Hello Thais — An Elegant Sufficiency

Last Autumn, I came across a cute bear in kit form and blogged here about the early stages of putting her together. Following on from that, I’d gone on to sew the parts together but travel and Christmas had got in the way and I’d closed the box marked Thais for the time being.

Returning to that box last week and reviewing progress, I decided that my first job would be to stuff her head, embroider her features and attach her ears. That didn’t take long, but oh my word, the stuffing…

I’d had recent experience of using a form of traditional wood stuffing when I repaired Teddy last week, but if I’d thought that Excelsior was a messy product, these wood shavings were in a different league altogether!

It went everywhere and for a week or so, the studio floor was covered in the stuff.

Thais has traditionally jointed limbs and before stuffing them, they needed fixing in place. I was really glad I’d bought the right tool for the job - a cotter pin key - which makes it so much easier to do.

Then back to the stuffing.

Arms and legs were the trickiest, for squeezing those wood shavings into the tiny openings took patience…not my strongest attribute!

At last, she was done and celebrated by standing on my worktable for a bit of a brush, getting rid of all - no, most - of that dust!

Now to sew her clothes.

I’d cut out all the pieces right at the start and thought it would be a breeze to sew up a little dress. I hadn’t taken into account the fine, gauzy fabric that had been supplied though.

It soon became apparent that sewing 0.5cm seams and hems on this loosely woven fabric wasn’t going to be easy and I decided that I probably had a better alternative in my stash. I found a similarly homespun fabric and quickly cut out the pieces again.

Her accessories: leg warmers, cowl and scarf took no time at all and I’d already done her boots and bag, so by late afternoon yesterday, she was ready for her picture.

We did have a bit of a Cinderella moment though, when it came to putting on her boots. She has rather nicely shaped feet with proper soles cut from stiff card, which didn’t fit easily into her boots, which have a similarly sized sole cut from an old credit card (as suggested in the pattern) But we shoe-horned them in, tucked her leg warmers into the top and I think she’s good to go. Her shoelaces are made from stranded cotton soaked in PVA glue and are a little sticky - we could have done better there, I think.

I think her dress is a little long in the body too and might make an adjustment, but she couldn’t wait to get out and about and take a look around.

She’s got such a sweet face and is still doing her best to get rid of that dust from the wood shavings!

She posed a while with the gorgeous tulips which arrived last week from Smith and Munson thanks to the subscription Edward gave me for Christmas. Every delivery of flowers has been first class and I can’t recommend them more highly.