Make your own personalized rag doll! Rag dolls are so much fun (and addicting!) to make. They make lovely personal gifts to all the little girls (and little girls at heart) you know. Even boys love these dolls! When you finish this tutorial, you will not only have an adorable little doll, but you will also have the skills to design and create as many more dolls as you can come up with!

Supplies Needed

• Fabric for legs and body (you can use old worn out clothes, leftover scraps of fabric or purchase fabric)

• Fabric or felt for hair • Thread to match fabric • Stuffing for doll (polyester fiberfill) • Embroidery Thread (to match hair color; also optional to embroider

face) • Cotton Muslin (just enough for face and arms) • Interfacing • Paper to draw out pattern (I use old file folders) • Acrylic or other paint (optional – if you choose to paint face. You can

choose to embroider it instead.) • Buttons (Optional – if you are making zombie-type doll) • Other embellishments you may want to use: buttons, lace, beads, etc.

(optional) (HINT: You can choose to either: paint the face, embroider the face or make a zombie doll with buttons.) Tools needed

• Sewing machine (or thread and needle to hand sew) • Scissors • Iron • Embroidery Needle • Pencil • Chopstick • Paintbrush (optional if you are painting face)

GENERAL TIPS

1. Wash fabrics before using them. 2. It’s best to test a small section of fusible interfacing on a small

section of your fabric before you use it on your final project. 3. Iron as you sew your doll. As you work with the fabric it will likely

become wrinkled. 4. Let go of your fear! Just go for it!

INSTRUCTIONS STEP #1

Sketch out what you would like your doll to look like. If you don’t think you can draw, it is okay; you don’t have to be great at it. Just get an idea down.

STEP #2

To help you get started making your own pattern, I have included my basic pattern. You can make any head shape, any body shape, any hair shape, any face, etc. See Doll Pattern attached at end of tutorial.

a. First figure out how large you would like to make your doll. 15-16 inches is a good size to start with and the size of my pattern.

b. Lay out your paper (or if you need more than one piece just layer them. I have a lot of old junk file folders from an old office job and I use these to make my patterns. Any paper will work, though.

c. Use your sketch from Step #1 and begin to sketch out your doll on the paper. If you used more than one piece of paper you can make the head separate (because you will cut it out separately anyway). You can use included pattern to help you get started.

d. Make it very simple, you just want the general shapes to start with. Just make the head round to start.

e. Then make changes as needed to create your personalized doll. For example, you may want the dress part to be more triangular or more rectangular.

Step #3

Cut out your general pattern. You will cut the following pieces separately: the head, the body, 2 arms and 2 legs. Cut out an extra head.

Step #4

Use the extra head to design your hair shape. You can make any bang shape that you would like.

Step #5

Cut out the hair pattern following the shape you drew.

(HINT: At this point, you should have the following pattern pieces: head, hair, body, 2 legs, 2 arms.)

Step #6

Pick out fabric for your doll! Have fun and be creative! Use old clothes, get clothes from goodwill, or purchase fabric from the fabric shop. Feel free to mix patterns and colors in interesting ways.

I use cotton muslin or canvas for the doll’s face and usually for the arms as well. Try out different fabrics if you want.

Step #7

Using your pattern pieces, cut out your doll pieces.

You need to cut out:

• 1 of the full head in the muslin • 1 of the full head in interfacing • 1 of the full head in the hair color • 1 in the hair color in the hair shape • 2 of the body in the body fabric • 4 of the legs in the leg fabric • 4 of the arms in muslin or a different fabric

(HINT: If your doll arms are really small, it might be easier to sew first and cut after. To do this, just cut a piece of fabric (muslin), fold it in half or layer it and draw the shape of the arm with a pencil or an erasable fabric marker. (I’ll show you how to sew and cut out in a later step.)

Step #8

If you are using fusible interfacing, apply it to the muslin per the manufacturer’s instructions. If your interfacing did not come with instructions, see appendix A for instructions.

Step #9

Line up the hair and the face and sew the front hair to the face piece/interfacing by hand. If you want to do more detail and do some embroidery stitches here you can! (See appendix B for more information on embroidery.) Use your imagination!

Step #10

Face: You have many options here: embroidered face, make my “zombie” dolls with buttons and felt or paint.

(HINT: If you are going to paint your doll’s face, it’s easier to wait until the end after it is put together and stuffed.)

OPTIONAL EMBRIORDERY: For more information on embroidering your doll’s face or hair, please see appendix B at the end of the instructions.

OPTIONAL ZOMBIE EYES: For more information on making your doll a zombie, please see appendix C at the end of the instructions.

