We have entered ‘Teddy Pasty and Friends’ into the Barclay’s Take One Small Step Competition. 

The competition is open to established businesses wanting to grow and budding entrepreneurs. The prize is £50,000 to boost your business. There are nine prizes over nine regions and we have entered ‘Teddy Pasty and Friends’ in the South West region. 

We had to submit our entry online which included a short video about our business idea (cue doodles from me and a cute Teddy Pasty out-take at the end). Three entries from each region will be shortlisted by a panel of judges on the 29th May. From then on in it will be up to the public to vote on the idea they want to win! 

We would love it if you could lend ‘Teddy Pasty and Friends’ your support by ‘Liking’ and/or commenting on our entry on the run-up to the judges vote. 

See our entry here…

https://www.takeonesmallstep.co.uk/Entry/Detail/1699

Calling all Tweeters! For your chance to win this gorgeous Teddy Pasty complete with paper bag check out our Twitter page…

https://twitter.com/#!/TeddyPasty/status/67887057162346496

I am currently writing the first in a series of “Teddy Pasty and Friends” illustrated story books. The first book will introduce Teddy Pasty and will tell the story of how he came to be. I won’t give the story away here but I will say that there is a little bit of magic involved and a few of Teddy Pasty’s friends and perhaps a few foes will make an appearance.

Here’s a photo of a few of the initial sketches to give to a sneak peek. 

Well, 10 actually but that made for a better title. Thanks to one of my bestest friends Kate, who also happens to be a master on the sewing machine, a fresh batch of Teddy Pasty’s were all sewn up and ready for cuddles in no time at all. A buying trip, to Truro this time and the fantastic shop Truro Fabrics http://tinyurl.com/68rooej, saw an upgrade in raw materials from the pinkish felt to a more pasty shaded and more substantial variety of wool fabric. 

I whipped up a cute little round label for each pasty and each armed with his own paper bag, they were ready for sale.

Having created a pattern (which I wasn’t entirely sure would work due to a lack of toy making skills) it was time to source some materials to create the first Teddy Pasty plush.

A quick buying trip to Penzance ensued to the little haberdashery shop on Bread street, conveinently located opposite the wonderful Archie Browns health food shop and café http://tinyurl.com/cqfloj impossible to resist for super smoothies and raw chocolate treats.

Several bits of felt, embroidery thread and random christmas themed patchwork squares later it was time to start sewing. Not claiming to be a master seamstress, hand sewing the little pasty was somewhat tricky yet quietly rewarding. Turning the roughly sewn together bits of felt and fabric the right way out was the highlight of the process as the pasty plush took form right in front of me.

So the finished result wasn’t quite what I had in mind but he was a good start and with a few more tweaks and brushed up sewing skills I could see the potential.

NB The back of the plush in this case is made from Christmas themed fabric. It was an idea that each Teddy Pasty could have different patterned backs tying in with different seasons or events. 

Enthused by our Teddy Pasty brainstorming I decided I would try and make a prototype Teddy Pasty plush. This required an official Teddy Pasty drawing from which I could work from. I asked Kate to do a sketch of Teddy Pasty, which she duly did and sent me a photo of it from her iPhone. I then traced and tweaked it in Adobe Illustrator to create a vector version of the sketch. This was then used to create a pattern for the soon to be created plush.

So the seed of Teddy Pasty had been sown. Having been forgotten for a few years, it wasn’t until July 2010 that Teddy Pasty was recalled from the depths of our memories to begin his journey here in St Ives. 

My boyfriend Matt and I made a big move in February 2010 from our home for 12 years, London Town, to our new and now beloved home in St Ives, Cornwall. And it was during a visit from my Sister, her partner Andy and their daughter Bailey in July of that year that Teddy Pasty came back to us, evoked by the delicious smells of freshly baked pasties emanating from the many bakeries along Fore Street in St Ives. As we strolled along a plethora of ideas and stories surrounding Teddy Pasty were conjured up between us all. It seemed there was more to Teddy Pasty than we had originally thought… 

I hear you ask. Well, he was first conceptualised perhaps 3 or 4 years ago whilst myself, my twin sister and some of our friends were on our annual camping trip in Cornwall. Our favourite camping spot is Treen http://tinyurl.com/c7t5gz which sits atop the cliffs overlooking the stunning Porthcurno beach in Cornwall. The memory is vague but I remember myself and my sister Kate doodling pasties and pasty characters on perhaps a napkin, accompanied perhaps by a mouthwatering cream tea? Sounds plausible. As an aside, if we were scoffing sumptuous scones with uncouth amounts of jam and clotted cream then we would have been at Myrtle Cottage in Sennen Cove http://tinyurl.com/6ycqqor. A cream tea lovers delight which in recent years has indulged my healthier, ahem, lifestyle by serving half portions. Yipee.

Anyway, back to doodling pasties. So, my sister and I are doodling pasties and as I recall my creations were slightly scary and drawn primarily to annoy and wind up my sibling, a skill I have perfected over the last 30 odd years. 30 odd, good grief, surely that’s a typo. These aren’t the original sketches but I think they would have resembled these ghastly characters…

Commonly known as Evil Twin for unfathomable reasons I suppose it’s only natural that such beasts were spawned from my scribbling Sharpie. Conversely, a stream of cuter than cute pasty formations were skipping joyfully and carelessly from Good Twins breezy biro with infuriating disregard.

Teddy Pasty was born!

Hello and Welcome Teddy Pasty fans (I know there are a few out there and hopefully many more to come)! This is THE official Teddy Pasty blog where all things cute, cuddly and pasty or even pastrylike can be discussed, mused and deliberated. Oh, and of course where Teddy Pasty updates, happenings and breaking news shall be beamed directly to you from the Teddy Pasty Headquarters here in St Ives, Cornwall.