Let's Repair the Bear!

A few weeks ago, my sis in law sent me a text to see if I might be able to repair a stuffed animal that belongs to her sister who offered to pay for the repairs. She said that she has had it since she was little and she wanted it fixed so her grandbabe could play with it. She also said that it was made by Rosalie who is the mom of one of my dearest friends! I said I’d be happy to see what I could do and if I was able to repair it, I would happily do it free of charge knowing I would be working on something that had been created and so loved by people I care about. Last week, the little stuffed bear showed up on my doorstep, courtesy USPS. The box was 16″ long, 10″ wide and only 4″ deep.

**Stuffed Bear Lovey in need of repair**

Upon opening the box, I found a fabric bear in fairly good shape with the exception of the face. The material on the right side was shredded and the little eye was hanging by a thread. The left side of the face was starting to shred in a few spots and the fabric was stained. I could see why they only needed a 4″ deep box, the stuffing had flattened out from years of being squeezed & loved.

How sad is this?!
Right side of face
Left side of face
Repair needed

Well, I thought, I think I can fix this little guy. I knew that I wasn’t going to deconstruct it to replace the fabric on the face because that could cause more issues than he currently had. So, I decided that I would hand stitch new fabric on top of the existing pieces. With my stash of fabric scraps, I figured I would have something that would work. There were several pieces in the same color theme but not with the same soft patterns. I narrowed my selection down the two pictured below. After looking at them side by side, the white on the chevron pattern was just too stark so I chose the floral one. It really was the best choice, yes? 🙂

Too white
Perfect vibe

When I first picked this little bear up, he was no longer fluffy but sort of flat and firm & I could tell that the stuffing was matted inside. At first, I didn’t plan on replacing the stuffing, especially since the ears and tail were sewn into the body separately. The more I handled him, though, the more I was convinced that the stuffing needed replaced. I thought that if I made a small incision in each ear close to the adjoining pieces that I could pull out the stuffing, re-stuff, then whipstitch them closed. When I added the new fabric, I would cover the whipstitch. Fingers crossed that would work! Carefully, I sliced open ear #1, took out the stuffing, added new (that I also had on hand – bonus!) and stitched it shut. That worked pretty well so the 2nd ear was done in the same fashion.

After both ears were done, I moved onto the rest of the body. Rosalie had hand stitched the back of the bear after she had stuffed him so I was going to remove her stitching to replace the stuffing. Now that I had a close up view of the back, I saw that the fabric was really thin and there were a couple of holes, one at the neckline and one by the tail. I decided to add new fabric to the back also & since I would be doing that, I sliced open the tail & replaced the stuffing in it too. Replacing the stuffing in the main part of the body went quickly. The only place where I needed to be careful was the right side of the face where the fabric was shredded. Try as I might, though, I was unable to press the stuffing firm enough into the nose for it to stay. I used safety pins to close up the back while I started fixing the face.

Stuffing the Bear

Now I needed a pattern to replace the two sides of this little guy’s face. Did I have pattern paper, nope. Hmmm, what could I use? Since I wasn’t taking the bear apart, I needed to be able to view the pieces while I made a pattern. What to use?? A gallon Ziploc bag! Yes! I cut the bag apart, set it on the face, then used a black sharpie outlined the part that needed replaced. That worked perfectly! Since both sides of the face are the same, I only needed one pattern. I allowed extra room on the pattern so the edges could be turned under to provide a clean edge.

Pattern piece
Ziploc pattern piece

First, I ironed the piece of material, then cut out the two face pieces. I did manage to cut the 2nd piece wrong since I forgot to turn the pattern piece over. Luckily, I had plenty of fabric. Once both pieces were cut, I turned under all the edges and ironed them flat. Even though I knew I would need to make some adjustments as I was stitching, this made the pieces easier to work with. When the pieces were ironed, I pinned them to the face, one at a time. I started with the right side of the face since it was the most damaged. After the right side was done, I pinned and stitched the left.

Fixing the face

Next repair was to add a piece of fabric to the back. Instead of making a pattern for this, I laid the bear face up on the fabric and cut along the sides, arms, neck & above the tail, leaving a seam allowance. I then ironed the edges again and pinned the fabric to the back. I wanted to preserve some of the original heart fabric so I left the back of the hands alone. When the pinning was done, I stitched the back piece on making sure to enclose the whip stitch on the tail.

Fixing the back

All the repairs have been done: stuffing replaced, new fabric sewn to the face & back….finishing touches up next! When the eyes were sewn back in place, I looked the little guy over and decided it would be best to wash him. I hesitated doing so because of the age of the fabric. I thought it might fall apart. Then I thought that if it DID fall apart, it would be best to know now so I could repair it before shipping he back to his home. I used two of my washing bags that are meant for delicates since he was too big to go into just one. I pinned them together and set the washer on delicate. Holding my breath, I pressed the START button and waited for the cycle to finish. Much to my surprise and delight, he came out great! Into the dryer for a fluff and dry!

Eyes in place
Ready for washing
Used washing bags
Wash and dry done

I cannot express how thrilled I was that this little guy survived his wash & dry! Not all the stains came out, but most of them did. Knowing he’s clean and fresh for the grandbabe to hold and snuggle makes me so happy! Onto the finishing touches! There had been a mouth but there was such a small little section left that I could not tell what it had looked like. I decided to embroider a sweet little heart out of pink and grey. A little blue bow was added to complete the refurbishing! Before attaching the bow, I sewed it together so it couldn’t be pulled apart by little fingers.

Mouth added
Bow added

**All fancy and ready to be shipped home**

Obviously, the little bear was not so little any longer and would not fit in the original shipping box. I found another in the shed and boxed him up. He is on his way home now. There are years of loving left in him!

Too big for the box
Better fit!

I loved every minute of this renovation! As I was working on this bear, I thought of Rosalie and how much she must have enjoyed creating him as a gift that would be loved. I doubt she could have envisioned how much he would be treasured and will continue to be loved.

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