Some additional ears and arms to try out Madeleine currently looks a little too svelte to me. I have reached the tweaking stage. I sewed the muslins for Madeleine the teddy bear together and stuffed various sections over the weekend. I d ...
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Greengrocer
Meet William H. Maizey This photo may be the sole remaining artifact of one of my first original designs. I made it 37 years ago for the Loon and Heron Children's Theater in Boston as part of a college internship. It (or he, since I have retroactively ...
Work in Progress: Madeleine, Teddy Bear Number 1
First draft pattern for teddy bear number 1, aka Madeleine This is my first WIP (Work in Progress) Wednesday post, starting the tradition of sharing whatever is currently on my knitting needles, sewing machine or, in this case, drawing board. After ...
Math is Still My Friend
A view of my kitchen table as the triceratopses help me revise patterns. No exciting new picture today, so I put the triceratopses up again figuring they were cuter to look at than a ruler and spreadsheet. I'm getting ready to go through the patter ...
Assumptions
Arpeggio Yamosaurus the Stegosaurus is marked and (almost) ready to demonstrate leg placement My herbivores are all marked with yarn and ready to be temporarily disassembled in the interest of better pattern instructions. I forgot, when I first wrote ...
Research
Getting ready for my next toy idea Shakesbear's new outfit was a trial run for an idea I have been thinking about for a while - patterns for historically costumed teddy bears. I envision Elizabethan bears, Regency English bears, 18th century Versaille ...
Shakesbear’s New Clothes – Part the Fourth
In which our hero, radiant as the sunne in splendor, ventures forth into the world new-clad in magnificence. Doing his best Sir Walter Raleigh in flat cap and the World's cutest half cape In doublet and breeches, the very picture of a re ...
Shakesbear’s New Clothes – Part 3
Shirt and breeches are almost finished Work on Shakesbear's new wardrobe continues apace. His shirt and breeches are finished except for the hand sewing, and I am moving on to finish his doublet today. In researching men's Elizabethan clothing, I h ...
Shakesbear’s New Clothes – Part 2
I spent Saturday drafting patterns for Shakesbear's new outfit. Shakesbear spent it having pattern pieces pinned onto him to see how they fit. Here are some badly lit photos of what I have so far. Pattern pieces for shirt The new breeches are ba ...
Shakesbear’s New Clothes
What William Shakesbear looked like in better clad days. About 35 years ago, I bought William Shakesbear. He was one of the V.I.B.s (Very Important Bears) made by North American Bear Company. Others in the series included Amelia Bearhart, Kareem Abdul ...