| Tiny
Handmade Cloth Dolls |
These cute little dolls can be made for a younger
sibling, decorate the Christmas tree, or tied onto a gift
as an added surpris
e. I’m sure you can all think of many other fun things
to do with these tiny, sweet dolls!
You will need the following supplies:
White Muslin Fabric – ¼ yard
will give you several dolls. (Use brown fabric if you want
a gingerbread doll – directions for this option are
at the end.)
Felt – for the dress. You will need
one square of felt in a pretty color.
Stuffing – a small bag is plenty.
Sharp Needle – I recommend a size
24 embroidery needle if possible, or one of similar size.
White Thread – if your muslin fabric
is cotton, use cotton. If your muslin fabric is a poly-cotton,
use a poly-cotton thread. It is best to match the thread
to the fabric if possible.
Embroidery Floss – One skein in
black. Another in dark pink or red for the mouth. You will
also need an additional skein of brown or yellow for the
hair. One skein of hair per doll is a good suggestion. The
amount you use will depend on how long the doll’s
hair will be. One additional color of floss is needed to
sew the dress onto the doll. Use a matching color to the
felt dress or a contrasting color to add decoration.
Miscellaneous – straight pins, pencil,
scissors.
To Make the Doll:
The following are the doll pattern and dress pattern. Cut
two pieces of the while muslin for the doll, and one piece
of the felt for the dress. The doll’s finished size
will be 6” tall or close to it.
The running stitch is THE basic stitch in
hand sewing. This is an up and down stitch which sews two
pieces of fabric together. Simply start by pulling your thread
up through the fabric until the knot catches. Then place the
needle down about 1/16 – 1/8” from where the thread
has come up. Next pull the needle up through the fabric 1/16
– 1/8” from where the needle went down –
you will be going up and down, up and down all the way around
the edge of the doll fabric until you reach the bottom arrow
space.
Some small children may try and place the needle around
and up over the side of the fabric. This is a different
stitch (overcastting stitch) and will not
work well with the seam we need for this doll. Try to reinforce
and encourage the children to simply go up and down, up
and down.
Once you get going, you may find that you can actually
go “up and down” on top of the fabric instead
of pulling the thread all the way through to the bottom
and bringing it back to the top again. Those who learn to
do this can often get several “up and down”
stitches on their needle, pull the needle through all the
little stitches, and do multiple lengths of sewing at a
time. This is also similar to quilting!
Once you reach the bottom area where the arrow is, knot
your thread and cut the thread. Clip the curves VERY carefully
– you want a tiny little clip where the neck, underarms
and groin are, so the fabric will stretch a little when
you turn the doll inside out.
The next step is to carefully turn the doll inside out.
Start with the head first. Push the head down through the
neck and reach inside the doll to pull it completely out.
Then using the eraser end of a pencil, turn the arms and
legs inside out.
Begin stuffing your doll. Stuff the head first. You want
it filled – firm and full – without being too
full or popping the seams. Also, pay attention to the face
and make sure there are no lumps visible. Stuff the arms,
bottom leg and torso. Closing the doll while keeping the
stuffing from falling out of the last stuffed leg, may pose
a little problem. The easiest way to sew the leg closed
is to stuff it, then carefully turn both edges into the
doll and pin them. Move up to the next small section, turn
the edges into the doll, and pin them. Continue until the
opening has been pinned closed, and then use an overcastting
stitch to close the side.
To make the overcastting stitch, pull
your needle up through both layers of the fabric - about
1/16” from the folded edge. Next, take the needle
and place it under the fabric edge again (from the bottom)
and pull the needle and thread through the fabric from the
back again to the top about 1/16 – 1/8” from
the last stitch. Continue to bring the needle UP from the
back to the front of the fabric, ‘wrap’ the
thread over the folded edge to bring the needle up again.
In this way, when you are finished with your side seam,
the thread will be neatly laying over the edge seam at regular
intervals - holding the seam closed.
Knot your thread and cut. (To hide the thread tail, pull
the needle through the doll’s body and where it comes
out clip the thread even with the doll body. The tail will
be securely hidden inside the doll body and not left hanging
loose by its side.
To Make the Dress:
You will be sewing the dress onto the doll. Place the neck
opening over the head of your doll - being careful not to
stretch the felt opening as you pull it down over the head.
If you need to, squish the doll’s head to fit through
the opening. Use the embroidery floss you have chosen for
the dress and pull out a length about 18 inches
Knot one end of the floss. With the front and back of the
doll dress in place, bring both edges of the underarm sleeve
together and hold them together with the fingers of your
left hand. Place your needle through BOTH edges of the flannel
edge and pull through until the knot stops it. Use your
overcastting stitch to sew along the underarm seam of the
sleeve, and continue down the side of the dress, until you
reach the skirt bottom. You have finished one side! Repeat
this on the other
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