Materials for Wee Care Bears
10” or 12” Jointed Bears
Uniform skirts or fabric
in school colors
Straight pins
½” wide Velcro strips
Matching colored thread
Hot glue and glue gun
Step by Step
Instructions for Wee Care Bears
(100 hours estimated based on 100 bears)
- Research charity or
cause, and choose what is meaningful to you.
- Find and buy the bears.
Be sure you get the right ones. You can use the 10” or the 12” jointed
bears. Search for sales at craft stores. Michael’s and/or A.C. Moore
usually has them on sale for one week in the fall for .99 each.
- Find and buy the fabric
in your school's colors. If your school has a uniform like I
did, you can get skirts for fabric.
If you are lucky the uniform store has irregulars! Also, you can collect
outgrown skirts from schoolmates. Check condition for any tears or worn
spots, and clean them.
- Take skirts apart with
seam ripper
- Iron the fabric
- Layout patterns for
cutting (pay attention to direction of plaid) and cut out:
Fig. 1
For 10” Bears:
3½ ”x 18” rectangles for skirts, 1½ ”x11” for waistbands, ½” x 9”for bows,
and 7/8”x 7/8” or 1”x1” for letters
For 12”Bears:
4”x19” for skirts, 1½”x12 for waistbands. (Bows and squares are about the
same for both sizes of bears.)
- Pin pleats, 5 to a
skirt, so that the pleated skirt lines up with the waistband
Fig.2
- Fold waistbands in half
lengthwise
- Repin skirt to the
folded waistbands, keeping the pleats in place
Fig. 3
- Sew skirt to
waistbands.
- Turn side edges over ¼
” and sew down (if waistband is a bit longer, you can trim it)
Fig. 4
- Turn hem up ¼”and sew.
- Sew on Velcro closures.
Fig. 5
- Trim and inspect
- Dress bears
- Cut out letters.
Practice this a lot so that the letters are neat and the right size.
Fig.6
- Glue letters to chest
with hot glue gun
- Tie bows and trim them
of loose threads
- Glue bows to bears’
heads next to the ear Fig. 7
- Re-inspect all bears
- Pack bears for
transport
Notes
- Check with school to be sure the cause you choose
is OK with them.
- Sometimes you can find bears online, but the
quality is not reliable.
- Check each bear to be sure it is not ugly!
- Check skirts for fit just before sewing on the
Velcro
- Be sure to remember, one part of the Velcro goes
on the outside, and one part goes on the opposite inside of the
waistband!
- Also, be sure you get the sew-on Velcro, not the
stick-on or iron-on
- Cutting the letters is the hardest part to get
just right, but it matters a lot to how good the finished bear looks. To
cut out letters, fold square in half vertically and cut half the letter.
Don’t make them too thin. Practice a lot. Use sharp scissors and be
careful!
Now you are ready
to sell the bears!
If
your school has a bookstore, perhaps you can sell them there. You
could have a booth at your school fair. You can sell them at games,
concerts, dinners, or use your imagination! Your bears can be
holding miniature sports equipment, musical instruments, or other items to
customize them. Be creative!
Hold A Wee Care Fair
- Make flyers for Fair
- Post flyers around
school
- Create a booth for Fair
and include information and illustrations about the cause you are
raising money for; bring in and set up the bears
- Run the booth, keep
track of the money, and be prepared to talk about the cause you are
raising money for.
- After- sale orders are
challenging to keep track of. It’s best to make a lot of bears (100 or
so) for the fair and when they are sold out that’s it until next year!
- Organize and pack up
leftover bears, materials etc., for following year
- Arrange meeting with
beneficiary organization(s) and go to present the check(s)
- Senior Year, hold
training sessions for underclassmen and 1 or 2 mothers to continue
project
Fig. 8
A finished Wee Care Bear decked out in Your High School's Colors
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