Make a doll* *playful *fun *unique *me-time *easy *create *love *gift *fashion Doll School mariasdollschool.co.uk Maria Anderson-Contreras 2017
Welcome *my why Hello and welcome to MAKE A DOLL book! On behalf of the dolls and myself, we are so happy and excited to meet you and welcome you to our magical amazing and creative world! Hello lovely creative creature! I am so pleased to meet you. I m so happy that our paths have crossed at this very WONDERFUL moment... This is how I got into making dolls. As a little girl I don t actually remember playing with dolls much. I remember seeing my other little girl friends playing with dolls with so much glee. But I remember thinking that there wasn t much point to these dolls as they didn t actually do anything. So I ignored them throughout my childhood and chose instead to stare at the sky and watch the clouds, as this was my favourite pass time. Now that I am grown up and adult I am more childish and child-like than ever before. I have discovered the endless joy of playing with toys, dolls, teddies, imagination, imaginary worlds and the real world too in a space where they both collide... This space is very magical and colourful with many textures, sounds and adventures. My first rag doll, Maria Doll I just love the way they come to life of their own accord! I studied fashion and always loved making clothes and playing with textiles. 4 years ago a friend and I used to hang out and make stuff under the banner of craft club. One fine Saturday she brought over a soft toy book with cute Japanese style rabbits, so we both jumped in and made a cute rabbit doll each out of recycled T-Shirts and jumpers. They looked gorgeous and I was fascinated and so very happy I d made such a cute gorgeous creature! And for no cost - what could be better? And then I thought, how about if I made this again but without the ears and rabbit face and instead a face with hair - would that make it a doll, possibly? So I had a go and there came a very cute doll! She was obviously a ballerina doll as I think most dolls start their careers as ballerinas and wear pointe shoes for ever after. Then I hungrily got every library book out about how to make cloth dolls and made them! Every amazing doll was more quirky than the last! I learnt so many techniques along the way... Then, one book said, Now that you know these techniques you can start teaching. Set up a class and give workshops and share your knowledge. Well wow, thought I - imagine teaching doll making and sharing all that happiness with others! So here I am. I wanted to create the easiest doll possible. So this is for a person who s never made a doll before and wants to dip into this magical world. OR if you are a seasoned doll maker, what if you take these basics as a foundation and find your own style, your own faces, your own fashion, your own world?
Materials *upcycle Get creative, get inventive, re-use and upcycle as much as you want! FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Pipe cleaners for articulating joints Wool/yarn for hair Dress fabric Calico or upcycled old pillowcase for body Toy stuffing or pillow/duvet stuffing Foreceps for stuffing PVA high tack glue I encourage you to find materials you have close to hand that work for you. These are the ones I love to use and I love that they re super cheap or free from a former existence as something else. There is always an old pillow that is going to the bin that can be re-purposed into lovely dolls! Scraps or remnants of left over dress fabrics, old clothes cut up for nice fabrics. A great idea is to ask a friend who makes dresses for a living if they ve got scraps and they usually do. Let your imagination flourish and use anything!
Body *easy all-in-one piece This is the most simple doll you could ever hope to make! I ve tried many simple doll patterns and by far the easiest are the ones that are all in one piece. I ve designed this girl to have a body shape that is realistic and in proportion. The fab thing about this pattern is that you can make it whatever size you like! I just used an old pillowcase for this doll s body (sorry darling, I know you re worth more than that but I do love to upcycle). I encourage you to upcycle too - then you can make a doll for zero cost which is super fun. First step then, print and cut out your pattern (which is on the last page) and then draw around it with invisible pen (see in tools section how much this will be your best friend). Then mark two notches on the head where you will not sew, so this is where you will turn your doll and stuff her. Then do a test stitch and make sure your machine is happy today. When sewing around this pattern there are lots of curves so take it slowly and stop, leave the needle in and turn your work to get around. You may wish to choose to put pipe cleaners inside your doll so she can move more, or you can also leave this out. Draw around pattern with invisible pen and mark the head notches. Sew around the doll leaving the head open between the notches. Use as small stitch length as you can. Reinforce the neck, arm pits and crotch as marked on the pattern with PVA glue or FRAY STOP glue. This will make your doll last for many more years!
Cut around your doll with a 4 mm edge. Cut 3 small snips up to the red arrows just before the stitch line so it turns well. Turn your doll outside in use small forceps or a chopstick. Optional pipe cleaners inside the doll will articulate limbs! Put a pipe cleaner when you re stuffing the doll starting with the leg, turn around the head and down the opposite arm.
