Bearlyville Bears by Vicki-Lynn Smith

Welcome to Bearlyville Bears

I hand sew my bears.The bears are entirely made by me. I don't believe in getting other people to work on them or sew them or dress them as some other artists do, so production is more exclusive. (slower in other words).

It takes me two days at least to make a bear. I work with mohair or alpaca for my bears except for miniatures. Miniature bears are made in cashmere, or minibear fabrics.

I prefer to use ultrasuede for paw pads or matching leather. I like to use machine embroidery to create wings for fairy bears using delicate fabrics and decorate them with pretty trims and beads.

My trade mark for my scenes has been my trees that are created by machine embroidery. I wanted to design and make something that no-one had ever done before and I achieved it.

I like to close my heads with ladder stitching as opposed to gathering. My realistic bears are usually given a double neck joint so that their heads and necks can be posed in many different positions. I embroider different noses on my bears as I feel that this captures different expressions.

Some bears have needle sculptured paw pads and some open mouths. I paint on some bears, some have waxed noses, dyed mohair and some antique accessories, vintage fabric depending on the look.

I don't like to be locked into a particular style so I invented different collections. I have so far made the realistic collection - 4-legged bears, I will include a polar collection, medieval collection - knights and maidens - floral collection - embellished with hande made flowers (by me), fantasy collection - fairies and fantasy characters, seasons collection - bears representing the seasons, some with handmade felt jackets, or machine embroidered collars, or flowers, or machine embrodiered cloaks depending on season.

I will also make a Victorian collection , incorporating some dressed bears with antique style clothing , laces and trims, indian collection - bears with handmade felt jackets, indian necklaces and headbands with feathers, Australiana collection - Australian bush characters, scenes - character bears or realistic bears in natural environments machine embroidered hand sculptured trees.

I've been fortunate enough to win a number of major bear awards with my bears...click here to visit my award-winning examples.