Little Red Riding Bear

I fell in love with this bear pattern years ago and received it as a gift, but never had the chance to make it. While it is I promise the last Red Riding hood project I'll post for a while it wasn't the last I finished. I just chose to write about it last because it was one of those projects I had wanted to make so long it was almost a promise to myself.

For those of you interested you can purchase the patterns for Red and her Grandma here.

Teddy bears have always been a favorite of mine and themed bears even more so. Sharing that love is an even greater pleasure.

I like it when the designer talks about options. In this case one option was to give Red a white dress rather than red to contrast with her hood. This made sense as the Red dress and hood were a bit too much together. The white dress actually helped the hood stand out. This actually helped my thinking when making the Baby Doll Red Riding Hood outfit. As I mentioned in a previous blog I was working on multiple projects at once prior to shipping everything before Christmas so one project sometimes helped me rethink another.

Red Riding Hood Set

This was actually the last set I made but I do have one more to write about that I'll mention next week. I almost didn't make this set. I had another set I'd had my eye on since I landed on the idea of doing the Red Riding Hood theme. However, time was starting to be an issue.

To complete the other set Red Riding Hood had rather long legs with red and white striped stocking which meant lots of color changes and weaving in ends just for her legs. While the effect was cool the time was an issue. It also lacked a Grandma.

As I was flipping through my pattern books I stumbled across a free Red Riding Hood pattern I'd printed ages ago from Red Heart that was a complete set that had Grandma, the wolf and Red herself. While adding a character the time needed for each was significantly less. Problem solved this was my pattern for the final Red Riding Hood project.

This is a Michelle Wilcox pattern and you can find the free pattern here.

For those of you used to round ami construction starting at the top of the head and working down these are a little different. These work from the front of the face to the back. The legs are formed as one piece and divided through sewing yarn to make an indentation. I liked the change, especially the way it allowed for Red's hair. It made adding eyes easier as well. If you don't like the leg formation it would be easy enough to adapt to a more traditional ami style. I rather liked it.