How to Make Japanese Kimono Dolls

Make the Japanese Cloth Doll Body

• 1

  Create your own doll body pattern or find a doll pattern that you like. To make your own, draw a scaled version of the doll body on a sheet of paper using a front view. Draw the head from a profile view.

• 2

  Add seam allowances of 1/4 inch to the body and head on all sides. Extend the neck of the body slightly so that it will fit inside the head. Cut these pattern pieces from the paper.

• 3

  Pin the pattern pieces to a double layer of cotton fabric and cut two of each.

• 4

  Pin the head pieces together, right sides facing. Stitch 1/4 inch away from the edges on all sides except the neck edge. Turn the head right side out and stuff with polyester fiberfill, leaving a small space in the center of the head.

• 5

  Pin the body pieces together, right sides facing. Stitch 1/4 inch away from the edges, leaving the neck edge open along with a 3-inch space on the side of the body.

• 6

  Cut pieces of armature wire that are long enough to go through each of the limbs and the body. Push the wire into the body and limbs. Wrap the ends of the armature wire of the limbs around the body wire using the pliers so that they hold in place. Make sure the body wire extends up through the neck.

• 7

  Push stuffing into the doll body through the 3-inch opening, covering the space around the armature wire. Use the long, wooden dowel to press stuffing into the limbs.

• 8

  Push the neck through the head opening and turn the raw edges to the inside. Slip stitch the head to the neck using the quilter's thread.

Make the Japanese Kimono

• 9

  Take the doll's measurements. Stretch the arms out and measure the distance between the fingers, then divide it by four to get the width measurement. Measure the distance between the nape of the neck and the ankles to get the height measurement and measure the width of the hand to get the sleeve width measurement.

• 10

  Cut two rectangles that are as long as the height measurement and as wide as the sleeve width measurement, two rectangles that are twice as long as the height measurement and as wide as the width measurement and one rectangle that is twice as long as the height measurement plus 1 inch and as wide as half the width measurement from your chosen kimono fabric.

• 11

  Pin the second set of two rectangles together and stitch them all the way to the midpoint to make the center back seam. Use seam allowances of 1/4 inch.

• 12

  Pin and stitch the short edges of the first set of two rectangles to the sides of the body, matching the midpoints. Fold the body and sleeves together at these midpoints with the wrong sides together. Stitch the side seams of the body and sleeves.

• 13

  Make a cut in the body piece at the shoulders that is equal to the sleeve width measurement, creating the neckhole. Sew the third rectangle to the open edges of the body and the neckhole, hiding the raw edges.

Finish the Japanese Kimono Doll

• 14

  Finish the remaining raw edges of the kimono. Turn up the hem of the sleeves and body 1/4 inch and stitch them in place. Zigzag stitch the raw edges if necessary.

• 15

  Make the obi out of your chosen obi fabric. Cut a long 2-inch-wide rectangle of fabric, then fold the fabric in half along the length and stitch it together to create a tube. Turn the tube right side out and stitch the short ends.

• 16

  Paint the face on the doll with acrylic paints. Use a pencil to sketch out the placement of the facial features, then paint on a red mouth with black eyes and eyebrows. Use pink for the cheeks.

• 17

  Create the hair for the Japanese kimono doll. Make hair wefts by covering bunches of yarn pieces with tissue paper, then stitching the ends together on the sewing machine. Remove the tissue paper and hand sew the yarn wefts directly to the head in the hairstyle that you like. Trim the hair as desired.

• 18

  Put the kimono on the doll. Tie the kimono in place with a scrap of fabric, string or ribbon. Tie the obi over the string.