Memory Bears

My name is Sue Saari. I am 63 years old. I am a sister, a Mom, a Grandma. I've lived in St. Paul, MN, all my life.

My wonderful Mom, taught me how to sew, when I was 10-11 years old. The first thing I remember sewing, that turned out, was a rag doll, with yellow yarn hair, and a purple dress. It was for my baby sister, Cindy, She loved it, and slept with it every night, for years. The next thing I remember I made a dress, for myself. It was a short dress, it was late 60's early 70's, when mini skirts were in. I remember, I put the sleeves on inside out. I was upset. My Mom, told me, it's okay, we can fix it. She showed me how to use a seam ripper, and we took off the sleeves, and put them on the correct way.

My Mom would make me, and my 4 sisters, matching dresses for special holidays, especially Christmas and Easter. I have a very vivid memory of pastel pleated dresses. We all had the same style, just different pastel colors. Mine was a beautiful lavender with big buttons on the front. We would get, white lace gloves, Easter bonnets, and purses. She enjoyed sewing very much, especially for us girls.

When I met my, soon to be husband, my Mom and I decided we wanted to make my wedding gown. The nice thing about that is, i got the perfect fit, and style I wanted. We also, made all 6 bridesmaid dresses, flower girl dress, and ringbearer pillow. I will always remember and treasure, that time spent with my Mom, creating my wedding gown.

Later, when I was around 25 years old, my Mom and Dad had a shop in West St. Paul. They sold yarn, patterns, offered alterations. My Mom taught knitting and crocheting classes. My Mom and Dad, taught me how to do alterations, so I could help and work there. I made and sold soft sculpture dolls (kind of like Cabbage Patch Dolls) and crocheted Strawberry Shortcake dolls. It was fun working there, and able to see my Mom and Dad everyday.

This is how my Memory Bears were born. My Dad passed away, after a 5 year battle with cancer, 21 years ago. When he was going through chemo, he told me the hardest part, was seeing the young kids, going through chemo. He said, that he has at least, had a chance to live a good life. It broke his heart. After he passed, my Mom kept holding, hugging, and smelling his shirt. I knew I had to come up with something, to help her. That's when I created, the first Memory Bear. I took his grey sweatshirt, with an embroidered golf ball figure, with his initials on it. I placed the embroidered part on the belly of the bear, then figured out the rest of the bear. My Mom loved it and treasured it. She actually slept with it.

5 years after my Dad passed, my Mom got cancer, too. when she was sick, and doing treatment, I would go with her. We always said, how fun it would be, to make fun scrubs. We started purchasing some cute fabric, and some patterns. Shortly after this, she got much worse, and started Hospice at her house. All 5 of us girls, were there to help take care of her, and just spend time with her. We took turns staying overnight. It was a very special time with her and my sisters. I have a lot of memories of giving her back rubs, she would kiss my hands. She wasn't eating much at this time. One night, about 11:30pm, she woke up, and wanted pancakes. So we had midnight pancakes. We had many conversations about sewing. She said, she just wanted to get old, with me, and make quilts. It made me sad, that she couldn't make that wish come true. After she passed, I decided to go forward, with making our scrubs. I named it, Suzyscrubs. I had sew in labels made. I made all different, fun prints. I sold them at my doctors office, at first. Then I got a lot of custom orders. I made long sleeve flannel ones. They were a big hit. A lot of the nurses said they were cold, in the office, and these kept them warm. Word of mouth spread. I did this for about 3 years, and then the orders just stopped. To this day, when I go to the doctors office, or hospitals, I think of the conversations, my Mom and I had, about cute, fun scrubs.

Almost 9 years ago, my husband passed. This was life changing. The first year, after he passed, I made my daughters and 4 grandsons, Memory Bears, from his flannel shirts. I made my oldest grandson, a quilt out of his saying t-shirts. He loved the funny sayings, and had a lot of them. They made the best Christmas gifts. Needless to say, we cried, but they loved them!

Since starting this journey, of making Memory Bears, 21 years ago, I have made thousands of bears, bunnies, cats, puppies, and a lot of other animals, pillows, and quilts.

When I first get the shirts/clothes, I take time to look at it, to figure out where I want to place everything. The shirts that are button down shirts, I use everything I can, like the collar, cuffs, button down part, and pockets. When creating the Memory Bears, I try to use the most important parts. I tell customers, rip and stains make it unique. I've made them with photos on them. using printable photo fabric, and voice recording boxes, from Build a Bear. I make a little inside, velcro pocket, in the foot, so it can be removed to change the battery, or for washing. Sometimes, it's very hard to cut into the shirts/clothes. Especially, when they are kids, or babies.

When the Covid pandemic hit, I started making and donating masks. I made about 150 child size, for the kids at The Childrens Hospital. I made them out of fun fabrics, to cheer them up. I have a few friends that work at doctor offices, hospitals, and are EMTs. They asked for some for themselves and co-workers. They wore them over the PPE ones. The most popular requests were, Super-man, Spider-man, Super Heros, Wilds, Timberwolves, Twins, Vikings. I donated about 300 to all those, in the front line, health field. It made me feel good, that I could help in a small way, and they appreciated.

In April-July 2020, was almost impossible to purchase elastic, thread, and fabric. Black and white thread was scarce. I put a message out on Facebook, asking for help finding elastic, black thread, and white thread. Much to my surprise, I had people shipping me thread from Amazon, or if they found some, while out and about, they picked it up for me. During this time, JoAnn Fabrics, were onlu allowing 25 customers in at a time. There were many times, I stood outside in line (social distance) for 40-45 minutes, just trying to get fabric, thread, and elastic, for masks.

I recently, opened my houseback up, for fittings. After a year and a half of not having people, enter my house. I am swamped with wedding alterations, now that couples, can have their wedding. I have a couple of custom wedding gowns, to plan and create, and a flower girl dress, from a Mom's wedding gown. I feel bad for all the things that had to be postponed, but here we are, able to move forward. I'm vaccinated, so no more masks for me.

I'm currently, steadily busy with, Memory Bear orders. I know what comfort they can give, to someone grieving. To have something to hug, hold, and smell. I will continue creating them, until I can't anymore.

I've been perfecting, my sewing skills, ever since my Mom taught me this wonderful craft. I've always used Fiskar scissors, rotary cutter, and scissor sharpener. I'm very impressed with the comfort and quality of the products. I love that, I can sharpen my Fiskar scissors. 2 of the Fiskars I currently have, are about 15 years old, and still cut like new.

Thank you for letting me share my story.

Sue Saari

Sue Saari