This woolly bear was made from a pattern I used for my daughters. I bought it at a holistic Steiner children’s shop in The Netherlands, and sewed bears for the girls during my pregnancies. My daughters have always loved their bears. When I came across the pattern again recently, I realised it would also work well with machine knitted fabric.
Knitting the bear
I knitted a 75cm by 90cm piece of fabric from Jamieson spindrift, using an alternating colour pattern, but using the same colour (cord flower) for both threads. This results in a fairly heavy and sturdy fabric. Subsequent light felting creates a supple and soft material than can then be cut to the pattern. The felting, and the ‘sticky’ nature of the Shetland wool — due to interlocking scales on the fibres — make it possible to cut the pattern out of the material without overcasting.
Although a bit fidgety in some parts, the sewing is pretty straightforward. The bear was stuffed with wool wastage from carding as the filling. So it is a true woolly bear, except for its safety eyes and the cotton stitching. Embroidering of the snout, and its colourful scarf give the bear is final personality.
Time and cost
I used 250g of wool (about £6 when bought on 1kg cone), two safety eyes (70p), and the stuffing was (free) waste material.  Knitting and felting took about an hour, followed by approximately 7 hours for the sewing and assembly.
