Marvelous Mouton

If you've never worked with Mouton before, it can be a real challenge. I've worked with Mouton several times but each time has been a challenge.

For those who do not know what Mouton is, it is a kind of sheep skin that has been processed to resemble beaver or seal.

It is a very pretty golden brown fur, but the hide is very thick--which not only is harder on the sewing machine, but is very hard to turn. I don't recommend using mouton for smaller bears. The bears I'm working on at the time of this writing will be 18 inches. Even the individual pieces, when cut out, created a sizeable stack of fur. I literally spent a full half hour just trying to turn the head right-side out.

A 17-Year Old Boy's Idea of a Get Together

My son wanted to get together with a girl he is friends with, but he didn't want to make it an official date. He wanted to do something that wouldn't cost much and that would be low pressure. He thought to himself, what do girls like? They like teddy bears. So, he asked if he could invite her over to make teddy bears with me.

It was a very unusual non-date, but we had a good time. I have several sewing machines so was able to set the two of them up with machines and we made teddy bears I got pictures of the making, but didn't think to get pictures of the final bears.

A Mix of Fox and Lamb

One of the things I really enjoy about making bears from people's garments is the variety of materials I get to work with. Sometimes I get some particularly interesting combinations. A woman sent me her silver fox coat and a black persian lamb jacket with brown mink collar. She wants four bears that use all three furs.

At this moment, I'm not sure how I am going to use the mink yet, but I was concerned about using the lamb and fox together. The amount of fur between the two garments should be able to get four bears of the size she wants, but I need to mix the firs together and they are so different. The silver fox is white with grey specks and very long hair. The lamb is short and curly--and very dark. I was worried the textures simply wouldn't look good together.

I had a small amount of silver fox and grey persian lamb in my scraps bin--just enough to do a small test run using the two furs. I decided to use the lamb for the muzzle, ears and belly. Working with the furs helped me see that I'm going to have to adjust some of the pattern pieces. However, the two textures make for a very interesting bear. Now, I just have to figure out how to work the mink in.

I Call it a Harf

It isn’t exactly original. I had a knitted hooded scarf that I really liked. I have no idea where I got it or when, it seems like I’ve always had it and it was getting old and worn out. I wanted to make myself a new one, but I don’t knit–not only that, but I couldn’t find a pattern. So I created my own pattern.

As simple as the concept is, it took a bit of experimentation to get the exact proportion to the hood. I like to make them out of fleece because it is warm and soft. It can be worn several different ways and I know everyone I’ve given one to as a gift has found it to be very useful so I’ve put some in my craft shop on the web site (click here). They run $15 each plus shipping.