How to Button Joint Dolls

The buttoning technique is used to help stuffed dolls pose.

Posing stuffed dolls often requires that their arms and legs be able to move freely and stay in place. Jointing is a doll-making technique that can make this possible. Buttoning is a jointing method often employed to make flexible dolls; it is popular with the Waldorf-style doll -- a stuffed wool and cotton toy that is able to be manipulated into natural poses.

Things You'll Need

• Measuring tape
• Scissors
• Jointing needle
• Heavy-duty waxed thread
• Buttons (two-hole)

Instructions

1. Measure 20 inches of heavy-duty thread, and cut it with a pair of scissors.

2. Insert the thread into the eye of a jointing needle, which is a sturdy 5 inch needle.

3. Pull the needle halfway through the thread, before joining the two ends and knotting them, thus doubling the thread.

4. Insert the needle through the first and second holes of the button, leaving about 1 inch of thread hanging from the first hole.

5. Place the needle in between this hanging doubled thread, before pulling the thread through. The result will be a knot that will tighten on the underside of the button.

6. Push your needle through the limb that will be attached to the body. Make sure to place the needle close to the top about 1/4 inch away from the opening.

7. Thread the needle through the part of the torso the limb will be attached to. It should go through the front and out the back.

8. Pull the needle taut so that the arm lays firm against the body. Repeat the process, inserting the needle through the doll’s body and looping it back through the buttonholes.

9. Knot the thread by creating a loop and slipping the needle through it, pulling the thread so that it is tight.

10. Insert the needle into the body, and pull it out of the middle of the doll’s back.

11. Snip the thread as close to the body as possible, which will result in the excess thread getting lost inside the doll, producing a clean finish.

12. Apply this buttoning technique to all the doll’s joints to produce a posing plush toy.

References

• “Anatomy of a Doll”; Susanna Oroyan; 1997
• “Dollmaking for the First Time”; Miriam Gourley; 2004
• The Silver Penny: Waldorf-Style Doll: Part 2 Sewing & Stuffing the Body
• Cloth Doll Creations UK; Cloth Doll Joints & Hinges; Madeleine Sara Maddocks