Waldorf Doll Sew Along

Jointed Waldorf Doll Sew Along

Materials

Cotton stockinette - 10 inches

about 3/4 to 1 pound of wool stuffing

Cotton interlock - flesh tone - 1/3 - 1/2 yd

Flesh tone cotton thread

long dollmaking needle - 5 inches

embroidery floss for lip and eye color

cotton string

Download the pattern for the body and arms.

For the head piece, cut a square of cotton interlock with the stretch sideways, approximately 8 x 8 inches.

Head

1. Take your long dollmaking needle and thread it with cotton string. Run a gathering stitch through the top of the stockinette and pull tight, tie off with square knot (i usually tie it off twice to make sure it's secure)

2. Turn the stockinette so that the seam is on the inside.

3. Take your stuffing and tearing 3-4 inch strips, wrap them around. For a larger doll, wrap until you measure it to be about 10 to 10 1/2 inches in diameter. For a smaller doll, wrap until you measure it to be 9 inches in diameter. Then take a square shaped piece of stuffing and place the middle of it on top of your head stuffing and then gather it around the neck and smooth it out around the head.

4. Insert the head stuffing into the stockinette and push it all the way to the top, then tie it off with string at the bottom of the stuffing, you should have a few inches of stockinette.

5. Find the middle of the stuffing and tie it off tightly with cotton string - this will form the neck. I usually loop the string around two or three times and pull tight then tie off. Then you will have two parts, the head and neck. Locate the middle of the head and form an eyeline with the cotton string. Tie it similar to the neck, but do not tie it as tight (as seen in the pic), just enough to form an eyeline. Then also tie off the end of the neck in the same way.

6. Next you will form the face. Take a long piece of cotton string and loop it around half of the head vertically - this will form the face. Tie it off close to the eyeline string.

7. Take the dollmaking needle threaded with string and where the face line and eyeline meet, sew an "x" shape and tie off, do this on both sides. (I tried to take several pics, but never could get a really good one, I hope you can see the "x".)

8. Next in the back of the head, take the eyeline string and pull it up to the top of the head with the face line, so that the back of the head no longer has the eyeline going through it. Do this carefully, so you don't misplace the wool stuffing. Also trim off the extra of your stockinette at the bottom, cut it about an inch from the neck tie off.

9. Next is the nose. This step is optional because waldorf dolls look good with or without a nose. Locate where you would like the nose. I usually put it just slightly below the eyeline. Take the dollmaking needle and string and run a small gathering stitch, starting at the bottom of the nose where a "nostril" would be located, and go in a circle all the way around, don't make the stitches to large because they will break. Before you tie off, take the needle and insert the tip of it into the middle of the circle into the stuffing and slightly pull up some stuffing to form the "nose". Next, pull the gathering stitch tight, a small nub of stuffing will form into a little nose. Tie off at the "nostril" area, I usually tie it off a couple of times to ensure it will stay.

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