Airdrie-based Burton’s Buttons has transformed a Canadian Forces mess kit uniform into a custom memorial bear, stitched with a zipper so the veteran’s ashes can one day be placed inside.
Erin Jensen, owner of Burton’s Buttons, said she felt the weight of the task as soon as she picked up her scissors.
“It felt really, really wrong to cut into a veteran’s uniform,” she said. “I had to really gear myself up for that. But they’d asked me to do this — this is what they wanted.”
Jensen called the finished creation “the ultimate bear” in a July 18 Facebook post, writing, “... It has been an honour to build this particular bear and memorialize a veteran for his family! Complete with a back zipper so his daughter can put his ashes in it once he passes.”
The bear was commissioned by the veteran’s wife, who had held on to the formal dining uniform for years.
“It was something they’d been holding on to for a really long time — sentimental value...”
Jensen said she had posted photos of previous bears when the woman contacted her.
“They weren’t sure what they would get,” she said. “But she was really, really excited. She was thrilled. And her husband really was too.”
Jensen said the veteran is still alive.
The bear was later displayed at the Nose Creek Boot sale, where Jensen said it drew strong reactions from the public.
“Anybody who has seen it since has really liked it,” she noted. “The people who got to actually see the bear in person were all really, really excited about it.”
Jensen began making memorial bears years ago while operating a children’s thrift store where she also taught sewing and did alterations.
“I got a request when I was working in our thrift store,” she said. “Somebody asked me if I would build them a memorial bear. So I did, and it worked out really well. So I figured I was pretty good at it, and it was nice to see how people got so happy. I started offering that as a service.”
She now runs Burton’s Buttons out of her home studio, where she teaches sewing lessons and raises three children.
Jensen said the uniform bear took about four and a half hours to complete, assuming she can find uninterrupted time.
“If I get the opportunity to actually just sit down and focus beginning to end, the military bear, for instance, took me about four and a half hours,” she said. “But my life … I get interrupted, and I don’t have a lot of time to just sit down and just straight concentrate.”
The work itself is both technical and emotional.
“When I’m handing the bears over, once they’re completed, and the person gets to take them home … they get super emotional,” she said. “I’ve seen a lot of tears. It’s a really good feeling.”
She said she prefers working with fleece, sweatshirts or baby blankets, but any fabric can be reinforced.
“Baby blankets are great, because baby blankets are softer, and they make for really nice bears,” she said. “But honestly, any fabric can be worked with. If I were to make one personally, like the attachment part of it, I would do my children’s baby clothing,” she added.
One project Jensen said she'll never forget involved a bear made from four tiny dog outfits, including a Batman cape. The woman who commissioned it had lost her dog a year earlier and asked Jensen to preserve the cape — and even the stains.
“She cried. She really did,” Jensen said. “Because she’d lost that guy a year earlier, and now she had a little snuggle bug back, she said.”
Jensen said her interest in colour and fabric placement comes naturally.
“Coordinating stuff has always kind of been my thing,” she said. “I was always really interested in interior design, and I have a magical ability to match colours without any assistance as well. I just have an eye for that kind of detail — the way things should be put together that way. I see everything. I see potential in it … I love being able to put that potential to work.”
While she offers patterns for other animals, clients always ask for bears.
“Everybody’s just really interested in having the bear,” she said. “Which is kind of an interesting phenomenon. I haven’t had the opportunity to make one of those other ones yet.”
Jensen can be contacted through her Facebook page Burton’s Buttons, where she posts photos of recent projects
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