Wedding Welcome Bears

I’ve had this blog since 2008, and this is the first stuffed animal project I’m posting in nine years! This was such a fun project to work on. It was refreshing to be sewing these cute bears which is different from garment sewing. No need to worry about the fitting!

I don’t know about other countries, but in Japan, it is very common to have a “welcome doll” of some sort at the wedding. They are usually sitting next at the reception area of the wedding. I have two friends’ weddings coming up in November and was asked to make them.

I googled “Teddy Bear Patterns” (テディベア　型紙)in Japanese and came up with this. For some reasons, the letters are not readable, but I just needed the patterns so it didn’t really matter. The fabric is a white fur bought in Okadaya. I’m a big fan of Okadaya online. It ships for 390 yen (about 3 USD) within Japan, and depending on their sale’s schedule, they reduce the shipping cost to half the price. It is cheaper than getting to Okadaya’s physical store in Shinjuku by train and I usually end up buying other stuff that I don’t plan on like extra fabrics or chocolate. Anyway, totally recommended if you live in Japan.

I bought 20cm of the fur and it made four bears and I still have some left. I used 2mm stitch length to sew the pieces in machine. Making four bears took much longer than I anticipated since it involved a fair amount of hand sewing like enclosing the opening for head, body, legs and arms.

The most fun part of this project was to make tiny dresses and vests! So fun. It reminded me of my childhood days when I was obsessed with my dolls (mine was called Jenny) and her dresses that my mom made. I just used left over satin and laces that were laying around.

Attaching pearl beads to imitate pearl necklace.Since I was making two of each bears (male and female), I made paper patters for the clothes. That way, I don’t have to guess the length and fit for the second time. 

Tada! They are so adorable. Kiko liked them and she was sad when I told her they were not for her. Maybe I should make one for her. I found a doll pattern shop on Etsy, called Gingermelon. I might make some for Kiko. 

ウェルカムベアを作りました。
ボアはオカダヤで。4匹のベアを作るのに、20センチで出来ました！安上がり♪

一番楽しかったのは洋服作り。
余っているサテン、リボン、チュール等でちいさなちいさなお洋服を作るのは胸がときめきました。
子供のころ人形遊び命だったので。。。そのころを思い出しました。

ウェルカムベア、気に入ってもらえるといいな。

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