German toymaker Margarete Steiff (July 24, 1847 - May 9 1909), born in Giengen, started creating toy stuffed animals in 1880 in the town of Giengen an der Brenz, Germany. Margarete was a seamstress and confined to a wheelchair, due to polio she contracted as a baby, she started making stuffed animals as a hobby. These toys began as elephants, which were originally a design Steiff found in a magazine and originally sold as pincushions to her friends. Wikipedia
The definitive Wikipedia entry for Margarete Steiff. Wikipedia is the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarete_Steiff
Margarete Steiff notices a pattern in a magazine for a toy elephant and makes a few to give as gifts. She went on to sew a bear, a poodle and a donkey. Margarete's stuffed animals proved so popular that she was able to turn her hobby into a business. S www.e-christmastoys.com/articles/toytimeline.html
Margarete was still working in her parents' house. At the instigation of Adolf Glatz - a manufacturer at the local felt factory who married into the family - she set up a felt business and took on her first assistants. ... He supported Margarete, fina www.steiffnews.com/margarete_steiff_biography_page_2.htm
