Hobbies And Interests
Things You'll Need
Instructions
Draw a gingerbread man on a doubled sheet of heavy paper, with a 15-inch height from top of head to feet, and an 8-inch reach from hand to hand across his belly. His arms can be straight out at his sides, hanging slightly down or raised toward his shoulders and his legs should be at least two inches apart at his feet. This will be your doll body template.
Cut around the lines on the two gingerbread man patterns to make two doll body templates. Secure each template to a piece of muslin or thick cotton fabric using straight pins.
Draw a 1/2-inch seam allowance on the fabric all the way around the outside edge of each template using a piece of tailor's chalk. Cut along this outer line to make your doll body pieces.
Hand-stitch from right to left along the edge of the paper template, beginning at the left temple of the gingerbread man's head, until you reach the right temple. Do not stitch the top of the head shut. If you are left-handed, work from the right temple to the left, stitching from left to right.
Turn your doll body right side out and stuff it as desired. Rice, beans or pebbles make a heavy doll that will sit on a shelf, but should not be used in a doll for any child under age ten. Polyester fiberfill makes a soft, huggable doll. Use a knitting needle or chopstick to work stuffing into the arms and legs.
Stitch the top of the head shut once your doll body is stuffed to your satisfaction.
Doll maker Helen B. Wharton of Bella Online advises using a 20- by 9 1/4-inch rectangle of calico fabric to make the doll skirt for a 15 to 18-inch cloth doll. Use a running stitch along one of the 20-inch sides and pull to gather the skirt until it will fit around your doll's waist. Tie the final stitch to keep the skirt from losing its gathers.
Fold a 20 by 20-inch square of matching-pattern or coordinating-solid calico in half. Lay the folded fabric with one short side facing you and the fold facing your left hand.
Measure from the center point where the head meets the doll body's neck to the waist to get the bodice length. Measure from the point where the right arm meets the shoulder to where the left arm meets the shoulder to get the shoulder distance. Measure around each arm at the shoulder to get the sleeve hole size, and measure all the way around the neck to get the collar size.
Mark a point along the fold of the fabric, 3 inches from the short side that is farthest from you. This is point 1, which will be the beginning point of the center front of the bodice pattern. From that point, mark the length to the doll's waist. For a 15-inch doll, this should be approximately 5 inches. The waist mark is point 2.
From the doll bodice waist mark on the fold, make a mark to its left that is 1/4 of the total waist measurement. For example, if the measurement around your doll's waist is 16 inches, your mark would be 4 inches to the left of the waist-length mark. This is point 3.
From your beginning mark, make a mark to its right that is 1/4 the collar measurement. For example, if the collar measurement is 8 inches, the mark would be 2 inches to the right of the beginning mark. This is point 4. This will create the neck once the bodice has been cut and laid open.
Connect point 2 to point 3 to make the waist line. Connect point 1 and point 4 to make the neck line.
Make a point that is 1/4-inch to the right of point 4 and 3/4-inch toward the short side of the fabric farthest from you. This is point 5, which is the first point of the shoulder seam. Make point 6 one inch to the right of point 5. This is the second point of the shoulder seam.
Lay the doll so that the bodice fabric covers half the body, with point 1 just below where the head meets the body. Mark point 7 where the doll's right side meets its right armpit.
Connect point 5 and point 6 with a straight line. Connect points 3 and 7 with a straight line. Connect points 4 and 5 with a slight curve. You now have a half-bodice pattern drawn on your folded fabric.
Cut the bodice pattern from the fabric. Keeping it folded, pin it to the remaining folded fabric and cut a second piece for the bodice back. Unfold both pieces and pin them together at the shoulders, outer edges of the waist and under the armpits.
Stitch the front and back of the bodice up the right side from waist to underarm, using a 1/2-inch seam allowance. Press the seam open with a steam iron.
Pin the gathered edge of the skirt piece to the waist of the spread-open bodice with the wrong sides of the fabric facing each other. Stitch the skirt to the waist of the bodice, using a 1/2-inch seam allowance.
Stitch the open seam of the skirt closed from waist to hem, using a 1/2-inch seam allowance.
Move the skirt out of your way and stitch the bodice closed along the left side from waist to underarm using a 1/2-inch seam allowance. Repeat for each shoulder on the bodice.
Turn dress inside out and put it on your doll. Embellish the dress as desired by applying seam tape or decorative trim around the armholes, neckline and hemline of the dress.