When my son was born, I saw a cute post on Pinterest about a memory bear, but it was pretty ugly and not well-made. So I grabbed one of his old sleepers and a bear pattern, and got to work. It came out so cute! I posted a photo of it, which has since gone viral several times on various social media. For the first year or so, I was making 10" bears that are made from just 1-2 outfits. Eventually, a customer asked if I could make a bear the same height and weight as her preemie. It sounded like a fun challenge. It took quite a bit of trial and error to find the perfect material to weight the bear. Finally, it was perfect. I then began making the only height/weight memory bears on Etsy at the time. Quickly, they became my number one seller, and my small bears sold less and less. It has been about 4 years since I started them, and now I have perfected the way I make them, from the patterns, to the interfacing, to the weights, to the way we cut them. Now a few other sellers offer weighted bears, but I haven't really seen any that are height/weight like mine are (likely due to the incredible amount of work it took to make so many patterns for each animal type). I have an assistant who help me with cutting out animals, as well as stuffing them and hand-sewing. I recently added a second seamstress from Virginia, who will be sewing bears for me. I love hearing your stories, looking at your photos and birth announcements, and making gorgeous heirlooms for your family. My specialty is working with those tiny baby clothes. I can't wait to create something for you.