Teddy Bear Joints

Teddy bear parts are sewn, and almost ready to assemble.

I needed to press some of the seams open or the stuffing will look lumpy, and needed a tool that would get inside the small openings.  I had some thick felted upholstery wool, so I glued a bit of it around an old towel rod, and sewed the seam where the edges butted together, and closed the end with a few stitches.

It worked well.

On my trip to the hardware store, I purchased the joint supplies for eleven bears. 
1 1/4" x 1/4" fender washers, 8 per bear
3/4" x 1/4" hex bolts, 4 per bear
1/4" Lock nuts with nylon insert, 4 per bear
7/16" hex nut driver
I already had the 7/16" socket and ratchet.  The red plastic circles were cut from old laundry detergent bottles, and the center circle was drilled out on the drill press.

Here is a close up of one half of the joint.  This part will go inside the arms and legs, because it doesn't stick out as much as the nut side of the joint.  The red plastic goes against the fabric.  The other halves of the joints are in the background, another red plastic disk, a fender washer, and the lock nut.

I decided I needed an awl to start the hole for the joint.  This one is about 1/4" in diameter.

Here I am, using the awl to gently pull the weave apart.  So far I have successfully gotten the bolt through without cutting anything.

The bolt will go through the hole in the body, where the awl is poking out.

I used the nut driver inside the leg, and the ratchet, which is a bit bigger, inside the body.  The nut driver just holds the bolt from turning, and the ratchet does the work of tightening the nut.  The legs and arms need to be pretty tight, just barely able to turn.  Once they are stuffed, they will move easier.

Two legs are on.  Arms will be next, but that is for another day.

Started Sewing Teddy Bears Today

More Teddy bear fabric is finished, but I still need to weave a few more.  This is number four from the Finnish Twill warp (Davison, pg 37, version IV).  This one is my favorite, and is very easy to weave.  Both sides are different, but both look nice. 

This is the final fabric from this warp.  It is plain weave, and I will use it for the paws of the bears.  I like the faint stripes from closer denting in the reed.  The warp was sleyed in the reed: 2-2-3-2-2, and then repeated, to give 22 ends per inch in a 10 dent reed.

Here is the line-up of five fabrics.

 Five fabrics fulled and drying in the sunshine.  Because of the different sett, these fabrics were a bit wider than my first ones.  They are all fused, using my new steam press, which I love!  The fabric in the center is mohair, and is very hairy.  I clipped the other mohair that I wove on the backside before fusing the interfacing, but I decided to try brushing this one first to try and bring as much of the long hair to the surface.  It seemed to work, so I was able to iron the interfacing to the backside without clipping.

I traced around my pattern pieces with magic marker, and here I am stitching just inside the marks to further stabilize the edges.  I have been worried that the fabric will start to unravel with the narrow seams, so the stitching is just added insurance.

I have been cutting out one piece, laying it on the uncut piece I'm sewing it to, and then stitching them together.

I'm cutting the underneath piece after stitching.

Here are arms and ears stitched and turned, and the rest of the pieces marked on the cloth, ready to cut and stitch together.  So far, everything on this first bear has gone together without problems.  I'm not looking forward to all the openings that will need handstitching, especially since my right thumb is giving me some trouble lately.

I will need to get to the hardware store to get the joint hardware in the next couple days.  I will finish this one before starting another, so I can see if I will have trouble with any of it.  If it's too hard, I'll look for another pattern.

New Toy (Tool)

The steam press I ordered arrived today, so I put it through it's paces to test it out.  I have been wanting one for quite a while, and when I started working on Teddy bear fabric, I decided to start looking for one.  I ended up buying one called Steam Fast.  It isn't a super good one, so I'm hoping it gets me a few years of use out of it.  It's not like I will be using it daily, so it should. 

In order to stabilize the fabrics, I needed to fuse a lightweight interfacing to all of them, and I didn't think my shoulders would hold up to all the pressure needed with a conventional iron.

So far, after fusing the five finished fabrics, it has worked great.  It has several heat settings, so I set it on the one for wool, filled the steam reservoir with water, and got them all done, and my shoulders are not sore at all!  The interfacing feels good and tight.  I used a lot of steam, plus a damp press cloth, so they are all hanging to dry completely.

