Bear challenge....and some say making the same thing all the time must get boring :-)

You all know I love a challenge don’t you? Well, this week I really did have a challenge through my door and all I can say is it’s just as well I was good at maths at school and have wonderful spacial awareness. 

I had announced on my Facebook page that I was offering 10% off for the first 10 Memory bears, rabbits, cats or dogs that came through my door. Well, one of my followers was determined to make the best of my offer. She arrived with 5 items of favourite clothing that had belonged to her much loved mum and asked me to make 9 Memory bears for her. All 9 of them were to have one panel from her favourite purple dressing gown and another panel from her blue jacket. The rest of the panels were to be made from the other three tops she brought. The bears were for 3 grandsons, 4 granddaughters and 2 daughters.

This was my challenge....

• All 9 bears were to look different.
• Each bear has 4 panels, 2 front and 2 back, and all 4 for each bear was to be different.
• The purple dressing down and blue jacket were similar weight fabrics so each bear had to have a purple panel on the right and a blue panel on the left side, front or back.
• The three tops were of stretchy fabrics so each panel made from them had to be stabilised by backing them with iron on interfacing.
• When backing the thinner panels you have to be sure you put the interfacing on the backs of each panel but first checking whether it’s a front panel or back panel ( because front and back panels are a different shape) and also whether it’s a right or left panel!

So here we go.....

First I cut out the 9 purple panels, some front panels, some back and some right hand panels and some left.

I cut out the 9 blue panels checking that they would go on the other side of the bears to the purple ones. Then made a start at making sure the other panels were front/back or right/left according to what was needed.

Here I have laid out each bear to make sure they had all four panels and all 9 of them would look different when made.

I then cut out the panels of interfacing hoping that I have cut the right ones to fit the panels they are needed for and then moved over to the ironing board [ this is the telling point!] ....hoping I have got them all correct.

Ironing done and I can proudly say I cut front panels where front panels were needed and back panels where back panels were needed and they were also correctly a right or left panel too.

A bear production line on my sewing machine.

All 9 bears sewn together and waiting patiently in the stuffing line.

All limbs stuffed and they are now waiting sewing in place before the heads and bodies can be stuffed.

Stuffing all done and they are just waiting for faces, ribbons and little extras to finish them all off.

Ta da.... 9 little completed bears....every one different to the others and I have one very happy customer.