I spent many (mostly) happy hours this December sewing 11 memory bears from some of Dad's shirts. (Dad was, somewhat surprisingly, rather a clothes horse. He rarely bought new, unless it was from someplace like Old Navy or Target, but he had a huge collection of mostly thrifted checked shirts to go with his coats and baseball caps. Given how unpretentious he was, this always makes me laugh.) In any case, I raided his closet after he was gone and picked a few I knew he'd worn frequently and made these bears from a pattern by Fostering Sewing Designs. (Buy it here. It's well worth every penny!)
I loved this pattern after I got used to its quirks. I reduced it to 75% to make it a bit more manageable. Because I decided to supplement and accent with faux fir or polar fleece, I could easily get 3 bears from each long sleeved shirt. I incorporated pockets and buttons (shirt front and sleeve cuff) wherever I could, moving and adding buttons as necessary so they all looked well dressed.
My favorite part of the pattern is that it had almost no hand sewing: just three small stuffing holes to ladder-stitch shut. Safety eyes and noses were also ideal, and the limbs were even designed to avoid those tiny, tricky, and tedious foot pads. I think by the time I got going I could turn out a bear in about 3 hours, maybe even a tad less when I was assembly-lining the pattern tracing and cutting.
I adore the Choly Knight / Sew Desu Ne? patterns, but they tend to be super heavy on hand-sewn features, elaborate appliqued eyes, and, yes, even foot pads. :) They are adorable when finished, but I could not have made 11 of them in one month!
Mom, each of their three kids, and the seven grands each got one for Christmas. I convinced them to pose each wearing one of Grandpa's hats. (The 7th grand is grown and flown, but should receive her bear soon!) Bittersweet, but since we all know that Dad / Grandpa is with his Savior and we will see him again, it is endurable. (See this related post.)
If you are interested in commissioning a memory bear or bears using a loved one's clothes, please contact me at annetteccollins@gmail.com.
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