A Lawrence woman will show her crushed velvet bears at the annual Fall Arts and Crafts Festival.
Earlier this year, Joy Fry was looking at a catalog when a crushed velvet teddy bear caught her eye.
"It was not in the colors I liked, and I thought, 'I could make that,'" she said.
So she bought some fabric and a pattern and went to work. But she didn't stop after that first bear. New fabrics, new ideas and new decorative ribbons coupled with her interests in design and interior decorating have resulted in a den of teddy bears that carry her Classy and Sassy label.
"It's been by trial and error. It's been fun trying different things," she said. "I see a different personality with the different colors and fabrics."
Most of her bears are made with tie-dyed crushed velvet or colorful cottons with gold threads. Recently, she found a crushed velvet interweaved with silver thread, which causes the fabric to sparkle.
Her bears have one distinguishing characteristic: They have no buttons or stitching for eyes. However, the seams of the fabric oftentimes suggest the appearance of eyes.
"I like the challenge of the design end of it and how you can make the fabric work with the face," she said.
Fry, who is a member of the serials catalog team for the Kansas University library system, credits her creativity to her parents, Robert and Marjorie Miller, of Lincoln, Neb.
"Both of my parents were craft-oriented," she said, adding that they allowed her and her siblings to make their own contributions to whatever craft they were working on. "My mother taught me how to sew, mainly clothes."
Fry, however, didn't like to construct clothing. But a couple of years ago, she started sewing pillows as seasonal decorations for her Lawrence home.
"When it's not something I have to wear, it's a lot more fun," she said.
Fry said she can make four bears out of a yard of fabric, and it takes about three or four hours to make each bear. She hopes to have 60 bears done for the Fall Arts and Crafts Festival, which will be held Sunday in South Park. It will be the first time she has displayed the bears at a festival, and her parents will be there to help.
"I'm glad my folks encouraged creativity," she said. "It's wonderful to have memories of us doing things together."
-- Jan Biles' phone message number is 832-7146. Her e-mail address is jbiles@ljworld.com.
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