Above is a photo of a some of the bears and animals from my collection of treasured toys. The larger bear, back right, was my very first teddy given to me when I was a baby. The other animals were all collected by me when I was a little girl, bought mainly from jumble sales. I had a bit of a soft spot for a lost looking toy, still have.

A couple of months ago, inspired by this collection, I started developing designs for some bears. I already make tweedy rabbits and wanted my bears to have a similar feel. First I experimented with different patterns and made some prorotypes out of scrap fabric. When I was happy with the size and shape of the bears I made the finished items using thrifted and vintage fabrics.

I took these bears to this Spring’s Bearwood Handmade and the BCTF where they were very well received!

(click on images to enlarge)