Tambo Teddies are handmade from Australian sheepskins and the process of creating our gorgeous little friends begins when our skins arrive at the workshop in large boxes or wool bales. The skins are all unpacked, counted and sorted onto the shelves ready to be turned into teddy bears.  Since we have taken over the business we have expanded our range of colours from the traditional neutral tones to include the very bright colours of red, yellow and orange and the popular ‘frog’ green.

To create a Basil teddy we take a skin and draw up the whole skin with pattern pieces, we start with the 19-piece pattern for the basil and surround it by other pattern pieces for other products such as toby parts, bickie bears and echidnas.  As the skins are a natural product, they vary in thickness, making some areas softer and better for particular pieces for the bear. 

Once patterns have been drawn onto the skin, each piece is then cut out by hand with a stanley knife and put into bags ready to be sewn.  We have workers who cut out at home as well as the girls in the shop. The girls cut out when they aren’t serving customers or finishing off bears ready for sale. Our teddy bears are sewn together using a machine called a cup seam overlocker. Our machines are all over 19 years old but are sturdy and require little maintenance.  Once all the pieces are joined together the bears are then turned out and stuffed firmly with a very technical piece of equipment (a wooden spoon) to hold their shape. 

Each teddy is then trimmed around his (or hers) eyes and nose so they can see and smell easily. A ribbon is chosen and the bear is named after one of the rural properties in the Tambo district.  Before our bears walk out the door, they are given their own unique number (on their bum tag) which is recorded along with the new owner’s name and home town . We record this information so we know where every one of our teddy bear family of bears has gone to live. 

At Tambo Teddies we make unique and individual teddy bears.  Everyone needs a Tambo Teddy to love and cuddle!