Friday, May 4, 2012

A Fun Tutorial from Joyce

Joyce makes the most delightful crochet dolls!  This is Sammy, a heavily modified Lily doll, from the Lily Sugar and Cream website.  The pattern is free on the Lily website, but you do need to become a member (also free).  Joyce has made many dolls from this pattern, each one very uniquely a creation of Joyce's.  See her set of Lily dolls here.

Joyce is happy to share her quick and easy tutorial for making Sammy's bobble hair style:

Bobble Hair Tutorial by Joyce

The bobbles are made individually, then sewn to the dolls head.  Add little bows of yarn or ribbon to sweeten the look :-)

Here are some of Joyce's thoughts on modifying a pattern, in this case the Lily doll pattern.  Joyce also jointed the limbs; she has a tutorial for this technique as well.  Look on the left side of the blog page for 'Tutorials by Joyce.'

"Here is a little lesson on how you can take a pattern and make it your own.

This doll was made using “components” of the Lily Sugar n Cream doll pattern.

As you can see, I changed her head substantially and some other body parts. She came out to be exactly 13” tall using Vanna’s Choice acrylic Size 4 medium worsted yarn. Hooks E and G.

Here’s what I changed:

It called for joining the rounds and I opted to not join and used continuous rounds and a marker. I don’t like the seam that joining rounds produces when creating dolls.
      * Her facial features; made a wig; added ears.
      * Lengthened her arms to 24 rows; used a bobble for her thumbs.
      * After I made the legs, I used Beth Webber’s method of crocheting the legs and continuing with the body rather than closing the body cavity and sewing the legs on.
      * For the head attachment, I used a Darice 30mm doll joint (AC Moore), which is an awesome joint for attaching larger doll heads. I highly recommend this joint as it has a larger, thinner washer and the doll head and body sit on top of a nice flat dishlike surface (about the size of a quarter) rather than a small button. Those of you who use joints for attaching body parts will love this. Or, you can sew everything together as the patterns calls for.
      *
I really tried to follow the pattern trail and for the most part I did; like the body, feet, legs. The main changes were to the head and in the way the body parts were sewn or attached to complete the doll.

This is a fun easy doll, with a wonderful result
."

Thank you so much, Joyce, for sharing your tutorial and your inspiration with all of us who love making dolls.

9 comments:

  1. She is adorable, Joyce! I love the way her knees bend, especially with those big sneakers!Wonderful! Will check out the doll pattern and also your tutorial. Thanks Beth!!!

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  2. How very sweet! All of your dolls are truly wonderful. What terrific personalities!

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  3. Another adorable doll!

    I've just started your basic amigurumi doll. I notice that there isn't a pattern posted for the dress that your doll is wearing in the thumbnail pic above the links for the other basic amigurumi clothes. Does a pattern exist for it, or do you have any recommendations on how I could recreate a similar dress?

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  4. Hi Michelle,

    I'm afraid I don't have a pattern for the dress the basic doll is wearing. Back then I mostly winged it when I was making dolls and outfits.

    Beth

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  5. I absolutely love your doll patterns and made my daughter (Adelie) one that she named "Addy." She's 2. :) Now, I've begun work on a collection of princess dolls that will be for her, but I have a question about the hair. I understand the wig cap, but I don't really understand hooking the hair and how to create the "hair" look. If you could give some more tips on that, I'd be very grateful.

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  6. Hello Natasha,

    Thank you for your good words :-) Here is a link to a picture tutorial I have on Flickr for making doll wigs. Although it says it is for Waldorf dolls, I use this method for all of my dolls. I hope this helps.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/29184580@N04/sets/72157619529864003/

    Beth

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  7. hola me encanta la muñeca me podrias decir como hiciste los labios?

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