Teddy Bear or Fabric Doll Eye Installation
Safety Eyes: Verify the eye dots are even in the head or make dots for the eye placement to suit your taste with a fabric pen. Punch a hole large enough for the safety eye shank in the eye dots with an awl or point of a scissor. Try not to break the threads in the weave of the fabric, but just push them apart. Insert the eye shank all the way into the hole. Place the eye disk on the shank with the points of the disk pointing to the end of the shank. Press the disk all the way down until the fabric is tightly sandwiched between the back of the eye and the disk. Make sure it is not loose and will not pull thru.
Glass Eyes: Verify the eye dots are even in the head or make dots for the eye placement to suit your taste with a fabric pen. Prepare both eyes at once. Thread a doll needle with a heavy thread and tie a tight, firm knot at the end. Repeat on a second needle. Use slightly different colored thread for each needle to distinguish between them. Put the first threaded needle thru the wire loop on the back of one eye and then between the strands of knotted thread and draw up. This will form two thread loops on the wire eye loop. Repeat: there are now four thread loops on the wire eye loop. Close the wire eye loop by gently squeezing it with pliers. Repeat procedure on the second needle. Each eye is now threaded onto a separate needle. Poke a hole at the eye dot in the bear's head with an awl. Put the doll needle with a threaded eye on it into the hole and down thru the stuffing at the back of the head neck opening. Repeat for the second eye. Pull the eyes into the socket and check their placement. When satisfied with the placement, pull one eye back slightly and bring the thread for that eye up and out just above the original hole. Go back down with the needle in the original hole, leaving a loop at the bottom of the neck. Pull the thread loop at the neck opening slowly and gently until the eye is snug and slightly indented in the head. Pull the needle until the thread loop is gone and the thread is tight in the stuffing. Repeat for the other eye. Tie the two needle threads together.
