Cloth Doll Re-boot

The Hitty's Knitty group I belong to had a sew-along the month of February, making tiny cloth dolls.  I had forgotten how addictive and fun these tiny dolls are!  There are several patterns available to make tiny cloth dolls; most of the members used Ann Wood's Tiny Rag Doll.  She is a wonderful little five inch doll with a growing wardrobe.  Check out the link to Ann's pattern.  I've made this doll (many times!), here are a few of them:

Edith Flack Ackley made several patterns for doll house dolls in the 1930's.  Pattern replications are available on Etsy, or you can do a Google search and possibly find one for free.

Another way to make a tiny cloth doll is to reduce a simple rag doll pattern to the size you want.  I did this with my Prairie Flowers cloth doll and copy machine!  If your doll pattern makes a 10 inch doll, and you want a 5 inch doll, reduce the pattern by 50%.  Play around with the percent reduction to find just what you want.

To sew such a tiny doll, either by machine or hand, it is easiest to make sewing templates.  Using double sided tape, tape your reduced pattern to cereal box cardboard (a great way to re-use!) and cut out the pattern ON THE SEWING LINE.  Place the pattern on your doubled fabric, and use a heat disappearing pen to mark the sewing line all around the pattern (I like Frixon erasable markers by Pilot).  Since these dolls are so tiny, don't cut out the fabric, simple put it in your machine and sew around the line you've drawn, then cut out leaving a 1/8 inch seam allowance.  With this seam allowance, you won't have to clip curves either!

I made a couple of different cloth doll patterns by modifying a tiny Edith Flack Ackley pattern.  For one, I left the bottom of the torso open and made the head round (by tracing around a bottle cap), and for both of them I made separate arms to attach after the body is stuffed.

Something to keep in mind:  woven fabric (like broadcloth, muslin, calico) does have a bit of stretch in one direction. Pull your fabric along the grain in each direction to see which direction has the most stretch (don't confuse this with the BIAS stretch).  Depending on how you lay your doll out, she will be taller and thinner (stretch running the length of the torso) or shorter and plumper (stretch running the width of the torso).  Look at the two doll bodies below:

The very same pattern was used for both.  The doll on the left was placed with the stretch grain running side to side, and the one on the right the stretch grain runs the length of the body.  There is almost one inch difference in the height of the dolls!

Simple dresses can be made by cutting a waistband to fit around the doll; cut a skirt to gather to the waband, then sew a button and buttonhole loop to the back.  She doesn't even need straps to hold up this simple dress.

I made some knit and crochet patterns for these tiny dolls, that should fit Ann Wood's Tiny Rag Doll, and slender bodied Hitty dolls as well:

Tiny Crochet for Cloth Dolls

Tiny Knits for Tiny Cloth Dolls

Enjoy the day!

Update 10/14/2019:  Here is another crochet pattern for this tiny cloth doll:

Tiny cloth doll nightgown, shoes, dress, hat

Here is a picture of most of these items

Making Cloth Dolls

I am still in the throws of this delightful little cloth rag doll.  These two are my fourth and fifth dolls from Ann Wood's Tiny Rag Doll pattern.  She is also now offering the pattern as a written booklet, in addition to the PDF format.

There are some tricks I've learned over the years (largely from Gail Wilson) for making cloth dolls, that apply to any size.

1.   Wool roving is a marvelous stuffing material!  It comes in long 'ropes' of long staple fiber wool.  You cut a length of it, then peel off what you want to use.  It stuffs into the doll smoothly, and has the added advantage of giving your doll a warmth that polyester fiberfill just doesn't do.  Hold the doll in your hand, and she will warm to you :-)

It is more expensive than polyfill, but for these small dolls, a little goes a long way.

2.  The right stuffing tool can make all the difference, especially if you are using wool roving:

Along with the wool roving, I purchased this stuffing tool from Gail Wilson's website:

Gail's stuffing tool

On this page you can also find the wool roving, and a lot of other tools to help in your cloth doll making.

