This bear is just right.
I’m getting closer on Madeleine’s pattern. It took four tries to get her body the size I wanted. The first was a little too thin, so I added 1/4 inch all the way around on the pattern pieces. That was way too fat, so I cut back to 1/8 inch all the way around, which was better, but still too large front to back. The winner had 1/8 inch added on each of the original side seams for a total of 1/2 inch overall. Here’s a picture with the original body.
This bear was too thin.
I didn’t take pictures of attempts 2 and 3, so I can’t show you rotund Madeleine. I realize that the difference between the original and the final version is subtle, so here’s a side by side comparison.
Front view. Original is on the left
Side view. Original is on the left.
Here’s the three attempts at her arm. The first draft is on the left. I decided I didn’t like the position of the curve so I drafted the other two. The one in the center is the version pinned to Madeleine in her pictures. I decided the one on the right was too long, but I’m going to try a slightly shorter version before I make my final choice.
Arms, trials 1 through 3
Madeleine is currently 14 inches tall head to toe, so I will size her up to both 16 and 18 inches and make test bears before I finalize the pattern. But first, ears!