How to Make a Yarn Doll Scarecrow

Creating this yarn scarecrow doll utilizes used baby clothing, eliminating the need for clothes patterns and sewing the outfit from scratch. Investigate thrift stores for used baby denims and long sleeved shirts of the similar size. Although the instructions call for using a sewing machine, it is possible to complete the project by hand sewing, providing you are able to make small, even stitches. Fashioned more as a stuffed doll, as opposed to being primarily a fall ornament, this scarecrow can do double duty as child’s doll and holiday decoration.

Things You'll Need

• Infant or baby long sleeved shirt
• Infant or baby denims
• Measuring tape
• Cardboard
• 1 to 2 skeins of brown yarn
• Scissors
• Doll or quilt stuffing
• Beige fabric
• Sewing needles
• Thread
• Sewing machine
• Baby or doll hat from craft store
• Fabric paint or markers

Instructions

1. Lay the shirt on a table and position the pants directly below it, as if you were showing off the outfit. The bottom hem of the shirt should be along the waist of the pants. Lay the shirt sleeves out straight, forming a "T."

2. Measure the distance from the right shirt cuff to the left shirt cuff. Measure the distance from the collar of the shirt to the cuffs of the pants.

3. Take the longer of the two measurements and add eight inches. Use a piece of cardboard, the length of the final measurement (the longest of the two measurements, plus eight inches), and wrap the yarn around the length of the cardboard. The yarn will eventually be divided into four sections, to be used as the hands and feet. Stop wrapping the yarn around the cardboard when you feel you have sufficient yarn. Since the size of the doll varies depending on the clothing used, determining yarn amounts will be a personal judgment call.

4. On one end, where the yarn wraps around the cardboard, take several lengths of yarn and securely tie these strands together. When secure, cut through the yarn at the opposite end. Set the cardboard aside.

5. If the shirt is button down, turn inside out and sew up the buttoned opening. When you turn the shirt right side out, the needlework should not show. It should simply look as if it has been buttoned up.

6. Take the yarn you’ve fastened together, and divide it into four equal 'pony tails'. Put it into the shirt, with the tied section in the center of the shirt, evenly positioned between the shirt cuffs.

7. Take one of the four pony tails of yarn and put it down the right sleeve, with ends of yarn extending through the cuffs like hands. Take the second pony tail and do the same to the left sleeve.

8. Position the pants below the shirt, and bring the third pony tail through the right leg, and the fourth pony tail through the left leg, as if you are pulling the scarecrow’s pants on, and those are his legs. Pull the cut ends out like feet.

9. Sew the waist area of the pants onto the inside hem of the shirt. The final result should look as if the scarecrow is wearing pants with a shirt that is not tucked in.

10. Using a sewing machine, sew up each shirt and pant cuff, allowing at least four inches of yarn to hang out of each cuff. Evenly distribute the ends of yarn along the cuff.

11. Use the quilt or doll stuffing to fill the body of the scarecrow, by stuffing from the open collar.

12. To make the doll’s head, lay two pieces of beige fabric on top of each other, with the finished sides touching, and trace the shape of a head, to correspond with the size of the doll’s body. Oversize slightly to adjust for stitches and stuffing. Draw in a neck, the width of the collar opening.

13. Cut out your head pattern and use the sewing machine to sew the two pieces together, with a ¼” seam and leaving the bottom of the neck open.

14. Turn the fabric head right side out, and stuff with filling until full.

15. Place the bottom of the head’s neck into the collar, and use the sewing machine to sew the opening together, by running your seam from one side of the collar to the opposite. The head will be floppy.

16. Attach the hat to the top of the head by sewing stitches. If desired, add yarn hair before securing hat.

17. Decorate the face by coloring with fabric paints or markers.

18. Use several lengths of yarn to belt the center of the doll, creating a waist. If there are no belt loops on the pants, secure the yarn in place by sewing stitches.

Tips & Warnings

• If the yarn dangling from the cuffs are overlong, trim accordingly.