Corrective surgery on teddy

My very old teddy - a present on my first birthday - languished in a drawer for many years, after our old dog (RIP) chewed half his face off when she was a pup.

A year or so ago he was sent off to a Teddy Hospital and came back in about a week, virtually as good as new, with a nice new ribbon round his neck, too.
I can't say it was cheap, but I was so pleased he was finally out of 'exile' in that drawer.
Can't remember the name of the 'hospital' but dh might, since he found it for me.

Oh Phoenix, the traumas we put our children through. My son was the same about teddy on the line by his ears. Peace was restored when I took him down and put him in reins that could then be hung up. The teddy that is, not DS

Finding "him" (do wish we had an edit function, even if it only lasted 10 minutes from posting)

I had a panda when I was very small, apparently I used to wander about with his nose in my mouth leaving both hands free to create havoc!

My Gran would sometimes take him when I was asleep, wash him and put him through the mangle/wringer to make him dry quicker (no tumble dryer or even a spin dryer back then)

I distinctly remember being rather traumatised on finding pegged up on the washing line by his ears!

Knit him a lovely chunky scarf!

One of DD's rag dolls also had the wooden spoon surgery. I am setting myself up as Consultant wooden spoonologist.

I'm glad to hear it M0nica - in fact I need to perform some surgery on my own teddy, who is wrapped in a sheet in a box in the attic. Shredded paws, not much stuffing or fur and no growl.

Jalima I can assure you Pooh is very happy with his wooden spoon. He was tired of staring at his feet all the time. The high quality of his nursing skills at a time of trauma , won him a medal and he now goes in visits to anyone in the family who is unwell and dispenses calm and cuddles.

A fairly stiff collar should hold Teddy's head up, OP if you are nervous about performing surgery on him.

It doesn't have to look like a surgical collar, one of my bears wears a brass studded dog collar - he really wanted a Goth collar like Abby's in NCIS, but I could find one the right size.

I am now feeling very deprived, as I don't remember having a teddy when I was small.
What I do remember was a much loved little black doll, made from Sorbo (sp) rubber. Mum knitted him a lovely red suit, he was so smart. I don't know what happened to him, but I expect he disintegrated, the rubber was not hard wearing.

and a wooden brain …..

still worrying about M0nica's teddy with a wooden spine spoon

Oh, I bought my teddy 50 years ago because he was lopsided with his head drooping and his eyes out of line.

Non perfect teddies of the world unite!

When DS's teddy became threadbare across the chest I knit him a smoking jacket and gave him a child's elasticated bow tie to wear. Stuffing never moved and he remains upright even into his 50th year.

DD had a bear like that. I solved his problem with a wooden spoon. I opened him up at the neck, inserted a wooden spoon with the bowl in his head and cut the handle of the spoon down a bit so that his head could still be flexed a bit, and then added lots of stuffing. It has worked very well for 20 years or more.

When DD was in hospital for a fortnight after her road accident, we brought him in to sit on her bed (she was about 40). He was much admired, as was his corrective surgery and he was a great comfort to her in her quite traumatised state.

My son’s fifty year old teddy has a babygro and a cut up pair of tights holding him and his straw filling together. One of his ears is almost gone. But he is much loved and treasured. My DD had a lamb that was similarly afflicted to your teddy. I did a bit of a hatchet job (no seamstress me!) on one of the seams in order to put more stuffing into the neck, but it seemed to work!

Put a big bow round his neck - that might hold it up and make him look happier.

Maw

I've still got my teddies - the oldest was my 1st birthday present and has very raggy paws as I used to suck them. He's still wearing his pink vest my aunt knitted for a doll I had but it's holding his stuffing in. The other given on my 5th birthday fared a little better and still has his hands - I loved them to bits (literally) and would never part with them!

My Teddy very nearly went on the bonfire, but I rescued him just in time. His paws were worn and his straw was leaking. My Dad cut up his Royal Marines beret to make new paws. His arms were a bit floppy for ever afterwards, but I loved him even more. I don't recall what happened to him when I grew up. I don't have him now.

My childhood teddy needs a bear hospital as I think he is beyond my first aid skills.

However, yours could be unpicked very carefully, some new stuffing added so he can hold his head up and then perhaps mattress stitched together so that the stitches don't show.

This reminds me of a teddy that eldest daughter had. It was a home made one, but gradually fell apart until there was only the head.
She still took the head to bed and called it Sevvy (severed head.)
I think she's still got it!

Unpick his neck!!! That’s sewing! But I know a lady who can. And if that doesn’t work I’ll try therapy. Or, as a character in a book pronounced it, “the rappy”

Thank you.

Depends what his innards are made of pensionpat. If he's a fairly young teddy and stuffed with kapok, you could unpick his neck and restuff him. But if he's an elderly chap, he might be stuffed with straw and that will need specialist help. I took my 2 childhood teddies to a Doll's hospital recently because they were very much the worse for wear. Both were stuffed with straw. It cost me £100 to have them restuffed, new eyes, new noses stitched on and a replacement foot that our dog had eaten. But they look as good as new now

Therapy?