Pattern Review: Polar Bears by Betz White

One of the best ways to learn to design your own sewing patterns is to sew from other people's patterns. The more patterns you use, the more you learn. Sometimes I go long stretches just doing my own design work and forget that this is true.

Last week Betz White sent me a copy of one of her new Wildlife With Love patterns, Flurry and Fluff Polar Bears. Betz is an expert designer and I knew that sewing from her pattern would be a learning experience for me and I wasn't wrong. It's like professional development.

Over the summer Betz and I talked back and forth about her new series of softies. I knew she was working on them and was really eager for their release.

Before even tracing the templates or choosing the fabrics a few things jumped out at me when the pattern arrived. First, I love that the toys are shown in children's hands so that you can really envision how they'll look when the child you give them to is playing with them. And second, I love that Betz chose a diverse set of models for the pattern covers.These are real kids and they're not all white.

Okay, now a bit about choosing fabrics for these toys. Betz is well-known for her work with felt and she designed these toys to be sewn from felt. I love felt, too, but I also love fleece for making really cuddly, soft stuffed animals so I chose to sew these bears from fleece. I felt pretty confident that the pattern would still work and I was right.

Mama and baby polar bears I made using a Wildlife With Love pattern by Betz White.

These bears come together in a very clever way. Typically toy patterns are designed to have you sew the body, sew the head, and then attach the two. Here, the center seam in the body and center seam along the bottom of the head are left unsewn. The head and body are attached and then the center seam is closed. Interesting! Doing things in this order allows you to have more space to maneuver parts under the machine needle and makes sewing a small toy, like the baby bear, much less fussy. I love it!

The backs of two polar bears I made using a Wildlife With Love pattern by Betz White.

I found the instructions clear and easy to follow and the diagrams in this pattern are helpful right when you need it. The pattern pieces print full-size so you can get to work right away.

Sewing with fleece instead of felt meant that I had to make a double layer ear. The pattern calls for a single layer felt ear, but a single layer fleece ear wasn't going to look finished. And I had to be sure I was placing the pattern pieces on grain to reduce the stretchiness of the fleece. Otherwise, I had no trouble sewing Flurry and Fluff in fleece. I say go for it.

Mama and baby polar bears I made using a Wildlife With Love pattern by Betz White.

These guys don't have tails. You could take the ear pattern piece, trim down the sides a bit, and use that to make a tail if you'd like. Just insert it into the seam on the behind before sewing the body together.

I made my bears scarves using Betz's free tutorial. Who can resist a mama bear and a baby bear in scarves? Seriously cute.

The rest of the Wildlife With Love series includes a set of penguins and a set of seals as well as a series of felt applique patterns featuring the same animals. You could create really nice matching sets as holiday gifts. Applique a polar bear on a tote bag and then tuck the stuffed animal polar bear inside. So sweet.

Get Flurry and Fluff right here and check out all of the Wildlife With Love patterns and read more about them on Betz's blog.

Disclaimer: Betz White sent me a free review copy of the Flurry and Fluff Polar Bears pattern, but you know I always tell it like it see it when it comes to reviews.