be able to match the color exactly but hopefully it will be a close match.

UPDATE

This is my pattern of my larger dog
Standing size: 10 inches
Sitting size: 8 inches

Pat wants her dog with an open mouth, 

this is an example of one of my smaller (6 inch) dogs.

So I will have to make some adjustments to my 10 inch dog pattern.

These are the scraps that I have to work with from Pat:

I cut out my liner pattern pieces:

In my mink supplies I found a mink that is just a little lighter in color.

As you can see ... I have one of Pat's scraps across the front of my mink.

This is the main reason that I want to use some of my mink ... the pelts from Pat's scraps are little strips of mink sewn together while my mink is a solid pelt.

A solid pelt is much easier to sew by hand. I will use my mink for the head and Pat's mink for the rest of the teddy.

I've got the head cut out and ready for sewing.

It's been a few years since I've tried to make a dog ... even longer since I tried to make one with an open mouth.

So far, so good ...

Custom Order #15

To see the Work In Progress photos for this teddy

please scroll down to the preceding post.

To see more photos and details of this completed teddy

please click here

I created this teddy for Theresa from her family heirloom mink jacket ...

but she has not responded to any of my emails

so I just mailed her a note

hopefully she will respond because this little teddy is just adorable.

To everyone on my Custom Teddy Work Schedule:

I have a lot of people on my Custom Teddy Work Schedule and making each teddy is very time consuming so it will take a long time to get to each order (which is why I stopped accepting deliveries of the mink garments until I have time to actually work on your order). Please continue to be patient ... and if you move or change your email please let me know, especially if I already have your mink garment. 

Work in Progress ... Custom Order #15

Custom Order for Theresa M.

from her taupe brown mink stole

one teddy ... no preference on pattern style

the mink is a pretty color

I was able to lay out the pattern on the bottom edge of the stole

I typically use the stole's lining for the paw pads ... but

oh no!

the fabric is dry rotted and just fell apart when I started to cut it !!!

So now I'm worried that the same thing will happen the the mink pelt ...

cutting ... carefully cutting ... 

so far so good ...

But I'm still not trusting the mink pelt

so I give it a good strong PULL !

And I'm delighted to say that it is NOT shreading

BUT I could feel, as I was cutting out the pattern pieces, that some areas of the mink pelt are stronger than others ...

So that means that I am going to have to HAND sew 

each and every pattern piece.

This will take longer but this gives the teddy a better chance to holding together once I start stuffing it.

Since I can't use the stole's lining for the paw pads

I decided to use some of my ultrasuede instead.

The pattern pieces are all cut out

next step: trim the sewing line around each and every pattern piece.

Sewing each piece by hand.

Finished sewing.

Turned and stuffed the head and delighted to see that the pelts are strong enough that they did not split ... 

Now to finish the rest of the teddy.

These a a couple of my mink stoles. One is brown and the other is beige.

Theresa had requested a teddy-dog set but did not have another color mink to send me to represent a Mahogany Golden Retriever. While there are dyed red minks there aren't any naturally red minks. I don't have a red mink but this brown looks a little reddish brown to me.  Since I had agreed to the teddy-dog set before I decided to limit my custom orders to teddies only, I thought it would only be fair that I offer to make a dog from one of my minks. So it is up to Theresa if she wants me to make a dog from one of my minks to be a companion to her teddy. She can choose either a beige dog or a brown dog.

I laid her teddy across both of my minks to show how the colors matched up.