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Verna 1960s vintage teddy — repair

Verna golden mohair teddy — clean, mend, and paw restoration

Verna 1960s vintage teddy

NeedleworkPaint

24 November 2025

Verna, a 1960s golden mohair teddy, arrived with decomposing stuffing, tears, and tired glass eyes. We emptied and cleaned the bear, repaired fabric throughout, polished and reset the eyes, reinforced nose and mouth stitching, and reconditioned the leather paw pads so she displays beautifully again.

“Grace did a wonderful job repairing our teddy bear that was over 60 years old. She researched the issues and came up with a great solution. Perfect work including fixing an extra issue at no cost. Lovely manner and very good and quick communications. Very highly recommend.”

— Fergus S.

Work in progress

Before — repair Repair in progress 1 Repair in progress 2 Repair in progress 3 Repair in progress 4 Repair in progress 5 Repair in progress 6 Repair in progress 7 Repair in progress 8 Repair in progress 9 Repair in progress 10 Repair in progress 11 Repair in progress 12 Repair in progress 13 After — repair

The repair

Verna is a golden vintage teddy with mohair pile that had held decades of love — the stuffing inside was decomposing and the body had holes and tears that needed careful work. We opened the bear and removed the old fill, then deep-cleaned the mohair and lining. Fabric repairs were worked through the body, the glass eyes were removed for polishing and set back securely, and stitching at the nose and mouth was reinforced. The leather paw pads were reconditioned and repainted where wear had dulled the finish. Fresh stuffing went back in and the bear was closed so Verna sits upright with her original charm restored.

About this item

Verna 1960s vintage teddy refers to a mid-century teddy bear style from the post-war plush boom when many regional makers produced named bears. 1960s bears often bridge older jointed traditions and newer safer-child construction methods. Typical materials include mohair or early synthetic plush, kapok/fiber stuffing, and either stitched or plastic eye treatments depending on maker.

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