bear project all finished!
.: Groups .:. Search .:. About :.
User Password
Register Now! Lost Password?

Sewing Discussions - A group that is not as it seams. 

Page 1 of 2       1 2 > last >> Bookmark this page:  YahooMyWeb Yahoo!  Google Google  Windows Live Favorites Windows Live  del.icio.us del.icio.us  digg digg  Add to Netscape Netscape
Subject Author Date
bear project all finished! mamahays 07-31-2007
If you were  Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options
Posted by on July 31, 2007, 9:55 pm
I was beginning to think I would never finish this one. In case I've not
explained this one.... A friend of mine is a playwright. One of his plays
has a central, non-human character. Happens to be played, usually, by a
very large, blue bear that he won in a carnival type game about 30 years
ago. Well... this play is going to be staged at the end of August. He was
afraid the original bear wouldn't survive rehearsal and production. So we
got to talking about how the bear could be copied. I figured he could find
someone close to him to do the bears. Well... a project of this magnitude
can't be trusted to just anyone y'know. So he drove out here from Indiana
with the original bear so I could make a copy of it. We made the patterns
and he took the bear home. Then I started in on the new bears.

Sounds simple right? OK. The bears are a little over 3 feet tall. They
each took a 10 lb. box of polyfill to stuff. The eyes are about the size
of 50 cent pieces. And the fur is the really nice, high quality, thick
stuff. The nap on the main fur is about 2" long.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=o3492qh.1n7isx69&x=0&y=-2bqm3x

I was more than willing to do this since in the 20+ years we've been pals,
he's never asked for a sewing favor.....I think he was saving up. lol

Sharon
---
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of time and just annoys the
pig.

Posted by BEI Design on July 31, 2007, 11:29 pm


mamahays@cox.net wrote:
> I was beginning to think I would never finish this one.
> In case I've not explained this one.... A friend of mine
> is a playwright. One of his plays has a central,
> non-human character. Happens to be played, usually, by a
> very large, blue bear that he won in a carnival type game
> about 30 years ago. Well... this play is going to be
> staged at the end of August. He was afraid the original
> bear wouldn't survive rehearsal and production. So we
> got to talking about how the bear could be copied. I
> figured he could find someone close to him to do the
> bears. Well... a project of this magnitude can't be
> trusted to just anyone y'know. So he drove out here from
> Indiana with the original bear so I could make a copy of
> it. We made the patterns and he took the bear home.
> Then I started in on the new bears.
>
> Sounds simple right? OK. The bears are a little over 3
> feet tall. They each took a 10 lb. box of polyfill to
> stuff. The eyes are about the size of 50 cent pieces.
> And the fur is the really nice, high quality, thick
> stuff. The nap on the main fur is about 2" long.
>
> http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=o3492qh.1n7isx69&x=0&y=-2bqm3x
>
> I was more than willing to do this since in the 20+ years
> we've been pals, he's never asked for a sewing
> favor.....I think he was saving up. lol

Sharon! Those are darling, and look so much like the
original it's scary. How did you manage to make the pattern
without taking old bear apart? Wow!

Beverly



Posted by on August 1, 2007, 9:13 am
BEI Design wrote:

> Sharon! Those are darling, and look so much like the
> original it's scary.

Thank you so much!


> How did you manage to make the pattern
> without taking old bear apart? Wow!
>
> Beverly

Beary carefully! ;) Basically, I rubbed off a pattern. I got some very
thin cotton fabric off the $1 table at wally world. I cut that roughly to
shape and slightly larger than each piece of the bear. Then we would pin
that to the seams (his seams show quite well because he's pretty worn
down.) Rub the pin line with a pencil. Then I took that off, filled in
any gaps in the pencil line and there was the pattern. The trickiest piece
was the muzzle. On the original bear, they glued pleather of some kind
over the point of the cone (the whole muzzle is a cone shape.) Then after
the cone was stitched, they tuck the point in to the middle. So it folded
his nose over. Well....we'd already ordered and received plastic noses.
Didn't want to waste them. ;) So we had to figure that part out. All the
rest of his parts were pretty easy to figure out or just straight copy.

It was a fun project, but I think I'm ready for a couple easier ones. lol

Sharon
---
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of time and just annoys the
pig.


Posted by Donna on July 31, 2007, 11:47 pm

> So he drove out here from Indiana
> with the original bear so I could make a copy of it. We made the
> patterns and he took the bear home. Then I started in on the new
> bears.

The things we do for theater!

The bears are great. They have a Pooh face.

--
~Donna
http://www.frugalsewing.com

Posted by Doreen on August 1, 2007, 1:21 am
mamahays@cox.net wrote:
> I was beginning to think I would never finish this one. In case I've not
> explained this one.... A friend of mine is a playwright. One of his plays
> has a central, non-human character. Happens to be played, usually, by a
> very large, blue bear that he won in a carnival type game about 30 years
> ago. Well... this play is going to be staged at the end of August. He was
> afraid the original bear wouldn't survive rehearsal and production. So we
> got to talking about how the bear could be copied. I figured he could find
> someone close to him to do the bears. Well... a project of this magnitude
> can't be trusted to just anyone y'know. So he drove out here from Indiana
> with the original bear so I could make a copy of it. We made the patterns
> and he took the bear home. Then I started in on the new bears.
>
> Sounds simple right? OK. The bears are a little over 3 feet tall. They
> each took a 10 lb. box of polyfill to stuff. The eyes are about the size
> of 50 cent pieces. And the fur is the really nice, high quality, thick
> stuff. The nap on the main fur is about 2" long.
>
> http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=o3492qh.1n7isx69&x=0&y=-2bqm3x
>
> I was more than willing to do this since in the 20+ years we've been pals,
> he's never asked for a sewing favor.....I think he was saving up. lol
>
> Sharon
> ---
> Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of time and just annoys the
> pig.


What splendid bears, Sharon! They replicate the original just
perfectly. Fur with 2" nap...yikes! That couldn't have been easy to
work with. *achoo*

Doreen in Alabama

Page 1 of 2       1 2 > last >>
Similar ThreadsPosted
Project finished April 3, 2007, 12:51 am
Re: Project finished April 3, 2007, 1:00 am
Fabric for a furry bear costume August 28, 2005, 10:47 pm
Finished! April 12, 2006, 9:50 pm
Coat finished! :) January 11, 2006, 10:24 am
Finished 48J plunge bra! August 16, 2006, 7:00 am
jacket finished February 12, 2008, 7:16 pm
vest finished! June 9, 2008, 10:49 am
Finished alteration(s) July 7, 2008, 5:32 pm
Xmas sewing finished! December 20, 2005, 12:28 am

Contact Us | Privacy Policy
Sewgirls.com XML SitemapXML Sitemap