There’s something quite magical about making rag dolls, you’re inventing a little character and making it exactly as you wish. It’s satisfying knowing that how it appears is totally in your creative hands and making it from recycled fabrics makes it an inexpensive gift.
Fairy Doll Photography by Keri-Anne Pink
The idea for my fairy dolls was dreamt up while designing fairy party decorations for Keri-Anne’s daughter, Elle. I was inspired by Keri-Anne’s dreamy photography from her blog Gingerlillytea so the decorations were really easy to design and make. I chose soft muted pastels like the tones in her pictures, sourced soft floaty fabrics, then I finished the Enchanted Fairy Party by adding accents of gold, silver and lace.
Once I had designed the party I thought it would be a lovely idea to make fairy dolls, to make them extra special I thought it would be novel to make the dolls look like those who would be caring for them. It seems that Mia and Elle found it quite funny that their dolls looked like them, look at them giggling.
Make a Fairy Doll
Making dolls seems straight forward, but there are a few points to consider…
1. The age & size of the child compared to the size of the doll.
2. Recycled fabrics must be clean and suitable for a soft toy.
3. There should be no hard or sharp elements.
4. No pins should be left in the toy by mistake. Count the number of pins before you start making the doll, then recount at the end.
5. Make sure all sewing is strong so seams don’t split. Machine sewing will make stronger seams.
To make the doll you will need:
Sewing machine, A3 & A4 paper for printed pattern/making instructions, fabric & paper scissors, sewing needle, pins & pencil.
Calico fabric or cotton sheeting
woollen yarn for hair [ Rico Disco Yarn ]
hollowfibre polyester toy stuffing
fine embroidery thread for eyes
pink felt for mouth
white or cream felt for wings
natural coloured cotton thread
To make the dolls clothes you will need:
one light coloured elastic hair band
pastel shades of organza and chiffon
white or cream lace fabric
co-ordinating ribbon trim
1. Cut doll body parts out of calico fabric using the free printable rag doll pattern and mark the position of eyes and mouth with pencil.
2. First sew the 2 halves of the body together, sandwiching the ribbon in the position indicated on the pattern. Then snip around the curved areas towards the seam, being very careful not to snip the actual seam.
3. Turn the body the right way around and fill with hollow fibre stuffing. Don’t stuff completely, you need to leave a 2cm space for folding inwards for the seam.
4. Fold the arm and leg fabric pieces along the fold lines and sew up the seams. Snip towards the seams around curves, turn through and fill with stuffing. As with the body you shouldn’t stuff completely, leave a 2cm space.
5. Insert the legs inside the opening at the base of the body with the leg seams positioned inwards. The body should be turned in by 1cm. Pin in place and stitch across by machine or by hand.
6. Attach the arms by turning the arm opening in by 1cm and inserting the ribbon from the body. The arm seam should be positioned downwards. Pin the ribbon into this opening in then sew across either by machine or by hand. If you would like the arms to be less floppy, hand stitch the ribbon joint to the body so the arms lie at approx. 45 degrees.
7. Attach the dolls hair by using back stitch. Make lengths of hair longer than you intend for the final look and then double it, these lengths are folded in half and stitched onto the head at the fold.
Start by drawing a pencil line across the back of the head, half way down and seam to seam. Start attaching the hair across this line.
Next draw a pencil line on the top of the head to the previous stitched hair line at the back of the head. Finally stitch lengths of hair along this line, add a few more stitches to secure the hair into a style and trim to required length.
I used [ Rico Disco Yarn ] it’s made in knitted strands and when it’s pulled and stretched it forms curls and waves.
8. With embroidery thread, embroider the eyes with your chosen colour. Start by making a cross, then make it an embroidered star.
9. Cut the mouth from pink felt and sew it in position with natural cotton thread.
10. If you are making a fairy, attach felt wings with needle and thread using back stitch to the upper centre back.
Fairy Doll Clothes
The great thing about fairy clothes is they can be simply shaped with raw edges. For my fairy outfit I made a body suit in lace curtain fabric and a pretty pastel organza and chiffon tutu.
Body Suit
11. Lay the finished doll flat in a T position on an A3 piece of paper. Draw around the body, legs and arms with approximately 2cm extra allowance. Lift the doll and cut around the shape you have drawn, then decide the length of sleeve and pant and cut accordingly.
Reproduce this pattern so you have two pieces. On one piece curve the neckline lower by 1cm, this will be the front pattern. For the back make a slit from centre back neck to half way down the back, this will allow the wings to poke through. Place both patterns on lace fabric and cut out.
12. Place fabric pieces with the right sides facing inwards and stitch along the top of the sleeves, leaving the neck open. Then stitch the bottom seam of the sleeves, side seams, inside leg seams, turn through and press. Stitch ribbon around the neckline with 6 cm extra each side of the neck opening, this will be the tie. Finish the fairy pant suit by cutting zig-zags in the hems.
Tutu
12. The tutu requires 25cm strips of organza and chiffon in various shades. Fold each strip in half and attach by looping on to the hair band. You can trim this to the desired length when you have finished. For full tutu making instructions and looping technique see our tutu tutorial
If you adore fairies as much as Style My Party, you may like to see or read the following …
Fairy Party Inspiration
Free Printable Fairy Cake Labels
