5 Little Monsters: July Bear of the Month- Little Liberty Bear

July Bear of the Month- Little Liberty Bear

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July 1st means it is time for the next Bear of the Month. In the United States I feel like the month of July is immediately associated with the 4th of July, so I felt like I had to do a bear that was in some way related to the 4th of July or the USA in some way. The bear I ended up making is the Little Liberty Bear.


I was originally planning to make something red, white, and blue, because that is the thing I first think of when I think of the 4th of July. But then I had the idea to make a bear inspired by the Statue of Liberty. I thought it would be something a little different, but still representing the United States.


I was unsure at first if I wanted to make a full Statue of Liberty Bear, like all green as if it were the Statue of Liberty, or more like a bear dressed up as the Statue of Liberty, a brown bear with a green robe, crown, torch, and tablet. Obviously you can see that I decided to go the second route. 


I started with the same basic bear pattern I have used for all of the bears. Then I added the robe, a little torch, a tiny tablet, and a pointy crown. 


For this bear I used Big Twist Value yarn for the two main colors, as well as a little bit of Red Heart Super Saver for the flame. I started by trying to find a good green color because I knew that would be the harder color to pick. I wanted a light green color that kind of leaned more toward blue than yellow. I wasn't sure if that would be a minty color or more of a sage, or even a light teal color. As I looked at a few colors the one I ended up choosing was Big Twist Value in Sage. It is a little bit more of a blue toned sage than some others I looked at, but I think any similar light green color will work, this was just the one I liked the best. I have been trying to make the bears in a variety of colors, different shades of brown, as well as black and white, so once I chose Big Twist Value for the green I decided to choose a brown from the same brand and I already had a skein of Camel so I decided to go with that for my brown. The flame was made with Red Heart super Saver in Saffron. 


In case you missed it I recently released the Bear of the Month Part 1: January- June ebook. It includes the first 6 patterns, in the series and is available on Etsy and Ravelry. All of the patterns are still available on my blog as well. The part 2 ebook starting with this bear will be available in December after the last bear pattern is released. Come back on the 1st of next month to see what the August bear will be. 




How to Crochet a Little Liberty Bear


Finished Size: about 6" tall sitting

You will need:



Instructions:


The body and head are made in one piece, the other pieces are made separately and sewn on. Some pieces are made beginning with a magic ring (mr), others begin with a chain, the beginning of each piece will indicate which it starts with. 


Body/Head

Make 1 with bear color yarn, beginning with a magic ring

Round 1: in mr, ch 1, 6 sc (6 sc)
Round 2: 2 sc in each st (12 sc)
Round 3: [2 sc in first st, 1 sc in next st] repeat around (18 sc)
Round 4: [2 sc in first st, 1 sc in next 2 sts] repeat around (24 sc)
Round 5: [2 sc in first st, 1 sc in next 3 sts] repeat around (30 sc)
Rounds 6-12: 1 sc in each st (30 sc)
Round 13:  [sc2tog, 1 sc in next 3 sts] repeat around (24 sc)
Rounds 14-15: 1 sc in each st (24 sc)
Round 16: sc2tog, repeat around (12 sc)

Begin stuffing body, next round begins the head portion 

Round 17: 2 sc in each st (24 sc)
Round 18: [2 sc in first st, 1 sc in next 3 sts] repeat around (30 sc)
Round 19: [2 sc in first st, 1 sc in next 4 sts] repeat around (36 sc)
Rounds 20-25: 1 sc in each st (36 sc)
Round 26: [sc2tog, 1 sc in next 4 sts] repeat around (30 sc)

Insert eyes between rounds 23 and 24, about 5-6 stitches apart, begin stuffing head and continue to stuff as needed as you finish closing up the head

Round 27: [sc2tog, 1 sc in next 3 sts] repeat around (24 sc)
Round 28: [sc2tog, 1 sc in next 2 sts] repeat around (18 sc)
Round 29: [sc2tog, 1 sc in next st] repeat around (12 sc)
Round 30: sc2tog, repeat around (6 sc)

Finish off and cut yarn, use tail to weave around opening to close, weave in end

Muzzle

Make 1 with bear color yarn, beginning with magic ring

Round 1: in mr, ch 1, 6 sc (6 sc)
Round 2: [3 sc in first st, 1 sc in next 2] repeat (10 sc)
Round 3: [2 sc in each of the next 3 sts, 1 sc in next 2 sts] repeat (16 sc)
Round 4: 1 sc in first 2 sts, 2 sc in each of next 2 sts, 1 sc in next 6 sts, 2 sc in each of next 2 sts, 1 sc in next 4 sts (20 sc)
Round 5: 1 sc in each st (20 sc)

Finish off and cut yarn leaving long tail for sewing

Add safety nose to the muzzle, and you can at this point use embroidery floss to embroider a mouth if desired but I chose not to, if you do just make a line coming down from the nose and then branching off to each side.

Sew the muzzle to the face just below the eyes, adding stuffing behind it 

Ears

Make 2 with bear color yarn, beginning with magic ring

Round 1: in mr, ch 1, 6 sc (6 sc)
Round 2: 2 sc in each st (12 sc)
Round 3: [2 sc in first st, 1 sc in next 3] repeat around (15 sc)
Round 4: 1 sc in each st (15 sc)

Finish off and cut yarn leaving long tail for sewing

Set aside to sew on after adding the hat

Arms

Make 2 with bear color yarn, beginning with magic ring

Round 1: in mr, ch 1, 6 sc (6 sc)
Round 2: 2 sc in each st (12 sc)
Round 3: [2 sc in first st, 1 sc in next 3 sts] repeat around (15 sc)
Round 4: 1 sc in each st (15 sc)
Round 5: 1 sc in each st (15 sc)
Round 6: [sc2tog, 1 sc in next 3] repeat around (12 sc)
Rounds 7-11: 1 sc in each st (12 sc)

