Tag Archives: face

Mama Bear Update: Faces

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Bears! Bears! Bears!  They’re everywhere!

And, now, they’re looking at me!

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Look at them with their little noses, and their little beady eyes.  Watching.

Although, I suppose I’m really the only one to blame.  I did add the faces after all.

Want to see how these little faces came to be?  I thought you’d never ask.

I’m usually a big fan of safety eyes, which, ironically are not safe for kids under 3 years old.  Since I don’t know who the dolls are going to (and the instructions specifically asked for no safety eyes, and I follow rules), I made these faces with embroidery floss and little bits of felt.  I think they turned out pretty cute!

I started by gathering my materials:  1 un-stuffed bear,  2 eyes (cut out of felt), 1 triangular nose (also felt), a big rectangle of felt, about the size of the bear’s face (something happened with the photos, but the green felt and the green yarn are much closer in color than these pictures would have you believe), a needle and coordinating embroidery floss.

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I used the same technique from when I made those teeny-tiny bears from Little Cotton Rabbits.  I slipped the face backing into the bear’s head, and arranged the eyes and nose on the front.  Then, I carefully sewed through the backing and the knitted face to attach the features.  OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI used a back stitch to sew down the eyes and nose  quite firmly.  I want to be sure that the faces don’t fall off while the bear is being played with!

Then, I made two long stitches slanting away from the bottom of the nose to create the mouth.  I like to give my dolls/stuffed animals as neutral expressions as possible, that way the kid playing with them will be able use their imaginations more freely.

Unfortunately, this bear ended up looking a little judgy.

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Oh well.  He’s still cute.

Then, to give the bear a little life, I added a couple tiny stitches in white to add a ‘shine’ to the eyes.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAWeird how something so little can make such a big change!

How are your bears  coming along?  Do yours have faces yet?

Wait- what’s that?  You haven’t knit any yet!  Get the pattern here!

Itty Bitty Faces

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As I’ve said before, I’m a big fan of all things tiny.  And when I make tiny stuffed animals, I need to make tiny faces, too.

Because of the way knit fabric is created, often teeny tiny embroidered faces end up looking kind of dumb and stretched out.

So that’s where this cool face technique comes in.  I’d pretend that I came up with it myself, but alas, I’m not that clever.  Julie at Little Cotton Rabbits came up with it, and generously included the tutorial with her instructions for her teeny tiny toys.

It’s so simple, and so perfect, I’m kicking myself that I didn’t come up with it on my own.

6a00d83451d24769e200e5520787618833-800wi[1]Simply cut out a little piece of felt and hold it behind the doll’s face before you stuff the critter.  The felt is dense enough to allow you to embroider to your heart’s content without worrying about the sewing into knit stitches, and it is soft enough that you don’t even notice it once you’ve finished the little guy.

Genius!

I used her technique on my tiny teddy bears, and they turned out perfectly!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt worked so well that I think I’ll probably use the same technique on my Mother Bears, too!

Have you ever come across an insanely-simple-but-totally-perfect technique before?