"EVERY TIME I picked up a magazine, I saw these bears," says Jennie Wisley. "I really wanted to make one." So she found a book on repairing the Steiff bears made in Germany early in the century and used it to create her own patterns. Wisley's handmade teddy bears, complete with movable limbs, resemble such cuddly-doll favorites circa 1900.
Wisley now produces about 150 bears in an average year and showcases them in Just Bearly, her studio/shop in Balboa Park's Spanish Village. Her bear-making is accomplished in the old-fashioned, labor-intensive way: It takes her one hour just to cut out the 27 pieces needed for each bear.