3.  Dampen your unstuffed doll before you start to stuff her.  This is particularly helpful when stuffing the body of the doll with a single head/torso configuration.  A lot of times, a doll like this will end up with neck creases as you go from stuffing the head to stuffing the neck and shoulders.  Spray your doll with water, not to saturate but to dampen, then begin filling up the head with your wool roving.  By dampening the cloth, it stretches slightly, and also 'grabs' the filling a bit.  You can pack the doll tighter, and you will notice no neck creases with this method.

This is my doll, dampened and ready to stuff

Miriam and Jean Marie are the latest additions to my growing Tiny Rag Doll family!

Happy Stitching!

Additional Outfits for your Ann Wood cloth doll

If you have fallen in love with Ann Wood's Tiny Rag Doll, then you may want to make her a more extensive wardrobe.  Here, Joyce and I will share a couple of patterns to increase your wardrobe choices.

First up is a simple, one piece nightgown.  Joyce found the pattern for free here, and reduced it and tested it to fit the Tiny Rag Doll.  Joyce's version uses only one layer of fabric, to reduce bulk at this tiny scale.   For my nightgown, I used the lines on the pattern as sewing lines, not cutting lines.  This pattern can be made into a dress, embroidered, embellished, shortened for a shirt, and on and on.

Finish the neckline with tiny overcast stitches, turn and sew, or make a small facing.  I used the facing method, which just meant that I made another pattern piece of the neckline only, and sewed it to the neckline with the right sides together.  Clip the curves and turn to the wrong side.

You can also modify Ann's camisole and pantaloons pattern to create rompers or overalls for your doll.

I modified Ann's camisole pattern to have a curved neckline, but you can do this with the cami pattern as written.  You can use the camisole for the bodice of rompers, overalls, or a pretty sundress:


And here are the instructions for these modifications:

Sewing Rompers for Tiny Cloth Doll

If you like, you can modify Ann's dress pattern to also make a shirt.  Simply shorten the length of the dress, and eliminate the 'flare' of the dress below the sleeve area.  Here the shirt is paired with overalls, for a sweet country look:

You can also add a skirt to the shirt and create a full skirted dress.  No picture yet of this, but as you can see, an extensive and simple wardrobe can be made for your Ann Wood Tiny Rag Doll!

Happy Stitching!

Just as iron sharpens iron, friends sharpen the minds of each other.

Rachel, sewn by my friend Joyce, from the pattern by Ann Wood

The title of this post is from one of my favorite verses from the Bible:  Proverbs 27:17.  This version is from the Contemporary English Version (CEV) published first in 1995.  The simplicity and truth of this statement informs most of my creativity.  

For example, the lovely cloth doll above was created by my friend Joyce, from the Ann Wood pattern Tiny Rag Doll.  This charming little doll is only five inches tall, and entirely stitched by hand.  Joyce made all of her sewn clothing, even though she says she cannot sew!  All of the clothing is removable,  and her hair is a simple crochet wig cap you can find here.

It has been ages since I've made a cloth doll, but looking at Joyce's work, I had to make this dear little doll myself.

It takes so little fabric to make the doll and all of her outfits.  I tucked it all into a Michael's memory box.  

The handstitching aspect of making this doll gives the dollmaker much more control of the tiny seams and corners, and the stitching itself is a relaxing pasttime.  You are making a doll just like your foremothers made for their children in past centuries.  And as you stitch, think that before the advent of the sewing machine, all clothing was made the same way.

So here is Charlotte, inspired by my friend Joyce, from start to finish.  Thank you, Joyce, for leading the way :-)

Charlotte, stitched by me from the pattern by Ann Wood

Both Joyce and I highly recommend this pattern.  It is well written and all of the steps are copiously photographed.  You will create an heirloom doll of  your own, or one for a special child.

Happy sewing!