Small Pink Bears

A little while ago (think years ago) I designed and crafted a 'pregnant bear with her un-born baby'. I called the set 'New Life'. It was a bit of an undertaking and not something I'll do again. BUT - I recently found the pattern I'd made for the baby bear tucked up inside of the mum's belly, and decided to just make a few sleepy little mini bears.

Avani and Avish were the resulting critters!

Avani (the little pink/purple bear made from our 'Lilac Dreams' mohair) has been adopted. But Avish (made from our 'Latte' mohair) is currently available.

We don't make bears under 6-8" very often - mostly because I find it to be quite a challenge! I really have to be very motivated to get busy with the fiddly little details of mini-bear-making. So, if you do like the look of Avish... it might be worth checking his listing out. Once he's gone he's gone!

~*~

The rest of the bears we've been working on over the weekend were Collaboration Bears. I had pink thread still in my sewing machine from sewing up Avani - so rummaged through the collaboration bear-bits-box to find some pink critters that needed finishing. This meant I ended up working on the very sweet 'Alice Rabbit'...

... as well as 'Calanthe' in a really unusual 3-tone purple mohair... (who has been adopted)

... and last but not least, little 'Strawberry'. Made in a stunning wispy baby-pink mohair. I fell in love with this girl while I was finishing her off. So it wasn't a surprise that she found her new home quite quickly too.

Another trio of bears - Sawyer, Eloise and Belarius

This little colour-ball came about after a collector asked if we could make one of our previous blue/purple tipped large bears in a smaller size. I knew we could, but also knew the look would change dramatically - but was curious to see this fur made up in our 10" Osias pattern, so whipped this boy up. We called him Sawyer, and while he wasn't adopted by the original collector (he was too different!), he quickly found a new home!

I had planned to offer some kits for Sawyer, but realised that I only had a small amount of the gorgeous cotton-print butterfly fabric used for his paw pads - so can only offer TWO! The kits are currently available in our etsy store until sold out.

Then, while we were on the roll of trying things for the hell of it, we thought we'd try using one of our plush lines to make a small-ish 9" bunny. Chubby Eloise is the result! I actually was SO motivated to make this girl that I started her (ie. got my pattern out and found a piece of this fur) at 9:30pm on friday night. She was completely finished - toes, shading, accessories, whiskers, seams closed etc, but 12:30am saturday morning. THREE HOURS! I have no idea how I managed that - I usually take at least 5 hours per critter.

I'm going to put it down to the gorgeous fur.

It is quite a silky/slippery pile to work with, but the trick i found was that if i made sure my seam allowances weren't stingy, i didn't have a problem. Stuff gently to give the softness of the pile a chance to really shine, and you'll end up with a gorgeous little plushie!

Eloise is currently available for adoption, and you can also purchase her pattern, her fabric (and her lollypop pendant!). We haven't made up kits for her yet because we're running seriously low on paw pad materials though! :P

And lastly, this big boy is 'Belarius'. He is another bear made up in one of our fabrics, just to see how it would work. The fur is 'Baby Owl' and is from our original import back in 2012. Surprisingly I hadn't used it on a bear like this yet. I wasn't sure how it would go being sculptured for the face - would it be too dark to see any detail, or would the cheeks be too full - but it worked beautifully and was a delight to play with! It's a long pile, but not over the top. And the length is quite uniform so you don't get wispy fly-away bits that tangle in your sewing thread.

Belarius is currently available for adoption. He will be a one of a kind, even though I did enjoy making him so much - I just have too many other ideas to try (and too little time to try them all!).

We don't have a kit for him either, as his pattern is one we haven't released yet. And may not ever release... it's one of my favourites. And a girl's gotta have some mystery! ;)

Missy

I'd like to introduce little 'Missy' - my latest design.



I thought for sure I'd need to adjust this pattern after seeing how it went together this time around, and wrote down a list of things I was going to change as I was assembling her... but now that she's finished, I don't think I want to change anything!




