About a year and a half ago I purchased a sweet little bear from a lady on ebay. It was her grandfathers, circa 1910-20. I kept him on my desk, I just loved him. I thought it would be nice if I could clean him up a bit. That proved to be a very big mistake. His mohair was so fragile, he fell apart in my hands. I was so horrified at what I did I hid him away. I finally decided since I could never repair him I would take him apart and use his pieces to make an exact pattern of him.
This was the first bear from that pattern, I made it for my Mom as a Christmas gift. She loved her, she said it could have been a bear she had when she was little.