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.

Four Custom Polar Bears

For Diane

This is the first teddy of a four Polar Bears Custom Order

(please click the link below to see all 4 teddies)

Custom Polar Bear #3659

Updated photo
All of the Polar Bears have been gifted to their new families
but before they were presented Diane used the 
very decorative lining from the mink jacket
to create wonderful fabric bows for each Polar Bear.

They look wonderful!!!
Diane was so very thoughtful to not only gift her family these
Family Heirloom Bears
but she even took the time to add her own creative touch.
How very special ... I hope these mink bears will be 
treasured for many future generations.

Thank you, Diane, for trusting me with your family's mink jacket
and for waiting so patiently for me to create them for you.

Rest In Peace ... Lillie Mae ... my mother

My beloved mother graduated into Heaven on June 5.

We were blessed to have her on this earth for 95 years.

Custom Order 14 (finally) finished ... 4 Polar Bears

Custom Order for Diane ....

Four beautiful Polar Bears:

This is just a quick photo before I run off to check on my mom in the hospital.
 Their Photo Shoot with more detailed photos will be posted soon ...

Long over-due update ...

Some of you may have been wondering where I have been ... seems like I fell off the end of the earth ... just disappeared ...

Well, my friends who know me will not be surprised to know that as soon as Spring arrives I spend all of my time in my garden. This year is especially time consuming since I am converting my garden by removing the grass and replacing with pebbles and my plants are all succulents in containers. I live in Southern California where there is a perpetual drought. Besides that I love succulents! My plan is to make my garden look like a full sized Fairy Garden (I even plan on adding a few on my hand sculpted dragons).

That is the good reason that I temporarily "disappeared". The other reason is that my mother is now 95 years old and I somehow, being the middle child, became my mother's main caregiver during the day (my younger sister actually cares for her at night since she lives with her).

Unfortunately my mother recently suffered a small stroke so all of my days are spent in the hospital with her since her speech is difficult and I need to advocate for her. After spending up to 8 hours in the hospital each day I come home exhausted and my poor little unfinished teddies continue to patiently wait for their completion ...

These teddies are for my Custom Order for Diane.  Thank you Diane for your wonderful patience. As you can see your teddies are beautiful and they will be even more beautiful when I find the time to paint their lovely faces, then they will be complete ... finally.

My teddies are not only my creative passion but they are also my therapy so I hope to find time soon to spend time creating them once again. Other than that I hope my very patient collectors will continue to be very very very patient with waiting for me. Before my mother became ill I was actually planning on a new creation to offer to my collectors. I realized that while I've made mink cats I've never made a mink lion ... or a mink owl ... or a mink ????? I had more ideas, more ideas than I have time (at the moment). I have no plans on "retiring" from my teddies ... ever ... so patience please, I will be making more when I can.

Work in Progress for Custom Teddy #14

For Diane

From her mother's mink jacket ... at least 2 teddies (pattern #2)

I'm looking forward to making ... polar bears!
This lovely ivory mink will become beautiful polar bears.

The pelts look like they are in great condition.

The wonderful wide pelts will be a pleasure to work with.

This is what I found printed on the leather side of the pelt. Sometimes I find handwritten notes from the furrier when it was a custom-made mink garment, that is always fun to find, but no notes on this pelt although it was nice to see these markings. In 1999 New York's last remaining dressing plant, Meisel-Peskin, has closed its doors after nearly 70 years in business.

I'm going to prepare linings for 4 teddies so I can get an accurate estimate as to how many teddies are actually hiding in this jacket.

Update: Saturday Jan. 20, 2018:

Okay, I finally found the time to update my work on this order after a very eventful week that included my husband's surgery on his arm on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday  I was making sure that everything went smoothly on my 94 year old mother's fence demolition and installation of a new fence, also doing her grocery shopping ... topping the week off with rushing my husband to the ER last night because his arm and hand was too swollen and discolored. He was in the ER from midnight to 6am so I got maybe an hour or two of sleep. They checked my husband for a blood clot and changed his bandaged wrapping from surgery which were definitely too tight. At the moment he seems to be doing well. OMG, it's amazing that I can get any work at all done on my teddies!

The jacket is cut apart. Here is the main body of the jacket.

Here are the sleeves, collar, and the front pocket areas

I laid out the pattern for the two teddies requested. And to answer the inquiry: "is there enough mink for 4 teddies?", I then laid down more teddy patterns on the remaining pelt. The result? Hooray! There is exactly enough pelt remaining for just two more teddies ... for a total of 4.

Update: Jan. 22, 2018

I cut out two teddy bears:

This is one of the mink pieces that I cut out,

my next step is to trim the sewing line around each pattern piece. 

Here is the same piece with the seam allowance trimmed.

While this is a very time consuming step, it always makes sewing easier 

and, more importantly, it gives the finished teddy a smoother appearance.

And now I have to trim each pattern piece. I think that each teddy has about 30 pattern pieces. So it will take a little while to trim 60 pattern pieces ... 

Sewing is the most time consuming step. Finally all finished with sewing both teddies.

Now time to assemble ...

First headless teddy.

So far, so good.

First two teddies ... almost finished ... still need the final detailing (waxing nose and hand painting).

Now working on the next two teddies for this order .....

The bodies are done and waiting for the heads.

Now I'm looking for a face in the mink ball ...