Worrying about the Bear

What I learned by building a teddy bear from scratch

Edward the bear lives in a vintage wicker baby carriage, circa 1930s, that our cats occasionally would claim as their bed. There may have been times the cats actually slept with him, wedging him in the back of the carriage to make room, but they didn’t hurt him. Whereas they did some serious damage to the back of the carriage by un-stringing the wicker. But Edward has held up, despite being fragile. I hand stitched him 35 years ago.

Named for my absent father, Edward was to be the first of many jointed bears I planned to sew and sell. I made him with parts I could only order by mail, including a six-inch needle to attach his eyes to his head and a pointed wooden tool to stuff his body. The discs, cotter pins and washers to make his arms, legs and head movable were my biggest frustration with the project. If they’re not tightened enough when you’ve birthed your bear, they will always be too loose. His head is fine but his arms and legs are too fluid. Edward’s imperfections discouraged me from making a second bear.