Stuff the leg with the pipe cleaner in then sew across the knicker line. Then continue to stuff, this will create a better joint. Carry on stuffing until you get to the head and roughly sew across, this will be covered up with hair so no need to be neat!
Dress *bias-cut cool Draw the dress pattern on the bias using invisible pen and mark out stitch lines. Sew seams first then cut Bias cut is a 45-degree angle to the grain of the fabric and makes the dress cling and fit better. So you put your pattern on a 45-degree angle so that the arrow on the pattern is now vertical. Sew seams first, then cut your dress out Then cut out, this way is much easier as the dress is quite small! Turn and glue the seams back. Press the hem down and sew
No need for facings in this dress, just dab PVA glue across the edge of the neckline and the armholes. Feel free to experiment with finishing techniques, this is the easiest but you may like to hand sew an edging. Iron your hem to your doll s desired length and then sew you hem.
Shoes *quick & easy This is the quickest and easiest way to do fashiony shoes that your doll will be happy to wear on a night out. Simply draw on and outline, finish off with a ribbon and you re good to go. Feel free too experiment with shoes, you can embroider them, appliqué on, make them out of leather or felt. Have fun finding your style... For the shoes draw a shoe shape in waterproof felt tip pen. With a fine liner draw stitch lines around the shoe - this gives a lovely effect! Stick a ribbon around the ankle for a lovely shoe.
Hair *good hair day TOP TIP: Create hair first and then pin it onto your doll. Don t glue until you are happy with the face. This way if you make a mistake you can do another face on the back and cover the first one with hair! Place yarn choices next to face for suitability. Wind the yarn around your hand so you get a good coverage. Tie the two ends together and this is the front hair piece. Make a smaller one, sew across the top and this is the back hair piece. Tie a knot Machine or hand sew
Now you have both pieces of hair, one for the back and one for the front. I use a tacky craft PVA glue to glue the back of the doll s head. Then stick the back hair piece on, this is the piece that has the stitches across. GLUE THE HAIR ON WHEN YOU HAVE DONE THE FACE Glue the back and top of the doll s hair and stick the back piece on. Next glue over the top of the back piece and sides. Now place your front piece of hair which was the largest would yarn with the knot. The knot becomes the parting!
Face *make me beautiful! The doll s face really makes her character and so this is the part where your creativity and imagination can really play. Pin the hair onto the head, don t glue in case you make a mistake you can use the other side! In invisible pen divide the face into quarters then draw half moon eyes with an eye s length between the eyes. Draft out where you want to put eyebrows and lips. Invisible pen comes off with water so you get many chances! Draw irises.
In black, add the pupil to the iris of the eye as a small circle then draw fabulous vintage eyeliner with flicks. In red add lips. In sepia (light brown) draw in the eye lid creases and the eye brows. In grey crayon blend some smoky-eye shadow. In white acrylic and tiny brush add whites of eyes and tiny dot in pupil-iris part of the eye. In pink crayon blend blusher
Share *social media Share share share alike! I want to see your gorgeous creations. Share on #makeadoll @mariasdollschool on Instagram If you are a more learning-by-seeing and copying then watch my videos on YouTube. I have some on how to make the body and how to draw a face. My channel is called Maria s Doll School. CLICK HERE for YouTube channel Instagram: mariasdollschool CLICK HERE for Instagram page Facebook: Maria s Doll School CLICK HERE for Facebook page SIGN UP TO OUR DOLLY NEWSLETTER: And get a free ebook at www.mariasdollschool.co.uk CLICK HERE to go to Maria s Doll School website QUESTIONS, COMMENTS & REQUESTS: hi@mariasdollschool.co.uk Copyright These patterns are for you to enjoy for hobby use. Do not use for commercial use. Sharing this book Please buy your own copy of this ebook and do not email it to friends and share. It has taken me a lot of work to produce and many years of practice. Thank you so much and happy doll making, I hope you enjoy it so much!
Patterns *print & cut Play with different sizes. Simply enlarge or reduce body and dress patterns on a photocopier. I love making cute little dolls. Find your size and style! leave open reinforce seam with glue reinforce seam with glue reinforce seam with glue reinforce seam with glue reinforce seam with glue Doll School
Patterns *print & cut Cut x2 on the bias Doll School
See you *next time! I m so excited for this my first Make a Doll book and have many more in my dolly head! From mermaids, boy dolls, voluptuously curvy dolls, how to draft and make a dress to fit any doll and so much more! If you have any suggestion contact me and I ll ebook it! Kindest regards, Maria*