An elderly teddy bear that is played with often may lose his facial features over time. Eyes can go missing, leaving poor teddy looking decidedly forlorn. Unfortunately, replacing one eye is often difficult because it's extremely hard to find one that matches the remaining one.
You could try asking a soft toy distributor if they stock spare eyes. However it is usually easier and less hassle to simply replace both. Here's how to do it.
What you will need
a pair of soft toy safety eyes
stitch picker tool
scissors
dental floss
a large-eyed needle
You can buy soft toy eyes from most craft and hobby supplies stores and sometimes from soft toy distributors. Make sure that you ask for safety eyes if the teddy bear is to be played with by a small child. Safety eyes don't have a sharp spike as an attachment, making it less likely that a child could be injured if the eye came out while they were playing with the bear.
How to do it
You will need a small amount of sewing knowledge to carry out this project.
First of all you will need to remove the teddy bear's head. Unpick the stitches around the bear's neck and the head should come off. Now pull out all the stuffing inside and place it to one side for replacement later.
Use a pair of scissors to push a small hole in the bear's fabric where you want the eye to go.
Take a piece of dental floss and thread it through the eye of a long, thick needle with a large eye. Tie a knot in the end of the dental floss.
Push the needle and floss thread through the back of the bear's head so that it comes out through the eye hole that you made.
Take the eye and thread the needle through the loop on the back in the same way as you would thread a button. Push the needle back through the same hole and pull the eye firmly into place.
Push the needle through the fabric a second time and pass it through the loop on the back of the eye, returning through the eye hole as before.
Cut the floss, leaving a few inches of length.
Take the second eye and repeat steps #2 through to #7.
Now tie both the ends of floss together at the back of the bear's head. This should keep the eyes in place and prevent them from falling out.
Finally, replace the stuffing in the teddy bear's head, making sure that the shape is fully restored. Re-stitch the head to the neck using matching thread.