Hi everyone!
For this free pattern I was hoping it would be a bit of a two-for-one! I had requests for both a panda bear and a memory bear so I thought I’d combine them 🙂 If you’ve never heard of them before, memory bears are a kind of stuffed teddy bear made with scraps of a loved one’s clothing to serve as a memento.
For this project, I made the pandas using lots of different apparel fabrics and made sure that the pattern would work well regardless of the kind of texture or stretch the fabric had. So you’ll find this pattern has some more darts than usual to add shaping. I also ensured that the pattern could be sewn entirely by machine if you wanted so the finished plush can stand up to lots of extra hugs!

In the samples you’ll see I have bears made from quilting cotton, a men’s flannel shirt, various knit scraps, and the classic minky. So you’ll find you can make this bear from lots of different light to medium-weight clothing. And the templates are small enough that you should be able to cut straight from the clothing. There are tips inside the pattern for sewing with apparel fabrics, like using stabilizer if your fabric is older or more delicate, or using a shorter stitch length for extra durability.
As always, the pattern comes with applique templates to make the face in case you’re sewing by regular machine or by hand, but there are free embroidery files as well if you have an embroidery machine. The face fits into a 4″ x 4″ hoop if it sits diagonally, and there’s a muzzle file as well if you’re making a 3D snout.
The hardest part is likely sewing the body, since the limbs are sewn in the seam so the stitching can get crowded. But if you don’t stuff the limbs too much, take it slowly, and work a few inches at a time, you’ll get there 🙂 For all of that, I rated it a 3/10.
I hope you all like it!