When we let our family know we’d be visiting them for a day while we took our California vacation, my husband’s aunt reached out to me to see if I’d like to do a sewing craft with her adorable twin girls. They are 5, and S loves fashion design. I was very excited at the idea, but once it was mentioned we’d likely do a trip to Legoland with them, I needed to think of something I could leave with them.
I decided to try sewing two Wee Wonderfuls rag dolls, making a lookalike dolly for each girl. That way, I could also pack up a little box of sewing goodies – felt buttons
We ended up at Legoland. Jax LOVED it! (Despite the rain.)
I used the Kit, Chloe and Louise pattern for the dolls. It included a lot of clothing options, so I was able to make two outfits per doll. (Sewing tiny doll clothes was NOT fun for me! Some I made did not make the cut. The pajama top I attempted looked like that Cosby shirt.) I actually made three dolls – my first a test doll for Jax. I was glad I did – I learned a lot!
I think the girls liked them! They were still in that shy phase after not seeing us for a year and a half when I gave them to them. It was very sweet seeing them with their lookalikes.
The Redhead – A’s Doll
Curly red hair! Swoon! Beautiful, but how do you make it translate to yarn? I actually found the perfect yarn for A’s doll, and purchased it when it was 50% off (I used 1.5 skeins.) It’s Martha Stewart’s Lofty Wool Blend
Both dolls got a lined jumper with trim and vintage button’s from my mom’s collection as their main dress. A’s doll had a purple and lime pattern on the outside and lavender solid on the inside. I added vintage lace trim, a little ribbon belt and some mini ric rac around the neck.
Both dolls got shoes, but I used the shoe pattern in two different ways. For A, I did brown 100% wool felt
I really liked this jumper pattern because the lining made it so finished looking.
For A’s second dress, I made a standard pillowcase dress with a purple floral pattern and lavender satin ribbon.
Quick and pretty!
The Blond – S’s Doll
Honey blond hair! For S’s doll, I used Vanna’s Choice yarn in Honey
S’s main dress is a pink/black/blue striped pattern on the outside and pink on the inside. I added large pink ric rac to the bottom and vintage buttons at the shoulders.
For her shoes, I used a magenta 100% wool felt
For her second dress, I followed one of the dress patterns included with the doll pattern. I used a cute pink flower fabric.
The Doll’s Wigs
I knew I wanted to do the doll’s hair differently than how the pattern instructed. I really didn’t want their scalps to show through – especially on A’s doll where I couldn’t sew too many rows of hair or else it would be too thick. Being a felt lover, I decided to sew the yarn directly to some felt to make a wig, then sew it on to the doll.
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- Cut out felt shapes
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- Start sewing rows of folded yarn on. Tape can help keep them still.
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- Work from the bottom up.
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- I ended up sticking each yarn piece under the presserfoot as I went.
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- Here what how my rows looked like. I added more by handsewing later.
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- Sewthe bottoms of the side pieces on. (doll is shown upside-down and facing away.)
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- Pin the center flap in place.
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- Trim the extra.
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- Tuck the extra from the middle panel under the sides. Make a dart on each side so the felt is flush on the doll’s head.
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- Sew the side seams of the middle flap.
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- Fold the darts over and sew them down.
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- Here is how the nect looks.
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- I added a center part later for this doll, but did it before attaching on the blond doll. You sew the yarn down the middles of unfolded strips.
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- For the bulky yarn, I hand sewed a strand right at the center top of her face for fullness.
Hopefully this gallery helps explain how I made my doll wigs. Here is the shape I cut in the felt, and what I did for the blond doll.
This (double) project was a lot of work, but so much fun!
Um wow! Your hobby work is so detailed! Graphic design, toddler, homeschool, vacation, organization, looking cute in your pictures and a website with detailed hobby sewing!? And that’s just looking through your site for a couple of minutes. HOW do you do it?
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much for showing how you made the wigs! I have a made a few of these dolls and the hair is always such an annoyance, thank you, thank you!
I would love to make some rag dolls for my great granddaughters and also for sick friends. Where do I get the doll pattern?
Gracias por mostrar la forma de confeccionar el cabello de las muñecas. Eres muy didáctica! ¡Muchas gracias!
Loving the hair! Been thinking how to do hair quicker using a machine and faces without painting…don’t need to think anymore. Having looked at many doll shapes & sizes yours are the nicest I’ve seen. Thank you
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You do beautiful work, and this was a wonderful post. Thank you for sharing! I am about to purchase the pattern, can you tell me what fabric you used for the dolls’ bodies? I would appreciate it!! Best regards, K
I just used quilting broadcloth, I believe.
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How do you attach the hair wig to the head? Is the head already stuffed when you attach it? do you hand sew it/machine?
Thanks in advance. Trying to make this for my little one.
I’m so glad I found this blog while looking for my granddaughter’s first rag doll. These dolls are adorable, and I love the tweaks you made to the original patterns. I’ve followed everything so far, but I just can’t seem to understand how you did the strands of yarn on the front edge of the wig on the blonde doll! The example isn’t very clear, and I’m not much of a sewing person so I’m not familiar with what you did. I see some sort of half-circles sewn into the wig, but I can’t quite make out what exactly you did there! Please help, the hair is so important and I want it to look great! I hope this isn’t too old for you to see this!
I saw this on Pinterest and I am making one for my daughter for Christmas. I didn’t like the patterns eyes, but love yours. Can you talk to me about the placement of your face? Is the mouth the same location and you moved the eyes in and up???? Help. I have made the clothes and taught myself to embroider, but the look too adult. I want it to have that little girl innocent like yours.
Hi, I see you posted this doll in 2013, but I am hoping to get a response! After seeing this I went and bought the dolly pattern from weewonderfuls … with the intention of using your “wig” pattern to match it. Sadly I can’t get the picture of the shape of the wig to get into a printable format. Could you please provide that? I would greatly appreciate it as it is for my daughter’s first birthday – at the end of this month!