Residents creates keepsakes from clothes of those who have passed away
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Laura Southerland holds one of the memorial teddy bears she creates for clients using the garments of loved ones who have died. She says demand for the keepsakes have continued to rise. (Photo/Ashley Blair)
As children, some people have memories of finding comfort in a teddy bear. Local artist Laura Southerland is using her talents for a similar keepsake to help others who have lost loved ones.
Working from her home studio in White County, Southerland makes memorial teddy bears from the clothes of those who have died as a way for their families to keep a piece of the departed close by.
Southerland says she has had a love of sewing since she started drafting patterns in the eighth grade.
“I’ve always been into some kind of artwork,” she says. “I can make pretty much anything anybody would want.”
Two years ago her ex-husband’s mother passed away, and her daughter asked Southerland to make something out of a robe that belonged to her. She made three teddy bears and was encouraged to put pictures of them on social media by a friend. She quickly received attention for her work and thought it could be a potential business.
She set up her shop and quickly became overwhelmed by customers. Soon, Southerland was making 15 bears at a time at the requests of grandchildren and their children.
“It satisfies such a need for people,” Southerland says. “I get people constantly telling me how much it’s really helped them along the way with the healing process.”
The bears can be made out of any clothing the client wants, and a heart is added to the chest that can be customized with a name, date or verse. Other personal touches can be added as well, such as eye color choice or dressing up the bear to match a loved one’s personality.
Southerland says she has made 526 of these bears on her own so far, shipping them throughout the United States.
One bear can be made in about three hours, though keeping up with the influx of new orders has still been difficult. But Southerland hopes to expand and hire help to keep up with requests.
“I would love to have a storefront, because quite honestly since starting this I have never seen such a demand,” she says.
Many families have lost loved ones due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Southerland is no different. She moved down to Georgia a year ago on Thanksgiving. Southerland and her husband, three cats and a bird came all the way from Michigan to take care of her mother-in-law. Unfortunately, her mother-in-law was taken by the pandemic only three weeks later.
“It just broke my heart,” Southerland says. “I loved that woman, she was like my own mom. I had known her for 40 years. You get to know somebody inside and out when that happens.”
Southerland says her faith in God and talent allowed her to find a calling in making these bears, even when she was states away from the rest of her family.
“If it wasn’t for my faith, I wouldn’t be doing this. I wouldn’t be able to do it,” she says. “But the fact that I still can still work with my hands just gives me all the more pleasure of wanting to do it even more.”
• For more information, visit Southerland’s Facebook page – Memorial Teddy Bears by Laura – or email memorialteddybearsbylaura@gmail.com.