DIY Sweetie Bear, Part 1

First I want to say thank you to all of my wonderful customers, your support is what keeps my little shop growing and I am so grateful for you.

This little bear is so sweet it'll make your teeth hurt, his name is Caramel Bear and I'm going to show you how to make him. First download and print the Sweetie Bear.

First this is what you'll need:
Printed (and cut out) copy of the Caramel Bear Pattern
Minky Fabric - you'll need less then a 1/4 yard, scraps are awesome for this project
Scraps of felt, knit, cotton...really what ever you want
Polyfill (you can use wool if you want)
Embroidery Floss
Cardigan Buttons
Extra Strong Thread
Embroidery & Doll Sewing Needle
Sewing Machine, Scissors...sewing staples
Basting Spray
Freezer Paper
Iron

* Optional:
Iron On Backing
Pinking Shears

Okay, gather up your supplies, print you pattern and we can get started.

As you can probably tell minky is super soft, it is also slippery, stretch and a general pain in the booty. That is where the freezer paper comes into play (if you do not have Freezer Paper any iron on/tear away stabilizer will work). Trace 2 copies of the Head, Body, Ears and Arms pieces and cut them out.

Using a warm iron (polyester setting) fuse the Head and Body pieces to the wrong side of the minky and cut them out. Next fuse the Arms to the minky, but do not cut it out completely, make sure you leave a good amount around the pattern piece. Finally fuse the Ears to the secondary fabric, also leaving space around the edge.

Next you need to assemble the rest of the Ears and Arms, now there is a couple ways to do this, but first you need to cut out pieces of minky to match (if not slightly bigger) the Ear and Arm pieces that already have the freezer paper attached.

Now, I like to used Basting Spray, it is sewing machine safe and it only takes a small spritz on the right side of one piece of the fabric to keep those slippery little pieces in place. You can use pins, with the extra around the edge, the little pieces will be easier to control.

Tomorrow we are going to tackle applique and sewing all out pieces together!