Rag Doll Tutorial

I was asked to show how I made my rag doll (posted a couple of weeks ago). So, here is a tutorial on how I make them.

BEWARE: I am not a professional rag doll maker! I made this up as I went along. I would LOVE to see how your doll comes out if you follow my directions AND/OR if you change anything. Happy sewing!

For this tutorial, I made the doll bigger because it was easier to turn out the peices and stuff them.

I drew out the pattern peices free hand on regular printer paper.

Once you cut out your pattern, lay the peices on the fabric. (The fabric should be folded in half to make two exact peices.) When the fabric peices are cut, place them together and sew around the edges. The body (below) needs to have an open space on the upper thigh for stuffing, leave the top of the head open, and sew all the way around the arms. Turn the body and head right side out.

To turn the arms, take a stitch ripper and slice a hole towards the upper inside of the arm. Make sure you still have a left and right arm.

Now it is time to stuff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can stuff the parts as firm as you like, but make sure not to stuff the ears because they will look funny if you do.

Sew the openings using a slip stitch.

Now for the dress.

Measure how long you want the dress to be. I cut along the edge closest to the neck of the body. Then cut diagonally on both sides to make an “A” frame.

Place the right sides together and sew the two sides. Then hem the bottom of the dress 3/8 inch to prevent fraying.

Find some ribbon to sew around the neck and sew it onto the dress; leaving a small space in the front to tie the bow.

Using a long straight stitch, run some thread through the ribbon all the way around the neck to pull it taught.

Once the dress is secure to the body, attach the head. I used a whip stitch (looks kind of like Frankenstein stitches).

To make the eyes, I used a black sharpie for the center and a blue marker to edge around the outside of the circle.

I used rouge for the cheeks and rubbed it in a circle motion. The smile is sewn on with pink thread using a back stitch. To make the thicker parts of the smile I just made more stitching.

The hair is made with yarn. I made 6 bundles of yarn and sewed each on seperately onto the head, using a back stitch to create the part.

The angel wings are optional. I free hand drew a pattern for the wings. Cut out two peices of fabric and batting. Make a sandwhich with the material and sew around the edges, leaving them with the raw cut.

Then just sew the wings to the back of the dress.

Sew the arms to the sides of the doll, over the dress making sure they are attached to the body.

And then…TA DA! You have a cute little rag doll.

 

 

 

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