Delightful Big-Head crochet dolls

My latest crochet obsession is a pattern which is freely available from Ravelry.  It is Laura Tegg's Weebee doll.  Not only is the doll pattern free, but Laura has several clothing patterns for free as well, in addition to some paid patterns.

My dolls were made with Knit Picks Brava Sport and a size C (2.5mm) crochet hook.  They are about 7.5 inches tall, with adorably large heads. 

I like to make my dolls with move-able heads, so below you will find a picture tutorial for how to do this.

Almost any crochet doll pattern can be adapted to make a move-able head. 

 In this case, this is Laura Tegg's Weebee doll pattern with a move-able head. Simply work the body pattern as instructed to the point just before you increase to make the head. Instead, make a neck stub seven or eight rows long, tapering the last two rows as shown above.

 Make the head separately beginning at the neck end with an opening that fits snug over the neck stub (same number of stitches as the neck stub before you taper it). Join in a ring so you have an opening at the bottom (as shown in the middle image at the top), then work the head increases as written, closing the opening at the top of the head (as shown in the upper right image).

 Stuff the head firmly, but make a hollow up the center that you can insert the neck stub into; the fit should be very snug. Joint the head to the neck with four strands of craft or carpet thread and a dollmaking needle, as illustrated in the middle row of images.

 Tie off the carpet thread at the top of the head with a secure double knot. The wig cap or hat will cover this.

 Finally, take the yarn tail from the beginning of the head and join to the first stitch of the head at the neck opening and pull tight. Bury the yarn end in the head.

 Olive and Owen and I wish you all a happy new year; filled with the blessings of crochet and kindness!

Alphabet Girls: really simple clothing

Violet, Charlotte, and Hannah

V is for Violet, very Victorian
C is for Charlotte, who crochets charmingly, and
H is for Hannah, happy for hours :-)

Violet is wearing a bit of crochet lace as a collar, and a simple gathered skirt.  Charlotte is sporting pants and a crochet poncho, and Hannah wears a very simple pillowcase dress.

All seams are 1/4 ".   My dolls are about 10" tall, so you may need to adjust the size of the pattern for your own doll.  But, as you can see, these are just squares and rectangles, and the fit is loose and forgiving.

The skirt and the pants are a simple rectangle, as shown by the upper left and upper middle images. 

To make the pants, cut two rectangles 5 1/2" wide by 5 3/4 " long.   Mark the casing line at the waist 3/4 " from the top, and the hem for the pants 1/2 " from the bottom. 

Find the midpoint between the legs and mark the crotch cutting line 3" from the bottom of the pants, shown in the upper right image.  Don't cut this line yet; sew the crotch seam as in the lower middle image, then sew the side seams.  When sewing the crotch seam, as you get close to the turning point, change your stitch length to a very short one and take it slow around the corner.

Carefully cut along the crotch cutting line, and clip the corners of the crotch seam close to the seam.  This will let you turn the pants right side out and smooth the wrinkles out of the seam.  Lightly ironing this also helps.

Press down the casing line at the waist and press up the hemline at the bottom of each leg.  Sew the casing by machine 1/2" from the folded edge, leaving an opening at one of the side seams to insert the elastic. 

Use 1/4" or 3/8" elastic and wrap it around the doll's waist, with about 1/2" overlap.  Insert the elastic into the casing with a safety pin and work it around the waist.  Sew the overlapped ends of the elastic so it lays flat in the casing, then handstitch the casing opening closed.

Hand sew the hem with matching or contrasting floss.  Done!

The skirt is even simpler.  Cut your fabric 12" by 4 1/4", sew up the center back seam, press under the casing at the waist and the hemline, then sew up the casing as in the pants, insert the elastic, then hem the skirt.

The pillowcase style dress has to be the simplest dress in the world to make. 

Cut two pieces of fabric 6" by 6".  Sew the side seams up to 2 1/4 " from the top, then press the seam open, pressing open the unstitched 2 1/4 inches to make finished armhole openings.  Press the casing at the neckline down 3/4 " and stitch the casing in place 1/2" from the folded edge.  Do this on both the front and the back of the dress.

Insert ribbon into the casing with a large tapestry needle and run it all around the neck edge.  You can use one piece of ribbon, like I did, or use two pieces and make bows on both shoulders.

Turn up the hem and handstitch in place with embroidery floss, and you're done!

