My second attempt at sewing a bear did not come out as beautifully as the first. I wanted it to sit upright (with a little pillow in the seat of the stuffing, so that it would rest on that. But that’s led to some unfortunate wobble in the body. No matter. It’s turned out nicely, nonetheless.
I like the use of the green duiponi (“two color” fabric) in the ears and on the belly: it shimmers red at some angles, green at others. I may try to find more such fabric for the inside of ears; however, although this works as an experiment, it’s not ideal for the belly fabric — because it unravels all too easily, and doesn’t hold curves too well ( or holds curves all too well, depending how you look at it). That should continue to be cotton, which has a tighter weave and doesn’t unravel as easily, and isn’t quite so fiddly. The nose is from a scrap of star fabric from making the first bear last week.
I broke out Natalie Chanin’s new book, The Geometry of Hand Sewing, to remind myself of the procedures for chain stitching, so I could chain-stitch the mouth and the eyes. The eyes are a bit too small to do with a spiral chain stitch without weakening the fabric a lot — I need to learn some other embroidery technique for eyes, if I want to continue this process of making bears for a while.
