Elephants and Bears

Actually the title should be Elephant (singular) and Bears.  Hopefully there will be more elephants and there  will definitely be more bears.  We have been accumulating old t-shirts for years.  Both of my girls have quilts made from their t-shirts.  Cara made her own...with a little help from me...and I made Jo's several years later.  I have also made scarves, reusable grocery bags, and aprons from t-shirts.  But one can only gift so many aprons, one only needs so many grocery bags, and I don't think the scarves were much of a hit.  I decided it was time to get a little more creative.

This elephant is made from the same pattern that I used for a red fleece elephant last spring.  The pattern is by Wendi Gratz of Shiny Happy World.  Fleece is definitely easier to sew than t-shirt fabric.  The t-shirt fabric curls and puckers and crawls.  I use a lot of pins.  He is pretty soft and cuddly...sort of marsh mallowy.

The bears are also from one of Wendi's patterns.  The pattern is what I would call baby-size but you could easily enlarge it.  But this size is great for showcasing interesting bear bellys.  I have already found and cut out more bellys for more bears.