The turquoise twill is Teddy fabric number 7.  The warp is fairly thin wool, sett at 22 ends per inch.  It is woven in Finnish Twill, from pg. 37 of Davison's pattern book.  Both of these fabrics are version I treadling.  The turquoise is angora and wool that I dyed (color requested by a granddaughter).  The brown twill is mohair in a varigated color.  It is kind of difficult to wind a bobbin and weave with it because it is pretty hairy.  I tried a plain weave first, but I think my warp was too tight, so I'm using the twill.  The pattern won't show very much once the fabric is wet-finished, but I think it will allow the yarn to be a bit more fuzzy.  Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear, you know, and this fabric will be soon!

This photo is fabric number 6 and 7.  The peach colored angora wool stripe (also dyed per granddaughter request) is version IV of the Finnish Twill.  It is one of my favorites of the bear fabric so far.  I think I may try it for some towels sometime.  I think it could look great with different colored stripes.

Dyeing Yarn Again

I'm back to dyeing more yarn for Teddy bears.  I finished winding off 5 more yards of warp last night, and dyed it tonight (Akk!  I mean last night!  I didn't realize it was so late.)  I tried a different dye this time: Cushing's Perfection Dye in a dark brown.  I tried presoaking the four warp bouts in water and vinegar after washing it.  I don't think I like the vinegar process very well, because the yarn didn't dye evenly.  I'm sure it was something I did wrong, but I'm not sure what it was.  So I have a varigated brown yarn, which can still look ok for what I am using it for.  No pictures tonight.  Maybe tomorrow.

The granddaughters picked out colors to have me dye the wool-angora weft, so I will get that done tomorrow.  Hopefully the warp will be dry enough tomorrow or Sunday to start winding it on the loom.

I'm still trying to decide which steam press I will buy, so I can fuse the interfacing to the fabric before cutting out the bears.  I'm leaning towards the Reliable, which is sold by the same company that sells Baby Lock sewing machines.

New Granddaughter

Elisabeth Ann, our new granddaughter, was born Sunday.  She is so beautiful.  She is about ten hours old in this photo.

I just finished a non-weaving project--a dozen newborn diapers for Elisabeth, made from my daughter's pattern, using recycled, 100% cotton knit shirts.  Here is a link to her website:

 http://fernandfaerie.com/frugaldiapering.html

I need to send them to her pronto, before she outgrows them.  Hope her mommy likes them.  I think they are cute.

I haven't done much weaving lately, except for the pick-up band on my inkle loom.  It was a nice take along project that I took when we went camping.

I taught my daughter Becky how to do it, and she took to it like a duck to water. (She is also the daughter that has the Fern and Faerie website for diapers.)

The pretty part is now on the bottom of the loom.  It's getting close to being done.

Inkle Weave Pick-up

I recently ran across an article in Handwoven, J/F 1996, pg 50, showing the pick-up technique for weaving patterns on an inkle loom.  I liked the designs, so I got out my homemade inkle loom and warped it up after modifying the pattern a little bit.  I added four more pattern threads to make a slightly wider band.  I used a thick crochet yarn for the base and edge yarns, and a thicker, slubby rayon/cotton blend rainbow varigated yarn for the pattern warp.

This shows my modified design and the first six inches of the weave.  I can see that I need to work on getting the weft pulled tightly when I first start weaving.  The weft shouldn't be showing and the band shouldn't be getting narrower.   

The pick-up is easy, but time consuming.  I numbered the pattern squares.  One shed has the even numbered squares and the other shed has the odd numbered ones.  I used a  pick-up stick to lift or lower the appropriate pattern threads, so that all the red squares in one row are on the top, and all the others are on the lower part of the shed.  Then I use the pickup stick turned on its side to hold the shed open for weaving.

The thicker pattern threads create a raised design.  The weaving is done with the same yarn as the edge warp threads.

This will make a nice portable project.  I think I will take it to the Fiber Festival at the castle in Charlevoix, Michigan this Saturday and Sunday (July 23-24).  Hope to see some of you weavers and spinners there!  I will be there with all five of my granddaughters.  Bring your spinning for the spin-in!

Baby's Breath Photos

I couldn't resist getting some pictures of the baby's breath in the garden.  When I went out to shut the sprinkler off this evening, the light was shining just right on the plants.  The water droplets looked like jewels.

