Patchwork Teddy Bear Progress

So far, for my project, I decided to reuse the teddy bear pattern I made last semester for an acromatic project. Instead of making some of the patches or pieces a different fabric along with the sashiko pattern, I will make the bear entirely out of denim. However, I will make the holes for the sashiko patch on the fabric before tracing the pattern. As for the fabric patches, I will use some fluffy fabric to make stuffed animals instead of an old t-shirt. However, I am still open to using non-fluffy fabric for the patches since I have some lovely cotton fabrics with different patterns, and I have some fleece fabrics as well. If I can’t find all my smoother fabrics, I might use some old shirts. Still, I am skeptical about how well that would work since the pattern shirts are made out of stretchy fabric or really thin fabric, which I think won’t be a good idea for the patch since I will probably be using embroidery thread for the design and outside for the pattern to stand out.

Another thing I have is plastic toy joints; however, I don’t think I will be using them for the teddy bear because the bear’s limbs I made last semester were somewhat flimsy, and I want it to be more secure. So this weekend, I might order some cotter pins instead of plastic joints. 

I also have plastic doll eyes and buttons. I will choose between the two depending on how the bear starts looking. Right now, I want to use the plastic doll eyes because they are more secure than the buttons. The only thing I am unsure of is how to make the bear’s nose. I know that teddy bears traditionally have an embroidered nose; however, in my last project, I used a plastic bear nose for the badger bear, which looked fine, but the edges stuck up. So, my inclination right now is leaning heavily towards the embroidered nose; if I do decide to use that method, I think I will look up some YouTube videos explaining how to do it.

As for the time, I plan to start working on the bear tomorrow. I will begin to undo the seams and make the holes in the jeans I chose so that the fabric is laid out and ready for the pattern to be traced. I will also probably start the sashiko mending tomorrow; however, if I don’t, I will try and get that started sometime this weekend as it is a very tedious type of patchwork, and I have to make sure the layout of the sashiko design doesn’t become overwhelming. Once I’m done with the mending, I plan to begin cutting out the pattern and sewing the pieces together and have the bear parts made hopefully by the middle of the upcoming week, with the rest of it being used to stuff and put the bear together as well as add details such as the eyes ears and making the nose.