You can use the pillowcase dress pattern to make a very simple top to go with the pants and skirt, or make rompers out of it by lengthening the pattern a bit and making a crotch seam as for the pants.

Charlotte's poncho was very simple to make, using fingering weight yarn and a size 2 steel crochet hook:

Chain 48, join to form a ring.  In the ring work (3dc, ch1)eight times, (3dc, ch2, 3dc, ch1) once (front point made), (3dc, ch1) eight times, (3dc, ch2, 3dc, ch1) once (back point made).  Join to the first dc. 

Slip stitch in the first two dc, then work (3dc, ch1) in each ch1 space, and (3dc, ch2, 3dc, ch1) in each ch2 space.  this will create a point at the front and the back of the poncho.  Work until it is as long as you want; I think I worked 10 rows.

Sneak Peak!  Ann, Kitty, and Ursula :-)

Alphabet Girls: Making Faces

Charlotte, who crochets charmingly :-)

The first thing one notices about a doll is its face.  And faces tend to intimidate dollmakers, but they shouldn't.  When you make your doll's face, it comes alive and has the power to tell you stories.

A face can be as simple and as charming as two dots for eyes, and nothing more.  Illustrations by Joan Walsh Anglund have this look of innocence, and a lot of dollmakers use only this to create very endearing dolls.

But you can be a bit more daring, and create a more expressive face, and that is what this post will show you how to do, step by step.

So lets get started!

 Drawing the face

The right tools make a big difference in the ease of what you do.  I use a Pilot Frixion erase-able marker to mark the features on my dolls.  The beauty of this pen is that, if you don't like what you've marked, a warm iron will take the marks completely away, and you can start again!

Feature placement for your doll is important.  I prefer my doll's features to be in the lower half of the face.  This gives a more child-like appearance to the doll.  So first (image at the top left) use two glass head pins to locate the eyes, then use an orange glass head pin to mark the mouth.  Move the pins around until you get a symmetry of features that is pleasing to YOU.

Then, make a small dot at each of the pin points.  Carefully trace an even circle around the two eye points, then draw in the eyeliner and eyelashes.  Next, add eyebrows, and finally,  the nose and the mouth.

The mouth.  This is always the hardest part for me, but I've found the sweetest and simplest mouth is a single line for the lip parting, then two shorter lines above and below this for the lips.  And finally, in the last image (bottom right) your face is drawn!

 Embroidering the face, part I

I like to embroider the faces on my dolls, mainly because I have much more control with a needle and thread than a brush and paint :-)  And their are SO MANY floss colors to choose from!  For Daisy, I used DMC 926 for the eyes, DMC 817 and 350 for the lips, nose, and eyebrows, and black and white for the eye detail.  All of the stitching was done with two strands of floss.

 What to do about the knots??  Look carefully at the middle and right hand images on the top row.  The middle image shows the needle coming out of the eye, with a tiny knot up next to the hairline, but in the next image, the knot is gone!  What you do is tug the knot gently into the body of the doll, through the cloth.  To finish off the embroidery, run the needle out of the doll in the felt area of the hair, then take the needle back into the same spot, and out again in another location in the felt.  This will anchor the thread, with no knots showing :-)

Satin stitching the eyes does not have to be hard, but you do need to go slow and take care.  The best way to do this is to first outline the eye with an outline stitch, as in the bottom left image, then begin satin stitching across the eye, beginning in the middle and working to the bottom, then working from the middle to the top.  Now you have a nicely worked satin stitch eye.

Embroidering the face, part II

Add detail to the eyes with black for the pupil, eyeliner, and eyelashes.  Work the pupil stitches over the satin stitched iris, as in the upper left and upper middle images, then use a stem stitch to make the eyeliner and straight stitches for the eyelashes.

Add two tiny stitches in white for the eye light, as in the lower middle and lower right images.  Now she has lovely eyes :-)

Embroidering the face, part III

And finally, embroider the eyebrows, nose, and mouth.  I used the same color for the eyebrows as her hair, which was DMC 817.  Use the darker of the two lip shades for the lip parting line in the middle, again DMC 817, then the lighter shade for the lines that are the upper and lower lip, DMC 350.  I also used the lighter shade to make the points for the nose.

To blush her cheeks, use crayola crayon!  The color I like best is Wild Strawberry ( in my box of 64 colors), but any appropriate shade of pink or peach will do.  Rub the color into the cheek, then use a soft knit cloth (a clean pair of old undies will do) to rub the color into the cheeks and soften it a bit.

