Adventures in Toy-Making  by Gillian Bradshaw-Smith is 128 pages of  just plain fun if you like making stuffed toys.

It contains about 17 pattern groups. The patterns are not full size–you have to scan or copy them and enlarge. However, the instructions are easy to follow and there are some unusual patters like the Monkey, The Elephants, The Octopus, The Prairie Dog and quite a few others. I particularly like the Octopus.

Published by Taplinger Publishing Company, New york in 1976, This is an older book and can sometimes be found on Ebay or Half.com

Teddy Bears with a Past by Nancy Tillberg

Published by Krause Publiscations, 2000. This is a bear maker’s bible if you want to work wtih real fur. In its 128 pages, this book contains some valueable tips and information about working with real fur. It also provides some information for identifying fur and thoughts on what kinds of fur work best for what size bears.

There are nine full-size patterns along with instructions. For the experienced bear maker, this book is a really good refrence piece to have in your library.

This is a newer book and can probably be found at Amazon. I have not seen it listed on Ebay much.

Whimsical Teddy Bears by Neysa A Phillippi

Published by Portfolio Press in 2000. This is one of my favorite Teddy Bear pattern books. It is for the intermediate level bear maker. Her patterns aren’t simple, but the book has 15 unique patterns in its 144 pages.

These are not traditional looking teddy bears, they have a lot of personality. I even enlarged the Grizz pattern to make a 6 foot bear that I dressed in a santa costume to hold a plate of cookies by my fireplace on Christmas Eve when my boys were still little .

I’ve made “Dusty” several times and a couple of the others as well. If you like bear making, this is a must-have book.

I don’t see it for sale very often on Ebay, but you can probably pick it up new at Amazon.com

How to Make Enchanting Miniature Teddy Bears by Debbie Kesling is not for the faint-hearted but the projects are truly fun and creative. There are full size patterns for truly tiny bears. Much of the work has to be done by hand.

The book has 10 adorable patterns for the bear lover. There are some great gift ideas here as well. I know my sister really liked this book.

It is a pretty current book (and not cheap). You should be able to find a copy at Amazon.com or on Ebay

The Fairytale Doll Book by Valerie Janitch is a great book for fairytale character sets. It contins full size patterns that are simple to trace out and not too complex. It was published by David and Charles Craft Books in 1988 and is 128 pages.

Fairytale characters include: The Three Bears and Goldilocks, Mad Hatter’s Tea-Party, Nutcracker and Sugar Plum Fairy, Cinderella and Her Fairy Godmother, Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, Peter Pan and Wendy, Sleaping Beauty and the Prince. There are also furniture patterns to go with the sets.

The instructions are well written and there are color pictures of the various characters. You can probably find it on Amazon.com or Ebay.

Book Review:

The Woman’s Day Book of Soft Toys & Dolls  by Joan Russell is one of my favorite pattern books for making old fashioned dolls and soft animals. It is 253 pages and contains full size patterns and complete step-by-step instructions for making close to 80 toys and dolls.

The patterns were originally printed in Woman’s Day magazine and collected into a book and published in 1963 by Fireside Books.  The book was then updated nearly every year until at least 1975 with additional patterns.

Many of the patterns are in sets. Those sets include: Noah, his wife, his ark and a whole array of animals, Mad Tea Party complete with Alice and friends, Mother Goose dolls, Little women–all four dolls with wardrobe and trunks, Forest Animals, Dogs, Cats and some International and Ethnic dolls.

I find the patterns easy to use and fun. I’ve especially enjoyed the Alice’s Tea Party group. I’ve made this group several times.

You can often find this book on Ebay and it isn’t normally very expensive.

I had a Book Reviews page on my web site but have decided to change that and make Book Reviews a searchable subject category on this blog instead. I pick up new and used books on bear making, doll making and sewing crafts all the time. Some are worthwhile, some aren’t so much so. The point of these reviews is to give anyone interested an idea of what books are out there–especially the older ones–for fun projects. My primary focus is sewing crafts, bear making and doll making. You can often find these books on Ebay, Half.com or Amazon.

I come to my interest in bear making honestly. This is the first teddy bear I remember owning. My mother made it from Simplicity Pattern #6810 (published in 1966). I was about five years old or so and I remember watching her cut up a couple of old shirts to use as stuffing. He is made of corduroy and filled with a combination of sawdust and fabric pieces from old shirts. He is one heavy dude.

I don’t remember when he lost his eye. I’ve never had the heart to replace it. There’s just something about keeping him just the way he is.

The structure of this bear is really very good for a huggable bear that a little child can love. I periodically see the pattern available on Ebay. I don’t recommend saw dust and old shirts as stuffing materials though.

I’ve been working on two bears for a woman in IL. The fur is an absolutely beautiful dark mink–nearly black. It is probably one of the prettiest furs I’ve worked with. However, when working with dark fur it can be hard to distinguish the facial features as much. Not only does the fur have a shine that distracts from the details, but the dark color tends to de-emphasize seams. As a result, it can be difficult to get a good expression on the face of a bear made completely out of dark fur.

I gave the woman a choice of having me create the whole bear from the fur she sent or making a two-toned bear using some lighter mink I had on hand.

I initiall suggested that the face be done in the lighter mink and the muzzle be in the darker mink. However, she asked me to make the head dark with a light muzzle instead.

I was very pleased with the way the bears turned out in the end.

Sally had a number of fur items including a 3/4 length dark muskrat fur coat, two blond mink stoles and a couple of mink collars (one mid-tone, one more grey in color). She wanted seven bears for her grandchildren.

There wasn’t enough fur from any one garment to make all seven bears from. At first I thought about trying to get seven bear bodies from the coat and do contrasting muzzles from the stole. Although I might have been able to get five bears from the coat, I couldn’t get seven full bear bodies. That meant I was not going to be able to get seven identical bears from the fur.

So, I decided to work at getting seven different bears (no two bears of the same color combination). By making two-toned bears and mixing up the furs, each bear is individual. In addition, I was able to take advantage of the different linings as part of the mix. Ultimately, I used nearly all of the fur sent me to create these babies.

I did have to cheat a bit. I needed one extra contrast fur so I added some black mink I had on hand for one of the bears. However, the black lining material on that bear came from one of the stoles.