You can scale this up or down to make larger or smaller dolls, Experiment with different yarns and different lengths of yarn to make a range of yarn dolls to play with. Now trim off any straggly ends and you have completed your yarn doll. This will hold the plait in place and form the foot. Approximately 2cm ( ¾”) from the end of the yarn wrap a piece of yarn around the bundle, pull it tight and tie it off. Then for each bundle separate it into 3 equal groups and plait it to form a leg. If, however you want your doll to have legs separate the remaining length if yarns into two equal groups. This is a pink doll that I made in this way. I tidied mine up with a pair of sharp dressmaking scissors. Ideally all the yarns are the same length. If your doll is wearing a skirt then you are now finished so simple go around the doll tidying up all the ends. Do not worry if you have some straggly bits of yarn you can tidy them all up at the end. Insert the arms as close to the head as possible.Ĭlose the long lengths of yarn over the arms and secure with a new piece of yarn wrapped around the bundle directly below the arms, pulled tight and tied off. Take the yarn doll and split the largest length of yarn into two approximately equal bundles. As for the doll, cut the yarn off the cardboard at both ends and form a bundle.Īpproximately 1.5cm (5/8″) in from each end wrap a length of yarn around the bundle, pull it tight and tie it off. I must say that I think the arms are too short so I recommend making them a bit longer (perhaps 12.5cm (5″)). I wrapped some yarn around a piece of cardboard that was 10cm (4″) wide and wrapped it around 20 times. You now need to make the arms for your doll. This will form the head of your yarn doll. This will prevent the knot from being pulled and possibly coming undone.Īpproximately 2cm ( ¾“) from the first tie wrap another yarn length round the bundle, pull it tight and fasten it. Allow the long lengths to lie down in the bundle as extra thickness. Take another length of yarn and tie it around the yarn bundle approximately 2.5cm (1″) from one end. This will result in (in my case 60) a bundle of yarn threads. Once you are happy with the amount of times you have wrapped the yarn cut it off the cardboard at either end where it wraps around. The more times you wrap it around the fatter your doll will be. It was the back off an old A4 writing pad. I wrapped the yarn 30 times around a piece of card that was 21cm (8 ¼ “) wide to achieve that size in the end. The one shown in this tutorial is 17cm (6 ¾ “).
Labels (for dammit dolls) – Dammit doll labelsĭecide on the size of your doll. Yarn – any material or thickness – selection of colours from Amazon If you like to watch a craft being done then scroll down to the bottom of this tutorial and watch the video instructions. T his page contains affiliate links meaning I earn a small commission if you use those links at no cost to you. Involve the kids in making them with you! However you can just make them to play with as countless generations have done already. These make great gifts or craft items to sell. I have included a free printable sheet of the labels to use if you would like ‘dammit dolls’. I first encountered them many years ago as ‘dammit dolls’. This will give you an exact seam line to follow when stitching, instead of trying to sew a certain distance from the edge of your fabric.A yarn doll is really quick and easy to make and is a fantastic use for leftover yarn from other projects.
Trace around the cardboard templates onto your fabricwith a fabric marking pen, then draw a second line outside the first as your cutting line. In other words, a large print on a small doll may not look quite right.)Īnd a simpler plush doll pattern might make a fun project for an older child, particularly, one of the hand-sewn dolls (and even the dolls that call for machine sewing could probably also be sewn by hand).Īnd for more precise sewing of the small fabric pieces for your fabric doll, you may want to cut your pattern pieces from stiff cardboard (with no seamline added) instead of from paper. (And for the doll's clothing it might be best to stick with either solids or prints that are scaled to the size of the doll. Sew your cloth doll from brand new felt or sew a rag doll to use up those smaller scraps of fabric (and scraps of trimmings like lace and ribbon) you may have leftover from other projects - particularly for the doll's clothing.