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Wellcome to my blog

My name is Martina Staniek, and I make OOAK (One Of A Kind) Teddy Bears and other soft sculptures.
I also knit and crochet - i always on the search for those very diffrent and fantastic pattern.
Last year i learned to Spin, and now i also create wonderfull and unique yarn.

I would like to introduce to you my creations and keep you updated with other happenings which are important to me.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to contact me.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

4 hours today

 

Last night was a sleepless one again, but i didn’t use it to work on my bear, was to tired for it :(

That is the reason why i was sleeping long today, and didn’t work so long on the little one.

I did the preparations for the sewing of the last parts yesterday already, so today i “just” had to sew the arms, and the food pads, this took me a few minutes less then 2 hours.

You can see, i make even spaced markings on the paw pads and the legs, so i can easily pin them in place and sew without taking further attention about sewing right :)

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The next step is to cut off corner, cut into angles and around curves.
As it was just the 4 parts it went father fast, just half an hour.

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Then the turning of the pieces, i do it quite brutal with a plies

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Then go in the inside around the seams, so they are all really apart, and give the pieces a good brushing and shaking. This is really fast, takes just 15 minutes

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Notice how the final footpad is smaller then the one from the pattern.
I then draw a quick outline from footpad, length of the leg, the arm and the back and head shape.

Then i draw quite a bit smaller then this shapes the line which i take as pattern for the wirering and the spine.

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This took me an other hour.

But today it is late, and i am tired and don’t work any more tonight … see you tomorrow with covering the wires.

the next 9 hours

 

Today the sun was shining, and it was so warm outside, i was sitting on the terrace while sewing for 2 hours :D

I started off with preparing the paw patches for the feet
Then pinning them into place

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Sewing them on to the red line i stitched. And leaving a small opening for the stuffing later on.

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Because i wanted the toes and finger part a bit loose, so i can stuff it better (more filling) i smoked (that's the word for it ? ) the edge with running stitch again, and secured it on to the edge030031

After 3 and a half hour all arms and legs where finished

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Then half an hour for sewing the darts.

Then I spend an other hour to pull out all the red threads, pinning the parts together for sewing.
Just in time for TV “listening” i was ready to make me an other cup of coffee and settle down with my box of parts.

3 Hours later I had the legs on the back and the front and pinned the paws into place

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The head, The body and sewn the head to the body.

Here you can see, i have the opening for the stuffing in the front, and also just sewn half of the neckline of the head.
That’s because it is easier for me to insert the spine later on, and sew the 2 “arms” on to the head seams and the rest to the back seam.

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Here i show you why i spend a day cutting hair

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Can you see … nothing caught in the seam line … which means no annoying pulling hair out of the seam line … which i sooo much hated.

Just give the whole thing a really good brushing  - i use a cat brush

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Catch it somewhere and give it a good shake

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No seam line to see :)

Still to do tomorrow :
Sew the arms and sew the pads into the feet

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That's then again for a while with sewing …
Because the next part is the wirering (how is this spelled ? my dictionary doesn’t know, and i don’t know either) of the arms and legs.
Preparing the spine, covering wire and spine with something soft, and secure the padding so it stays where it is supposed to stay.

I don’t know how far i will get with it tomorrow …

Friday, February 24, 2012

7,5 hours cutting hair

 

Just as i feared, i spent yesterday all day cutting hair.
you might ask yourself … why is she spending a whole day for this ?
The answer is … I HATE poking hair out of the seem allowance.

And here some pictures :D

First … i need to find the sewed line, which sounds easier then it is

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i keep working in about 3cm steps, a bit more then 1 inch

here is the picture about the really time-consuming part
the hair don’t are catched under the sewing line, and i need to poke them out.

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Then i need to find a line in the middle of masses of fur
I part at about the place where i suppose the line is, and then i stick a needle through, to see if i found the right one….
Then off with the hair :D

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Then i need to leave a few hair, and find the second line

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and the 3rd line and cut between those

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Same i do on the leg paws and at the disc spots on arms legs and body pieces.


7 - nearly 8 hours later :

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I already prepared a few pieces for todays work.

First, i need to do the little patches for the paws.
I cut little slits into the seam allowance and then i use the running stitch to hold it all in place.
These 4 little pieces for the front paws took me half an hour to do.

Now i need to do the back paw patches… and then sew all the parts into place.

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The next step is then to close all the darts, body and head
and sew the legs together.

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