Teddy Bear Hospital 
from Teddy Bear Studio

Teddy bears, no matter how old need some TLC from time to time.  Here at the Worcestershire Teddy Bear Hospital we usually see old, well loved teddy bears that have a lot wrong with them.  Some repairs are easy, some more complex, but anyone with some sewing skills and a bit of know how can attempt many repairs themselves.  Why not enrol on one of our workshops to learn how to care for, and carry out repairs so you can look after your own teddy bears?
 

Workshops 

We run workshops to order, we do not create bookable workshops with fixed dates in advance of clients showing an interest.  Simply drop us a line with your telephone number so we can arrange a mutually convenient date.  If you have your own teddy bear in need of repairs, we can show you how to carry out those repairs and you can work on your bear as the patient in the workshop.  We often have old bears of our own so don't worry if you don't have your own bear, we can arrange for one to work on during the workshop.  I must stress, we never allow clients bears to be used in our workshops, only your own teddy bears or one of purchased specially at auction.

Duration of workshops

Usually a workshop will be arranged for a day or a minimum half a day.  This is not sufficient to complete big repairs but you will be shown sufficient techniques to be able to try them out after the workshop on your own teddy bear.  If your own teddy bear needs work we can taylor the workshop around your teddy bear and will suggest what can be fitted into the workshop time available.

As an example, cleaning very dirty teddy bears can be very time consuming.  It would be pointless showing you how to clean an old teddy bear and spending the whole day doing this.  It would be a waste of your time and money.  We can show cleaning in an hour, and then this is something you can do over several evenings in front of the TV!

On the other hand, destuffing, adding a new growler, restuffing and sewing up is something for a half day workshop.  Add on to this tightening or replacing joints, replacing eyes, sewing a new nose would add to the workshop making it a whole day.  Replacing paw pads would be a half day as pattern draughting, cutting fabric, opening limbs, destuffing, removing pads, sewing in the new pads, restuffing and closing is at least a half day in itself.

How do I book a workshop?

Booking a workshop is easy.  Either telephone us on 07835 301083 or email teddybears@teddybearstudio.co.uk with a suggestion of dates, what sorts of things you would like to learn and we will arrange a mutually convenient date.  Normally we hold these at our studio but for larger groups we can come to you.  Alternatively, we can run workshops online with video feeds although these are a bit more difficuplt as you need to allow us to see your working close up so we can guide you properly, a good webcam is essential for this.

How much will it cost? 

That all depends on exactly what you want, if you are coming to us or we are coming to you and if we are supplying the teddy bear for you to work on.  Workshops include all materials you will need in the price and again it depends on the materials needed (a repair to mohair will cost more than a repair to acrylic fur).  We will discuss your requirements and produce a bespoke workshop to suit your needs and budget wherever possible.

Online workshops are lower in price than in person but do not include the materials.  We would advise you in advance what materials you are going to need and these should be available at the time of the workshop.  We will advise suitable retailers to purchase the materials. Should you want us to supply the materials we can of course do this and will add the cost of postage to the course.  We only charge postage at cost including packaging.

As an example, a half day course looking at repairing 4 paw pads in felt on a 30cm traditional mohair teddy bear with jointed limbs would be in the region of £100 including materials.  If we were to repair these ourselves the cost would be £120.  This is for a 1 to 1 course at our own studio in Redditch, Worcestershire.  Refreshments are included in the price.

School workshops 

We can offer workshops on teddy bear making and repair to schools, starting at £10 per student, at your school local to us.  For schools not easily travelled to in a day we would charge for overnight accomodation at cost.  All materials would be provided.  Note, that depending on the size of your group, we may not have sufficient bears for one per student.  All materials for handouts are provided.  Materials for the repairs may not be included at £10 per student if they are of the more expensive variety.  Should you wish to discuss a school workshop, we would provide a fully itemised quotation so that everything needed is listed including what we would supply and what we expect the school to supply.  Andrew is a fully qualified school teacher (retired) and his teacher number can be provided for reference if required.