2020 Care Bear Reboot

For Halloween this year, I wanted to do something in honor of our newest dog, Bear. There have been many Care Bear costumes throughout the years; however, my design is unique since it incorporates both dogs and people.

Furthermore, the costumes for people include a mask for the muzzle, so it was perfect for 2020's social distancing guidelines.

Fortunately, I was well-stocked with fabric and other supplies due to making masks earlier this year. I had also purchased a new Janome sewing machine that has many features that I have been experimenting with over the past few months.

After much consideration I decided on the following Care Bears for my family:

• Best Friend Bear (purple) with rainbow/heart/star badge for our 17 lb. Lhasa Apso mix, Bear

• Cheer Bear (pink) with a rainbow badge for our 11 lb. Maltipoo, Daisy

• Good Luck Bear (green) with 4-leaf clover badge for our 65 lb. Goldendoodle, Topper

• Love-A-Lot Bear (pink) with double heart badge for me

• Grumpy Bear (blue) with a rain cloud badge for my husband

• Birthday Bear (golden yellow) with cupcake badge for our son who lives in Minnesota

• Tenderheart Bear (brown) with heart badge for our son's 9 lb. Morkie, Buster

• Bedtime Bear (blue) with moon/star badge for our son who lives in Massachusetts (not pictured)

White felt or batting (low loft)

Felt in assorted colors

Fabric in assorted colors--about 1/2 yard for each adult costume

Thread to coordinate with the fabric

Thin elastic

Various round objects (e.g., plates, pot lids, stencils) for creating circles with 3 to 10 inch diameters

Fabric marking pens

Scissors

Ironing board and iron

Sewing machine

Headbands, pom-poms, and ribbon for ears

Hooded sweatshirt for each adult costume

After selecting a Care Bear for each of my dogs and family members, I cut out the following items:

For each dog costume, cut the following:

• one 6" to 8" circle of white felt or batting, depending on the size of the dog
• one 6" to 8" circle of fabric for backing (to coordinate with the color of the bear)
• cut a piece of elastic that will allow the circle to hang in front of the dog's chest--about 8" for small (<20 lb.) dogs, and 15" for a larger dog (my Goldendoodle is about 65 lbs.)

For each "human" costume, cut the following:

• 11" circle from felt or batting and 11" circle from fabric for "belly badge"
• Two 10" circles from fabric for men or two 9" circles from fabric for women, to create muzzle mask
• 3" circle of white felt or batting for muzzle applique
• a 22" piece of elastic

Creating the appliques for the "belly badges" was my favorite part of the project. I enjoyed using my new sewing machine to attach them to the batting circles. I started with the easiest one (the single heart for Tenderheart Bear) and by the time I got to the 4-leaf Clover for Good Luck Bear I was a pro! For the rainbow appliques, I attached them by hand since there were so many layers of felt.

• Pin circle of batting to the wrong side of the fabric.
• Tie a knot on both ends of elastic. Insert knots at 11:00 and 1:00 position between fabric and batting and secure with pins.
• Use overcast (i.e., zigzag) stitch to attach circles together (or hand stitch using a slip stitch or blind stitch
• Create applique and attach to the circle using applique stitch if the machine is equipped, if not, use blind stitch and attach by hand.

Make applique for muzzle

• Cut out a small heart (about 1") for the nose and attach to the 3" diameter circle of batting using an applique stitch
• Use applique stitch to create mouth (e.g., smile for Love-A-Lot or grimace for Grumpy)

I used the following video to make a mask for each person; however, prior to folding the mask in thirds (about five minutes into video), attach the muzzle applique to the middle of the mask.

Our groomer spayed the dogs to match the costumes. She also assembled the ears by attaching ribbon and pom-poms with a hot glue gun.

I have mixed emotions about the coloring:

• The green ran out so Topper was a little blotchy
• Bear's fur seemed to absorb the purple so by the time we got home it was barely visible
• Daisy's pink got all over the place

All three got a bath not long after my pictures were done!