Step #11

Sew the legs right-side (design side) in, leaving the top open (where the legs will attach to the doll). Turn them so the right sides are out and stuff with poly fiberfill.

(HINT: I like to use chopsticks to turn the arms and legs because they are small.)

Step #12

Sew the arms. If your arms are tiny and you drew the arms instead of cutting them out, follow along the line you drew, leaving the top part open (where you will attach the arms).

After the arms are sewn, cut around the outside near where you have sewn. Then turn the arms and stuff. Use chopsticks to turn if you need to.

Step #13

Sew the head onto the body. Sew the front head piece to the front body piece and the back head piece to the back body piece.

(HINT: If you would like to add any embellishments – i.e. buttons, etc. – to your doll body, it is easier to do that before you sew up your doll. Do that now before proceeding to step #14.)

Step #14

Make a doll sandwich. Place the head/body pieces right sides in and then sandwich the arms and legs inside. Sometimes I find it easier to just set up and sew one side at a time. For example, just place one arm inside and sew that side and check to make sure it’s all sewn in. Then place the legs and sew along the bottom. Then place the other arm and sew.

Leave the top of the head open so you can turn your doll right side out and stuff her.

Step #15

Turn the doll right side out by gently pulling her legs through the top of her head.

(HINT: Use chopsticks to make sure all your corners are pushed out.)

Step #16

Stuff your doll with polyester fiberfill. You can decide how full you would like your doll to be stuffed. I tend to like a firmly stuffed doll, but it’s up to you.

Step #17

Hand-sew the top of your doll’s head. Tuck under the edges when sewing.

OPTIONAL PAINTED FACE: If you are painting your doll’s face, now you can paint it. I usually draw with pencil and then paint over the pencil.

Step #19

Congratulations! You have completed your uniquely designed, custom doll. Enjoy!

MORE IDEAS FOR CUSTOMIZATION

• Give her a pocket • Put a belt on your doll – or tie a ribbon around her. • Buttons • Make her some jewelry • Give her a scarf • Apron • Make the dress longer • Wider skirt • Shorter legs • Add shoes • Change arm, leg or body shape

APPENDIX A: FUSIBLE INTERFACING A. There are 2 different sides on fusible interfacing. 1 is smooth and one has ridges. Put the side with ridges toward the wrong side of the fabric (note, it doesn’t matter which side with muslin.) The side with ridges is the side that will be sticky when you heat it. B. Sandwich the fabric and muslin between 2 pieces of paper, in this order from the bottom: paper, interfacing ridge side up, muslin and paper. C. Gently press down on the top piece of paper to heat activate the interfacing into the muslin. NOTE: Your interfacing may have different directions. Be careful.

APPENDIX B: EASY EMBROIDERY FOR DOLL’S FACE Muslin is thin, so that is why we added the interfacing in step #8. If you don’t use the interfacing when embroidering, you may see the threads on the bottom side through the muslin (I have made this mistake!) A. Use a pencil or erasable marker to draw your face on the muslin. I like simple sleepy faces for my dolls. You, of course, can draw anything you can imagine!

B. Pick out embroidery floss to use on the face. The floss usually has 6 strands and I usually use 3 of those strands. Separate the floss.

C. Thread your needle. Make a knot at the end of the floss.

D. I use a split stitch for the face. Pull the needle through your fabric from the back up through the end of where you have drawn with your pencil. Follow your line and push your needle back down through the fabric about 1/4 an inch from where you came up through the fabric.

E. Bring your needle back up through the fabric back in the middle of your first stitch and then back down through your fabric 1/4 an inch where you came up.

F. Follow along where you drew for the first color. If you need to make your stitches smaller in order to accommodate your drawing, you can do that. G. Finish the first color and tie off the end of the thread under the fabric.

H. Finish the face following the above steps.

(RETURN TO STEP #11)

HAIR: Use the same technique to make an interesting pattern on your doll’s hair, if you like.

APPENDIX C: ZOMBIE EYES A. Pick out 2 buttons for eyes.

B. Cut 2 circles from felt or fabric, just larger than the buttons. (I used felt)

C. Sew the eyes on the face. I just stack the button on top of the fabric circle and sew through like I’m sewing on the button.

D. For embroidering the mouth, use a split stitch like you learned in appendix B RETURN TO STEP #11 © Kimberlie Burkhart Kohler 2012 Terms of Use: You may sell dolls that you create using this tutorial; however, do not redistribute, sell, or use any part of this tutorial in anyway without prior permission from Kimberlie Burkhart Kohler in writing. I can be reached at KimberlieBurkhart@gmail.com