And now you've created a lovely face for your cloth doll. 

A Merry Christmas to All!

Here is hoping that all of you have a blessed Christmas day, shared with those you love, and filled with wonder and joy.

My final project for 2014 is a sweet Waldorf doll with a knit body.  Ivy Rose is about 12 inches tall, with a classic Waldorf head secured to a body knit in worsted weight yarn on double point needles.  No seaming!!

The pattern for Ivy Rose and her pinafore is here.  The instructions include a link to a picture tutorial for making the head that I put together several years ago:

Head tutorial

and a tutorial for making hair:

Hair tutorial

Both of these tutorials are also available here on the blog, along the left hand side.

Ivy Rose and I wish you a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

Making Eyes for Rachael

Back to knitting dolls!  I've been smitten by a free doll pattern on Ravelry, by the very talented Deena Thomson-Menard.  The doll pattern is Lottie, and as mentioned, is freely available on Ravelry.  I started a KAL at We Make Dolls, but wanted to try out some tweaks to the pattern, so started a second doll, which is Rachael.

One of the things I was thinking about was eyes, and how to make them myself.  I had several packages of covered button forms, and made up two pair of eyes using them.  I like the way they turned out, and created a tutorial:

Covered Button Eyes

Mine were made with 7/8 inch buttons, but you can use any size you want.  All you'll neeed are the button forms, some scraps of white cotton fabric, acylic paints in white, black and iris color, and gloss or satin acrylic varnish.   These eyes would work for any doll or animal, in cloth, crochet, or knit.

As for Rachael, I used size 4 dpn's to knit her body, instead of the 7's called for in the pattern.  The yarn is Caron Simply Soft, which I do not like for crochet, but it knits wonderfully.  I wanted a smaller doll than the original, so I took out eight rows from the body, and will take eight rows out of her legs and arms (I think).

Enjoy your dollmaking day!

Rachael waiting for arms and legs :-)

Dollmaking Details

I love making dolls, and I love sharing what I've learned over many years of dollmaking.  There have  been many generous dollmakers that have shared their special techniques and tips on making exceptional dolls:  Judi Ward, Gail Wilson, Fiona McDonald, and many others.

Many techniques used in cloth doll making work quite well with crochet and knit.  The jointed head technique used on my crochet dolls I learned from Judi Ward making her cloth Bleuette, which in turn inspired my crochet Bleuette.  Using a crochet wig cap to make wigs for dolls came from the Waldorf dollmaking community.   Painting eyes on felt for crochet and knit dolls from Fiona McDonald.

To knit or to crochet?  Both are wonderful dollmaking mediums.  A knitted doll is generally softer, cuddlier, and more rag-doll like than crochet.  Crochet produces a stiffer, more rigid fabric that holds it shape on its own better than knit.  Crochet stitches are more visible than knit stitches; crochet works up much faster (for me!) than knit.  I love them both, and love their differences.  After knitting dolls for almost a year, I'm back to crochet.  If you both knit and crochet, they will keep each other ever green :-)

 I have some tutorials and a pattern to share today.  First is a basic camisole to fit Isabelle Kessedjian's My Crochet Doll.  I use this design for all the dolls I make.  It is simple, easy to fit to the doll, and can be used as a basis for dresses, romper, and t-shirts. 

My Crochet Doll Camisole and Undies

 This pattern has options for making rompers or a dress:

I used a different technique for making the hair on these dolls, which is a hybrid of Isabelle's instructions and the wig making I ususually use.  For Simone, on the left, and for the last two dolls I've made, I used a laceweight/fingering weigh yarn to produce hair that is more, well, hairlike :-) This tutorial is in PDF format so you can download it:

Hair Making Tutorial

And finally, all of these dolls have a roving wrapped armature inside the legs/torso and arms.  Roving is carded and unspun wool available in long lengths or ropes, which make it a great choice to wrap the wire armature with.  It is also a lovely stuffing medium, something I learned from Gail Wilson's cloth dollmaking.  It flows into the doll body very easily, packs well but doesn't distort your stitches.  It warms in your hands, which is an endearing quality in any doll.

Roving wrapped armature tutorial

If you are unfamiliar with roving, here is a site where it can be purchased:

Undyed wool roving from Weir Crafts

These techniques can be used with either crochet or knit, your own or someone else's design.  Mix and match patterns and techniques and make the doll of your dreams :-)