Heat pack sleepy bears



Living in Sydney we enjoy pretty mild weather all year round, though in the middle of winter, as we are now, there's definitely a chill in the air. We don't get particularly low temperatures, but what seems to make it bad is that we're not that well equipped for it and houses are generally not well heated.

After a particularly cold night a couple of winters ago I decided to make my big girl a heat pack to take to bed at night. But not a plain rectangular one like I had (I've been a fan since my mum started making them years ago, and take one to bed each night :-). I designed and made a little teddy shape, embroidered on a face, stuffed it with rice and added a drop of lavendar oil to calm and soothe her.

Then after that first one I made many more over time in different fabrics, some embroidered with initials or names, some in corduroy, or fleece.

Recently a friend asked me to make one for her 3rd little girl (her 2 big girls have one each), and so I thought I'd also make some for my shop. This time I used cotton velveteen and I think it's my favourite ever... natural fibres, breathable and soft to touch.

Ahh, a little bit of comfort on a cold night ;-)

Gift for a little friend

I've just finished making one of my little beenie bears for the daughter of a dear friend of mine who lives in Germany. The bear is filled with rice and gets heated in the microwave to warm up little bodies on cold nights. I figured I'd better send it now before the weather warms up in the northern hemisphere and she doesn't have a need for warm little buddy!



I enjoyed making the gift a lot and it made me think about how I'd like to restock my long neglected and empty little Bubala Etsy shop. The slippers, blankets, toys and pyjama bags above are some of my other favourite things to make for babies and children. Lately I've been hand embroidering the child's name onto bears I've made as gifts (as in the top pic), and I'm wondering now if I should consider offering this as an option on the other items. What do you think?

My Creative Space

I'm playing along with Kootoyou's Thursday 'My Creative Space' again this week.

In my space at the moment are some sleepy teddies in progress. They are waiting to be sewn, stuffed with rice and packed off to Germany to warm up some little bodies. I find it kind of spooky to see the faces sewn and embroidered on the corduroy before cutting the shapes out.

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I'm also hoping to hit the art shop this afternoon for some supplies for secret Christmas present making. Better fortify myself with a strong coffee before taking the littlies in with me.

Hope you're having a creative Thursday.

Three little bears

On the weekend I finished off 2 little bears - one stuffed and the other a 'heat pack' - for a customer. I also decided to also make another one for my boy, who lost his own 'diddy' recently. I embroidered his name onto the little felt heart, not that it will stop this one getting lost too!



I also went to the Prints Charming sale on Saturday, looking for a scrap bag and some of their hand printed fabric. I arrived at 11.30, only 2 hours after it had started, and almost everything was gone! They obviously have a loyal following of fans. I still found a couple of treasures though...



A length of grassy green jersey printed with one of my favourite designs of theirs will do nicely for the trousers for my boy (and possibly a t-shirt or two later on). I'm going to try some 'monkey pants' which I find so cute on littlies.



The other fabric is a discounted metre of one of their classic designs on cotton in quite girly colours. It would make a lovely trim for a dress or one of the 'Sophie tunic's.

I hope you had a great weekend.

Finally...

...I've put my new 'babies' in to my Etsy and Madeit shops.
After a lightbulb moment a while back I made heat pack teddies (or 'beenies' as they call them) for my girls. Then decided to make some more. There were prototypes:



And many more prototypes...



And after feedback from
a. my chief tester big girl "can I keep them all mama?"
b. friends who'd received them as presents
and
c. rigorous testing through play (namely being thrown down flights of stairs) on our recent weekend away,
I'd finally perfected my pattern (and reinforced the stress points!)



I hope someone loves them like they're loved in this house...