Missy is 8" tall and has jointed legs and head but floppy arms - meaning they sit so beautifully in her lap. She is currently on etsy and bearpile if you think she might fit into your collection.

An update on my 'critter' sewing adventures

I've been a bit slack with updating my bear blog lately. Between the two very active children in my life, the husband who is home for a few weeks over the christmas/new year period, 40+ guinea pigs in the backyard, a reasonably well behaved dog, giant fish and now two new baby cockatiels... we have a busy little world!

But here is a look at the last bunny I made in my newest rabbit pattern. This little lady is named 'Maple', and she has already been claimed. She was made from a mix of coffee and cream ratinee curly mohair - which I think worked quite well as something a little different.



Maple ended up sitting a lot straighter - which is what I originally wanted, after I changed the method of stuffing the tummy/legs (really firm, heavily weighted belly, firmly stuffed and weighted feet, and much softer top-part of the legs).







I've also been working on some quirky new guinea pig plushies (because I am a little guinea pig obsessed...).




(The belly of the mumma piggy is lined in 100% cotton quilting fabric, and padded so that the babies snuggle in well and stay in place while mumma sits over them - kind of like a guinea pig version of a babushka doll!).


Babies in the tummy...

...babies out! I think it's something a little different, and a little fun, and will appeal to those who loved those 'puppy surprise' toys from years ago. (or even those pregnant barbie dolls that used to be available... which was me! lol)

Rosebud - the pink mohair rabbit

(Chelsea and her Uncle Sam enjoying MORE food at my Dad's place Christmas afternoon).


How was your Christmas? Ours was CRAZY! Definitely fun, but I am glad it's only a once-a-year event!


In the midst of all the craziness, I managed to get the pink mohair version of my new bunny design completed. It was actually really lovely to sit down with it on Christmas Eve after the house was spotless, the food prepared for the next day and the presents placed under the tree... just listening to Christmas Carols on the TV and sewing away.

I then got another chance to finish her off on Boxing Day after lunch while all of the family sat in our lounge room in air-conditioned comfort half watching the cricket on TV, and half watching the kids exploring their new toys.





So here she is! I've called her Rosebud - for obvious reasons... (I do seem to have a LOT of pink bears in stock at the moment... maybe 2011 was the 'year of pink' for me!?).



I think the mohair works quite well. She doesn't have the same puffy/soft/fat look at the faux fur gave her, but I think it works to give her a more lean/muscular 'wild hare' look.



She can currently be found for adoption on bearpile.

Latest Design - realistic bunny shape

I was asked recently, to make a plush bunny rabbit that looks like the collector's own bunny. I set about examining the photos, researching rabbit shapes, the way they sit/stand, all the little lumps and bumps... and this is the pattern I came up with.

Every time I make a new non-bear pattern it takes a good 3-4 attempts to get it right (most recently in my quest to make a semi-realistic guinea pig!). So I wasn't expecting this to be any different.




I chose this gorgeous tonal faux fur to make the first prototype from. It most closely matched the real bunny's colouring and fur type. And faux fur can be a little more forgiving than mohair for some designs.




This was the bunny all laid out after sewing. Not looking quite right yet - but she has potential...




... and this is the finished product! I'm pretty bloody chuffed with her. Especially that gorgeous little face. I was able to incorporate some of the new techniques I'd developed in making the guinea pigs recently, and I think that helped achieve her pretty, shapely face.




Part of the collector's wishes was for her to be funky, wearing a little vest/jacket and with jewellery up one ear. A quick bit of research on vest patterns, and I had some basic shapes to work with. I tweaked them until I was happy my pattern would fit the bunny, then whipped her up a cute polka dot vest with satin skull-print lining. The faux fur trim was a last minute idea that I'm loving.


I can't wait to try this pattern in mohair now - I'm so curious to see if I'll get the same appeal, or if mohair will be the wrong texture... I've chosen a short, straight pink fur that is (not terribly realistic in colour, but) closest in appearance to the look of plush/bunny fur. So we'll see what happens next!