Make a Memory Bear (or any other animal)

What Is a Memory Animal?

A memory plushie is any stuffed animal that is made from fabric that is meaningful to you. You can use baby clothes, a graduation robe, button up shirts, jeans, dog blankets, curtains, or other meaningful fabric.

What Pattern Should I Use?

You can really use any stuffed animal pattern that is designed to work with quilting cotton. This is because the interfacing that I use on memory animals (Pellon SF101 fusible woven interfacing) has similar qualities to quilting cotton. If you are not sure if the pattern will work in cotton (as opposed to minky, fleece, or fur), make a practice version first to see if you like the look. 

All Fostering Sewing Patterns are designed to work as memory animals. You can find the link to my patterns here: https://fosteringsewing.etsy.com and the Memory Bear Pattern used in this tutorial can be found here: https://fosteringsewing.etsy.com/listing/1457977092/memory-bear-keepsake-plushie-teddy-bear 

Often you will want a pattern that has large pattern pieces. This will allow you to preserve pockets, logos, and other memorable parts of the clothing that you will use. This video shows how I designed the Fostering Sewing Memory Bear to work well for this purpose. 

General Memory Animal Tips

A memory plushie is any stuffed animal that is made from fabric that is meaningful to you. You can use baby clothes, a graduation robe, button up shirts, jeans, dog blankets, curtains, or other meaningful fabric.

Trace all pattern pieces onto any mid weight, woven, fusible interfacing: I use Pellon SF101. Cut around the pieces, about 1/4” outside your traced lines. 

Carefully place the pattern pieces to preserve the most meaningful parts of the garment (logos, shirt pockets, etc). 

• If you cannot see logos or details on the inside of the garment, hold it up to a window. Mark the edges of the logo with tailors chalk or disappearing marker. 

Iron the cut out interfacing pieces onto the back of the fabric. 

• Use the instructions included with the interfacing for ironing, but be aware of the fiber content of the memory fabric. An iron that it too hot can scorch or melt some fabrics, so I highly recommend doing a test piece and using a press cloth. 

Cut the pattern pieces on the traced line (cutting both fused interfacing and garment fabrics). 

Ideas to make it even more meaningful 

• Spray the plushie with a loved one’s favorite perfume or cologne.
• Add a trinket that reminds you of them to the heart of the plushie.
• Add a voice box with a meaningful message. You can record audio from old home videos. 
• Make a memory plushie for a friend or family member who will appreciate having something to hold during a difficult time. 

Button Up Shirt Specifics 

Before ironing the interfacing to a button up shirt, I recommend cutting off the cuffs, front button placket, collar, and any other details that you don't plan to place a pattern piece directly over. You can hand stitch (whip stitch or ladder stitch) any of these details to the final plushie, and this gives you the most control over placement and final look.

You can apply these pieces onto any parts of stuffed animals, so play around and see  where these details look best on the animal that you are using. You do not need to use all or even any of these pieces, it is just a nice bonus if they look good :) 

Button Up Shirts and the Fostering Sewing Memory Bear

This pattern was designed to allow you to machine stitch things like the buttons and plackets onto the pieces before assembly. See the images below for a visual on the placements that I used. 

I placed the button placket on the center of the belly piece. Note that the buttons are too far spaced out on adult shirts, so I stitched an additional button between the two that were originally on the shirt. I machine stitched this in place using a straight stitch 1/8" from the edge of the piece. You can also use a zigzag stitch to attach the pieces. 

The sleeve button plackets are also a fun detail. I stitched these onto the Outer Arm pieces in the same way. After these pieces are attached, you can sew the pattern as usual.

This video shows how I attached the collar and other details of the Memory Bear. I can't wait to see what you make!