November 7, 2010

Wedding DIY - personalised wedding bear

I love to D-I-Y (Do It Yourself) stuffs. If baking had not become my top hobby, there'll be lots of handicrafts I'd love to do. Cross stitch (the one I'm making for my dd is still done halfway since like 1.5 years ago? :P), crochet, knitting, accessories and many more.

There were actually a list of DIY that I had planned to do for my ROM but I was too ambitious and some were actually unneccessary. dd had been asking me to have more rest instead of trying to perfect things here and there and making myself so tired nd busy, since I also have my work committments. Well, I guess those were common for excited bride-to-be like me. :P

There was one in my list which I have to do - personalise our wedding bear.

I actually prefer the wedding ring pillow given by Lee Hwa Jewellery if we purchase the wedding bands from them. However, after visiting a few stores, we settled for a pair at Soo Kee Jewellery. Instead of providing a wedding ring pillow, they gave a pair of wedding bear as a complimentary. I thought of making my own ring pillow but it is just not cost effective and with my sewing skills, it wouldn't turn out good. I decided to make do with the complimentary wedding bear but I had to let it have a "make-over" as it was too plain.
I made a set of clothing for them, added some crystals to the ring holder and some seashells to the base and tada! ... I have my own personalised wedding bear, solely my own. It became the star during my ROM as photographers were busy snapping shots of it away, no less than the groom and bride!

I am by no means a tailor who can actually made a set of clothing. What I did was I literally wrapped some ribbons and cloth on the bears and sew to seal it. For the bride, I wrapped a white silky ribbon with some patterned design over its body. Then I used a frill corsage kit (please refer to the picture below) to wrap it around its waist, that made up its skirt. The material is organza-like so it's very light and sweet. I also glued some silver sequins on it. Finally I gave the bride bear a final touch with a handmade string of pearl necklace! :)


I sewed a big ribbon to cover the untidy needle works at the back.


Making a piece of clothing for the groom bear was the challenging part. I can't simply wrapped a piece of cloth for a male. I thought of buying a pair of wedding bear and take off its clothes for my bear to wear! *lol* Very fortunately, I have my dear mum who took the trouble to help me out with it. She learnt some tailoring during her younger days and had in fact made me a cardigan and pyjamas for my brothers and I when we were kids. She said she had forgotten her skills but she still tried to do some trials and errors by cutting some scrapes of cloth. Finally she was able to cut out the shape for the bear's pants. What we did then was to wrap the black colour felt cloth over its thighs, and sew the pants tightly. The pants ended too tight for the bear so you'll find that it had difficulty sitting straight.

Instead of making it a coat, I came up with a brilliant idea of sewing a strap over it's shoulder (I do not know what this type of clothing is called). :) My mum took out her"antique" (vintage) buttons that she had kept over decades from our old clothings and I chose a matching set for its buttons.


I glued some "blings blings" on the ring holder. :D


These are my mum's collection of "antique buttons". ;)


This was supposed to be a corsage kit, from Daiso and I used it for the bride's skirt and it turned out really pretty.

Thank you mommy for helping me out. :D

11 comments:

Coraine said...

WHoah Aimei that's really creative and extremely cute!!!!

Coraine @ life is like a long journey

sherlyn said...

Aimei, the bears are really very sweet. Now maybe u can ask Soo Kee if they want u to customise for them for a price hehehe :)

hmm as for those buttons ... I think my gal may have a set like these in 20 yrs to come .. cos I also keep buttons from old clothes . hahaha

Zoe said...

Hi Aimei,

This is my 1st time visiting your blog and happy to follow you for more baking inspirations.

Love your DIY bears...they are very pretty for weddings :D

Pei-Lin said...

Aimei, I read about it long ago ... Just didn't get around leaving you a few words as I was too busy.

I think the bears are adorable! At least, you know things about sewing and whatnot. I know nuts!!! HAHAHA! I remember no matter how my mom tried persuading me into taking up all these as hobbies, I could and still can never learn how to appreciate them!!?? LOL!

Aimei said...

Thanks ladies!

Haha Pei-Lin, I learnt this in my compulsory economic lesson in secondary school days. The basic skills taught then really comes into handy now!

Anonymous said...

Hi hi are you selling your bear?? :p when i go daiso i couldn't find the Frill corsage kit. where you got it from??

Aimei said...

Hi hi

I got it from Daiso. Not sure if it's still available now. I have not thought of selling. You need a pair of wedding bears?

Aimei said...

Hi hi

I got it from Daiso. Not sure if it's still available now. I have not thought of selling. You need a pair of wedding bears?

Reina said...

Yeah i need a bear that is this design but soo kee doesn't sell the bear alone.. :(

Aimei said...

Hi Reina, maybe you could post in forums if you have not done so, and see if others ate willing to sell. :)

Roller Babe said...

Hi there, i like your teddy bears ring holder.
are you selling it?
i hope to buy them for my wedding registration this year.
it will be great to have them with me.