Once upon a time a long time ago my girl and her bear were separated for a few days and I decided to give Zest a bath, sew up some holes, and renew his stuffing. My good intentions were met with tears! I learned the heartbreaking way (for both of us) that stuffies are more than just stuffies and changes – even improvements – need consent. Perhaps the biggest lesson for me was that the connection between child and stuffie is REALLY important.

Fast forward to now.

I recently read a mom’s plea on our local Facebook chat room asking about a place that repairs stuffies. I felt a calling, so volunteered my services and mom accepted. Based on my earlier experience, I insisted on speaking to the bear owner and we talked about what he wanted done. Ari was very clear, he wanted his bear to be blemish free (no more visible repairs) and he wanted more “beans in his butt.” Can do.

I spent hours removing all the old repairs lovingly made by his mom. The trick is to remove without causing further damage. I used very fine, sharp scissors and tweezers and opened up all the big wounds pulling snipped threads out centimeter by centimeter. Once I could access his insides, I could see he really needed a bath and restuffing. Permission was sought and granted. I still held my breath!

Once Bear (for that is his name) was clean, I found more repairs that needed to be removed before I could start work putting him back together. This whole process was guided by my time as a textile specialist volunteer at the Henry Ford Museum. As much care and thought went into this bear as went into the 18^th century suit I rebuilt. I used fine tulle to back each of the repaired areas to strengthen the new stitching and help reduce further damage. I dug into my specialty thread for conservation work and found some 100 wt. silk that matched perfectly.

Poor Bear’s fabric has been well loved and is very damaged. There were a lot of holes and seams that had given out. Once holes were fixed, then I could start stuffing. But how much? What was Bear like before? I could only guess. I opted for enough stuffing to allow him to sit properly. After adding a second pouch of beans to help him sit, I filled him up. Now his arms and legs and head don’t droop and he can sit properly like a good bear should.

I spent about 12 hours repairing Bear when I might have been doing class prep or knitting samples. But. It was totally time well spent. I enjoyed seeing Bear return to a serviceable life and was in my happy place with a sewing needle in my hand. Best of all, Ari declared him squishy and gave him a big hug. I think his eyes say it all.