How to Make a Big Teddy Bear

The teddy bear was named after U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt.

A teddy bear is a stuffed doll in the form of a bear. The teddy bear was named for Theodore Roosevelt, who held the nickname of Teddy, hence the "teddy" in teddy bear. Teddy Roosevelt refused to shoot a bear in a trap while hunting because he deemed it unsportsmanlike. Newspapers published the story with a cartoon of Roosevelt refusing to shoot a cute little bear. After seeing the cartoon, toymaker Morris Michton designed a stuffed bear doll modeled after the image of the bear. Since then, the teddy bear has become one of the most popular children's toys.

Things You'll Need

• 15 pounds of cotton 3 black buttons 2 sheets of 2-foot-by-4-foot brown felt Needle Thread Black string Scissors

Instructions

How to Make a Big Teddy Bear

1. Cut out a 6-inch by 12-inch piece of brown felt and sew the two short edges together to form a cylinder of brown felt.

2. Sew one of the open ends of the cylinder together to form a pouch of felt and stuff it with cotton.

3. While holding the cotton inside the pouch, sew the remaining side together so the cotton is held inside. You should now have a small pillow of felt. This will be the head of your teddy bear.

4. Cut out two ears from the brown felt and sew them to the top of the head.

5. Sew on the three buttons in a triangle configuration onto the head to form the eyes and nose, and sew the black string underneath them to form the mouth of the teddy bear.

6. Repeat steps 1-3 with a piece of felt 4 feet by 2 feet. You should have created a large pillow now that will be the body of your teddy bear. The body of the teddy bear does not require any extra decoration, but you may sew an oval-shaped piece of felt to the front to represent the stomach of the bear.

7. Cut out 4 pieces of felt 6 inches by 6 inches. Roll these into tubes and stuff them with cotton.

8. Sew the ends of these four tubes together to form four rectangular pillows. These will the the arms and legs of your teddy bear.

9. Sew the arms and legs onto the body of your teddy bear. Arrange them so the arms point horizontally away from the body of the bear and the legs pointing vertically down. Sew the head on the body above the arms of the teddy bear.

References

• Craft Site Directory - Teddy Bears