u/Treble_Bolt

First off, I have been dreading this for years.

This deer (Rannoch) is over 50 years old, and I have had him for over half of my life. He is so special to me that I have a tattoo of him.

I am not a professional by any means, but I have some hand sewing skills from far more minor plush restorations, clothing repair, and leatherworking. I don't expect perfection, but I do expect of myself upmost care and consideration in doing such major repair for this deer. This is not the first time I have worked on him, but this time it has gotten to the point of replacing and patching.

He has been thoroughly cleaned and I have been brushing him with a slicker (ever so gently) as I go about his body. The pictures here show what I have already done. I did his head first, replacing his snoot with wool, and replacing eyes and nose (this I have done multiple times in the past as felt wears easily, so this time, I used wool remnants). And hopefully with the ear repair, you can get an idea of where my current skill level is here.

I am using wool as my repair material. He feels like wool with his age, and I am very partial to wool overall (I know the specialized care this fabric needs).

Replacing, I feel confident about. It's fairly easy to do. My next step is the back of his tail, which I will leave the old tail back. I just undid all my old stitches and will put it the worn part inside the tail, as I really don't want to undo his entire butt.

Patching....not so much on the confident side.

There are areas with holes not on the seams. These obviously show weak fabric. I plan to darn these holes to keep stuffing in, but I want to put some kind of patch on these areas where the fur is basically gone. I have looked at videos, and there is not much at all for this type of repair. I am not sure how to go about this. What would be the best way to approach patching? I can't do anything inside his legs (such as adding a reinforced backing) as they are very narrow and already difficult to stuff.

Would it also be best to patch similar to how I attach the eyes and nose? (I don't retain stitch names; I just research the how-to which is the only time I use the name, add it to my skills, and do the necessary stitch with the name flying out of my brain over time. ADHD be that way in a lot of my skillsets.)

I do not believe there is any way I can color match the early 1970's fabric. Comparing to the new variants of him, his fur has drastically changed color from what it originally was. As far as color closeness, I want to try to find to wool closer to the original deer, or just go darker brown. My heart isn't sure.

I have seriously considered sending him to a plush repair service. Cost isn't the issue here, it's him being away from me that is more the issue. Plus, there are aspects of him that I don't want lost with someone else working on him. I don't know how to explain this feeling. He may be a thing, but he is emotionally an extension of my self. Something as simple as him getting lost in the mail would be something as severe as a loved one dying. That is a risk I don't want to take.

I have been a bit of an emotional wreck as it is with him in this state, but I am taking my sweet time, doing as much research as I can, and posting here because I am planning ahead and want opinions. It hasn't been easy, nor has it been fun. He needs TLC; I know I am capable so I want to do my best for him.

Mike has mostly nailed down his schedule in August and September.

- August 3-5th Hand Lettering Workshop at his Chester, IA shop.

- August 6-7th Blending Workshop at his Chester, IA shop.

- September 11th-12th Blending Workshop at the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati, OH.

- September 14th-16th Hand Lettering Workshop at the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati, OH.

-September 22nd-24th Hand Lettering Workshop at the Freak Bar in Brooklyn, NY.

He is looking at doing another Hand Lettering class in New York City at the end of September. He has Atlanta, GA tentatively October 14th-16th, but location is still to be determined. Also looking at Vermont in the second week of October, but all the details aren't figured out yet. He is also working on figuring out Texas at the end of October (likely Austin, not Longview).

Keep an eye on his website!

I am honestly shocked at how fun this was. I thought it would be difficult because I am such a perfectionist who lets anxiety take hold. I am not a painting artist and never really have been.

But looking at this, I think I can be.