Empty Loom

Fanny is empty again.  This strip of fabric is the first run of Teddy bear fabric straight off the loom.

I serged them apart with great difficulty, since both of my sergers were acting up.  One kept breaking the outer needle thread, and the other wanted to keep sewing even with my foot off the pedal.  I had to get fast with the on/off switch!  Guess a trip to Traverse City will be on the books soon.

All five fabrics, and one sample were fulled together in the washing machine.  It was filled half full with hot water and some Dawn dish soap, and then the the fabric was pushed down into the water. It soaked for a while till the water started to cool a bit, then was agitated on the delicate cycle for a couple minutes.

The water was a bit dirty so I drained it and ran the spin cycle (no water spraying on the cloth).  It wasn't fulled enough, so the above steps were repeated with slightly cooler water and Era laundry soap this time.

I agitated it again on the regular cycle for about 2 1/2 to 3 minutes, drained, spun out the water, rinsed with slightly cooler water, spun again, straightened each piece and hung them to dry.

There is always such a difference in the fabric after wet finishing!  For feel, the best ones for Teddys will be the turquoise mohair and the one with white angora mixed wool.  The mohair has such a beautiful halo of fuzz, and the angora is soooo soft!  It is the lighter fabrics in both pictures, showing both sides.  I think I like the tiny spot side best.

The light orange fabric is also showing both sides.  I will probably use the upper one, since it looks less like a stripe than the bottom one.

The orange, burgundy, and the one to the side, woven in black, have a bit harder finish, but aren't bad.

None have been pressed yet, and that will also change how they feel.  I'm not real sure about the pressing of the mohair and angora.  I will probably ask some advice of more experienced weavers before adding the iron-on interfacing to the backs of the fabrics.

Potholder and Teddy Fabric

Well, my opinion is in:  22 loopers are too many to get into a 7" space.  I ended up taking out the ones on the end pegs, leaving 20 and still have a very stiff mat.  It will be great for a table protector for hot dishes.  It finished at 7" square, and a bit bigger than I prefer for a potholder.

The other potholder in the photo is one that my daughter Becky made years ago.  It is still one of just a few that I grab first, and it's pretty, too!  It  has only 13 loopers per side.  If I make another frame, I'll make it so the loops stretch 6 1/2" - 7", and have 16 pegs per side.

The pegs worked great!  No loopers slipped off accidently, as it seemed to do when I was a kid.  I used a  size I/9 crochet hook to pack in the loops, and then to hook the edge loops together to finish it.  I think an afghan hook of that size would work even better, because it could be used for the weaving also.  I used a bent coat-hanger.

Here is the final Teddy fabric for this warp.  It took the photo for me to notice a big mistake.  Since I will be cutting small pieces from this fabric, I will probably  be able to work around it.  I'm hoping I will be able to get enough woven.  Hope I don't have to start weaving with a stick shuttle at the end!  It's going to be close.

The weft yarn is a light orange 9/2 wool (90% wool, 10% nylon).  I need to get out to the studio to wind another bobbin and get it finished.

Homemade Potholder Loom

I was reading somewhere today about sock loopers for potholders, and it reminded me that I had a bunch of old holey socks out in the studio.  I didn't have a potholder loom, so after I cut a few loopers from the socks, I figured out how far they could stretch, so I could decide how big to make the loom.  My loopers stretch about 8". 

In the basement in Bob's shop, I found some scrap wood and cut the four sides for the loom, assembled them, and gave the frame a bright red coat of paint.

I marked out the placement for the pegs, (22 per side), and then headed for Ace Hardware to see if I could find anything that wasn't too expensive to use for them.

I found a box of trim screws, with a nice small rounded head, and the box included the correct size star bit.  There are probably enough left over to make another loom.  I couldn't find anything shorter than 1 5/8", though, so Bob helped me make the loom thicker to accommodate the length.  He was helpful and set up the drill press and drilled all 88 pilot holes for me.  What a sweetie, and that was after being on his feet all day at work!

I'm testing it out with a log cabin layout.  If I make another one, I will probably put fewer pegs on a side (maybe 20).  I'll see if I have trouble weaving 22 rows first.  I can always cut the loopers a little narrower.  I cut this batch 1" wide.