Finish off and cut yarn leaving a long tail for sewing

Add a little bit of stuffing to the end (hand area) of the arm

Sew the arms to the sides of the body

Legs

Make 2 with bear color yarn, beginning with magic ring

Round 1: in mr, ch 1, 6 sc (6 sc)
Round 2: 2 sc in each st (12 sc)
Round 3: [2 sc in first st, 1 sc in next st] repeat around (18 sc)
Round 4: 1 sc in each st (18 sc)
Round 5: 1 sc in each st (18 sc)
Round 6: [sc2tog, 1 sc in next 4 sts] repeat around (15 sc)
Rounds 7-11: 1 sc in each st (15 sc)

Finish off and cut yarn leaving a long tail for sewing

Add a little bit of stuffing to the end (foot area) of the leg

Sew the legs to the bottom of the body in a sitting position

Robe

Make 1 with green, beginning with chain and then working in rounds, beginning ch does not count as a stitch

ch 36, join to first ch with sl st to make a circle
Round 1: ch 2, 1 dc in each st around, sl st to first dc to join (36 dc)
Round 2: ch 2, dc in first 6 sts, ch 5, sk 6 sts, dc in next 12 sts, ch 5, sk 6 sts, dc in last 6 sts, join to first dc with sl st (24 dc, 2 ch 5 spaces)
Round 3: ch 2, dc in first 6 sts, 6 dc in ch sp, dc in next 12 sts, 6 dc in ch sp, dc in last 6 sts, join to first dc with sl st (36 dc)
Round 4: ch 2, [2 dc in first st, 1 dc in next 2 sts] repeat around, sl st to first dc to join (48 dc)
Rounds 5-6: ch 2, 1 dc in each st around, sl st to first dc to join (48 dc) 

Finish off and weave in ends

Drape

Make 1 with green, beginning with chain and then working in rows, beginning ch does not count as a stitch

leave long tail at the beginning to make sewing easier
ch 6
Row 1: dc in 3rd ch from hook and each ch to the end (4 dc)
Row 2: ch 1, turn, 1 dc in first 3 sts, 2 dc in last st (5 dc)
Row 3: ch 1, turn, 1 dc in each st (5 dc)
Row 4: ch 1, turn, 1 dc in first 4 sts, 2 dc in last st (6 dc)
Row 5: ch 1, turn, 1 dc in each st (6 dc)
Row 6: ch 1, turn, 1 dc in first 5 sts, 2 dc in last st (7 dc)
Row 7: ch 1, turn, 1 dc in each st (7 dc)
Row 8: ch 1, turn, 1 dc in first 6 sts, 2 dc in last st (8 dc)
Row 9: ch 1, turn, 1 dc in each st (8 dc)
Row 10: ch 1, turn, 1 dc in first 7 sts, 2 dc in last st (9 dc)
Row 11: ch 1, turn, 1 dc in each st (9 dc)

Finish off and cut yarn leaving long tail for sewing

Lay the dress flat and sew the smaller part of the drape to the bottom left side of the dress

Gather or fold the wider edge of the drape and sew to the top right side of the dress at the shoulder 

Pull the dress over the head of the bear and put the arms through the openings


Torch

Torch

Make 1 in green, beginning with mr 

Round 1: in mr, ch 1, 6 sc (6 sc)
Round 2: 1 sc in each st (6 sc)
Round 3: [2 sc in first st, 1 sc in next 2 sts] repeat around (8 sc)
Round 4: 1 sc in each st (8 sc)
Round 5: 1 sc in each st (8 sc)
Round 6: [2 sc in first st, 1 sc in next 3 sts] repeat around (10 sc)
Rounds 7-9: 1 sc in each st (10 sc)
Round 11: 2 sc in flo of each st (20 sc)

Finish off and cut yarn leaving long tail for sewing

Flame

Round 1: in mr, ch 1, 6 sc (6 sc)
Round 2: 2 sc in each st (12 sc)
Round 3: 1 sc in each st (12 sc)
Round 4: [sc2tog, 1 sc in next 2 sts] repeat around (9 sc)

Add stuffing and continue adding stuffing as needed as you finish

Round 5: sc2tog 3 times, 1 sc in next 3 sts (6 sc)
Round 6: sc2tog 2 times, 1 sc in next 2 sts (4 sc)

Finish off and cut yarn leaving long tail for sewing

First use your needle to pull the tail of the torch down through the center and out the side, you will use this later to sew the torch to the hand

Add a little stuffing to the torch

Use the tail of the flame to sew the flame to the top of the torch

Use the tail of the torch to sew the torch to the bear's hand


Crown

Make 1 with green, beginning with chain and then working in rounds

ch 20, join to first ch with sl st to make a circle
Round 1: ch 2, dc in each st around, sl st to first dc to join (20 dc)
Round 2: ch 1, 1 sc in first 5 sts, sl st in next st, [ch 4, sl st in ch closest to hook, sc in next, hdc in last 2 ch, skip next dc, sl st in next dc] 5 times, sc in last 4 sts (9 sc, 5 points)

Finish off and cut yarn leaving long tail for sewing

Sew crown to the top of the head between ears with the points in the front

Tablet

Make 1 with green, beginning with chain and then working in rounds

ch 6
Round 1: sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in next 3 sts, 3 sc in last ch turning as you work to begin working in other side of ch, 3 sc in unworked loops of ch (same sts as previous 3 sc), 2 sc in last st (same st as first sc) (12 sc)
Rounds 2-7: 1 sc in each st

Finish off and cut yarn leaving long tail for sewing

Stitch the top edge closed

Stitch the tablet to the bear's hand








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