January's Tutorial Tuesday - Mitzy and Max

We are super excited to be able to bring you Tutorial Tuesdays once again.  Today Alyssa Carrion from Keep Calm and Carrion is here to teach us how to make adorable Teddy Bear Stuffies.  If you need too, you can click on any of the photos to enlarge. 


Here is a quick little Valentine's (or any time depending on your color choices!) sewing project to make for your kids and/or their friends.  

Meet Mitzy and Max

If you make them with smaller eyes they look more bear like, but my daughter was in love with the big buttons.

Creating Mitzy and Max
First of all, here's what you'll need.  
Fabrics & buttons are all available at Whimsical Fabric.

• The Mitzy and Max PDF Pattern.  Download it here!
• light colored fabric for your bear bodies
• accent fabric per bear
• 2 eye buttons per bear
• small piece of fusible webbing (Wonder Under or Heat n' Bond)
• polyfill stuffing, approximately a sandwich bag full
• 1/4" elastic - 5.5" per bear
• a safety pin
• a sewing machine, hand needle, and thread

1. First, you'll want to trace your body outline onto your main fabric.  I'm making two bears, so I need 4 outlines.  I used an Air Eraseable pen, so eventually the line just fades away on its own.

2. Next, you'll iron your Wonder Under/Heat n' Bond to the back side of your accent fabric.

3. Then, trace your heart, nose and ear pieces onto it.

 

4. Cut these pieces out, remove the paper backing and fuse them to your bear as shown below.

5. After they are fused you can secure them by either satin stitching (like the red bear) or straight stitch (like the pink bear) around the edges of the pieces.

6. Now its time to make the mouths.  There are a couple options here.  If you have fabric markers you can just draw them on.  If you are good with free motion quilting, you could stitch them on like that. As for me, I am going to hand embroider mine on.

7. I use a FriXion pen to draw the mouths on.  If you have one of these, make sure to test it in a corner first and make sure it erases cleanly with an iron.  Once I've got it drawn on how I like, I use 2 strands of DMC to stitch out the outline.

8. Now its time to sew the back to the front.

9. Pin a second outline to the first. If you used a light fabric like I did, you don't really need to do the second outline as your marker line will show through the  fabric.

10. You'll want to sew around the outline.  If you marking pen isn't eraseable, stitch right inside the marking line so it doesn't show.  

11. Leave a gap of about 1.5" in the leg to turn the bear right-side out. 

12. Once you stitch around, trim down to 1/4" around the outline and clip the curves to the bear won't pucker when turned.  Then turn right side out.  And now it's time to add the eyes.

13. My eyes are oversized, and if you don't want big eyes you can use snaps, doll eyes, smaller buttons or draw them on.  I think they look cute with big eyes though!  

14. They look sort of silly all flat, so now it is time to stuff them. For this part, I find my Purple Thang to be an awesome helper to get the stuffing into all the little corners.  When you stuff, it helps to keep the leg with the gap partly unstuffed. 

15. With the leg still partially stuffed you want to start from the end closer to the foot and start ladder stitching the gap closed.  If you don't know how to do a ladder stitch, Sew-it Love-it has a great tutorial here. After making a couple stitches, use your Purple Thang (or a chopstick) and push a little more stuffing in.  Then do a couple more stitches and stuff a little more.  Repeat this process until your gap is stitched closed.

Bear Clothes

Now your bears need some clothes.  You can make a skirt or shorts.  

• Skirt measurement pieces are on the pattern piece sheet.  For the skirt you will need 2 pieces 3"x 6.

• For the shorts you need 2 of the pattern pieces cut on the fold.  

• You will also need a piece of ¼" elastic 5.5" long for each.  

For both the skirt and shorts you will want to fold and press the bottom edge of both pieces up 1/4" and then 1/4" again, and the top edge 1/4" and 1/2".  

SKIRT:  

1. Unfold the folds that you pressed into the skirt pieces  Sew the short sides together. 

2. Fold the bottom folds back up and stitch in place.

3. Fold the top down on the previously ironed folds and stitch in place leaving a gap about 3/4" to insert your elastic.

4. Attach a safety pin to the end of your elastic and use it to feed your elastic through the channel making sure you don't lose the first end.  

5. When you have it threaded through, overlap the two ends about 1/2" and stitch them together.  

6. Then stitch your gap closed.  Ta da! skirt done!

SHORTS:   
1. Lay your pieces right side together on top of each other and stitch the curve on each side.

2. Then line up the curve seams and stitch the inseam (where I am pointing with the pin).

3. Now, fold up the hemline folds you made on the bottom of the legs and stitch in place. 

4. And then fold down the casing folds you made at the top.  Repeat the elastic process used in the skirt... turn right side out and you've got your bear clothes.  

Dress your bears and give them to your kids for snuggles! 

Alyssa Carrion

Keep Calm and Carrion 

Want to win a $15 gift certificate to Whimsical Fabric?  

1. Join our Facebook group Whimsical Fabric & Me.

2. Sew up some of these adorable bears.

3. Post pictures of your bear(s) in your Facebook sewing groups and use the hashtag #whimsicalfabricmitzyandmax  (Make sure to post and hashtag them in WF&Me also!)

Alyssa and I will pick our favorite bears and the owner of each bear will win a $15 gift certificate to Whimsical Fabric!  Contest ends Saturday, February 14, 2014.

Happy Creating!
Danielle Storm
www.whimsicalfabric.com