How to Design a Simple Cloth Doll

This simple doll is called a semi-pancake doll. With its three pattern pieces - body with head, arm with hand, and leg with foot - you can design and create a multitude of dolls.

Things You'll Need

• Polyester Fiberfill
• 1 Skein Yarns
• All-purpose Threads
• Crafting Needles
• Dressmaker Pins
• Fabric Glue
• Iron-on Doll-face Transfers
• Muslin Fabrics
• Pinking Shears
• Sewing Machine
• Sewing Supplies
• Facial Tissues Box
• 4 1/2-inch Lids
• Large Spoons
• Scissors
• Pencils
• Kraft Papers
• Markers
• Rulers
• 1 yard ribbon, lace or bias tape

Instructions

Making the Pattern

1. Use a 4 1/2-inch (cottage-cheese size) container lid and position it in the upper center of a large piece of kraft paper.

2. Trace your circle. This is the doll's head.

3. Overlay a rectangular tissue box on the bottom of the drawn circle with the circle resting on the end of the box. Make sure that each corner is straight.

4. Trace around the box for the doll's body. The box corners are the doll's shoulders.

5. Draw lines on the inside sides of the circle so that you narrow the head. You don't want it so round.

6. Use a ruler to draw a rectangle 3 inches wide by 6 1/2 inches long on another piece of kraft paper for the doll's arms and hands.

7. Place a large tablespoon, bowl-side-up on the paper at the end of the rectangle, positioning the bowl area so that the handle is actually within the rectangle.

8. Trace around the spoon.

9. Draw a straight line on one side of the spoon-traced line to start forming a mitten shape.

10. Draw the thumb off this straight line where the rectangle line and the spoon line meet.

11. Draw another separate rectangle about 10 3/4 inches long and 4 inches wide for the doll's legs.

12. Make another smaller rectangle about 7 inches long at the bottom of this rectangle. Place the smaller rectangle on the bottom so that the two ends overlap and look like an "L."

13. Draw a curve at the toe area. Take the curve back about an inch at the baby-toe area.

Cutting and Sewing

1. Cut out your pattern pieces.

2. Fold your muslin fabric in half, and pin your pattern pieces on the folded muslin.

3. Cut a total of four arm pieces, four leg pieces and two body pieces.

4. Sew the two body pieces together first. Use a 1/4-inch seam or what is called a presser-foot width.

5. Start at the bottom of one side of the body and follow all around, leaving the straight bottom open for stuffing.

6. Stitch two arm pieces together starting at the corner of the short, straight edge of the top and going around the mitten hand.

7. Stop at the opposite corner of the short, straight edge. Leave the straight edge open so you can stuff the arm.

8. Stitch the other two arm pieces together.

9. Stitch two leg pieces together. Start at the corner of the straight edge, go down the length, around the curved top of the foot, and come back up, stopping at the corner of the opposite short, straight edge.

10. Stitch the other two leg pieces together.

11. Clip all curved edges, preferably with pinking shears.

12. Turn right side out with the seams inside.

13. Stuff with polyester fiberfill so that the pieces are firm, but not hard.

14. Pinch the top of a stuffed leg closed so that the back and front seams meet.

15. Insert a pin to hold the top closed. Place the leg on your sewing machine and stitch the top closed.

16. Remove the pin, and repeat with the other leg.

17. Use an iron set at medium temperature, and press about 1/2 inch of the raw edge bottom of the body under.

18. Insert the legs into the body, feet facing forward, and pin the legs in place.

19. Machine stitch the legs into the body.

20. Fold the raw edge of an arm inside at the top. (The arm seams are at the sides and will not meet as the leg seams did.)

21. Pin the arms to the side of the doll's body.

22. Stitch the arms to the doll where the shoulders are. Use a blanket stitch or a buttonhole stitch to hold the arms to the body.

The Finishing Touches

1. Use one skein of yarn for the hair and one yard of lace, ribbon, or single-fold bias binding in a matching color.

2. Determine what length of hair you'll use.

3. Find a book or piece of cardboard that length.

4. Wrap the book or cardboard with the entire contents of the skein.

5. Cut one end so you can get it off the cardboard.

6. Center the yarn onto the bias binding so that you have an equal length on each side.

7. Place small amounts at a time under the presser foot and stitch it in place. You'll have what looks like a mop head. This is called a weft.

8. Use your fabric glue to glue hair in place on the doll. If you want to get creative, you can actually backstitch the hair on the head.

9. Use iron-on transfers for the face. Use a barrier cloth - a piece of brown paper such as a paper bag - between the iron and the transfers. Read the instructions carefully on the transfer paper.

Tips & Warnings

• You can also use an infant's mitten to trace the hand shape.

• Legs are easy. They are the same length as the body and wider than the arms.

• You can use infant or child socks to follow the curves that are needed for the foot.

• If you mess up on the feet, you can cover them with baby socks.

• When the fabric is folded and you cut around a pattern piece, you are actually cutting two pieces. So, when it's specified that you cut two or four of a piece, you need only cut either once for two pieces or twice for four pieces.

• When stuffing a doll, make sure that the stuffing is soft and not lumpy, that you stuff evenly, and that the doll is not floppy.

• You can use fabric glue to hold seams in place until you can stitch.

• Fabric-tacking glue is ideal if you do not want to sew or need a helping hand to make sure your edges don't fray.

• If you are using yarn for hair, it's very difficult to sew each strand through the head unless you use silk floss.

• The best yarns for hair are bouclé, chenille and soft, baby yarn.

• You can turn iron-on transfers into a clown's face or trim and piece them together to create a unique face.

• If you are handy, you can create a face using the computer and iron-on transfer paper.

• Avoid starting with a smaller container lid.

• Stuffing your doll too firmly will cause "seam pop." Add stuffing a little at a time and avoid overfilling.

• Painting the doll's face by hand is a bit harder than some people think.