Making a Waldorf Doll – part 3 (body and pattern)

 

 

Now that you have seen the head making tutorial, and have your supply list, it is time to print off your pattern and get the body ready for your doll!

Here is the link to the PDF doll pattern!  You will need to print off your pattern at 100%.  You will know that you have printed it off at the right size by making sure that your 1″ square is true to size.

Once you have printed your pattern, you will want to get your doll knit fabric ready and a good pair of scissors.  You will also want to have a marking pen (you can use any fabric marker, or even a regular pen as long as it won’t run) to trace out your pattern.

 

 

Step one: Tracing your pattern

Cut out your pattern and trace it onto the knit.  You want to make sure the grain line on the pattern matches the grain of the fabric.

Not sure how to tell what the grain is? On knits it is very easy.  The grain line of knit fabric can be seen as little v’s going vertically upwards, making a column (you can see that there are little lines in your knit when you look closely, and the grain line is going up and down the line).  The grain is also opposite of the stretch of the fabric.  So by placing your pattern arrows the on the grain, you will have the stretch going across the body rather than head to toe.  This is very important!  

Begin tracing carefully around your pattern.  You will want to trace on doubled fabric (right sides facing inwards) so you will get 2 body pieces, and 2 arm pieces per arm.  You need to have 2 body pieces and 4 arm pieces in total.

 

 

Step 2: Sewing your pattern

Now you will want to sew your pattern BEFORE you cut it out.   Begin by sewing around the body (leaving the top and sides open as the pattern indicates).  Make sure to use a stretch stitch.  This means you use a stitch that will stretch along with your fabric, which is important when working with knits.

Ideally you will have a triple stretch stitch on your machine.  It is shown as a triple vertical line on your machine that looks like this: |||

If you don’t have that stitch, the next best stitch is the stretch stitch that looks like a little lightning bolt.  It is not as strong, so you would need to go around your sewing line twice.

If your machine does not have either of those stitches, a zig zag, done in a very tight and short stitch will work too.  Like the stretch stitch, you will need to go around your sewing line twice for strength (side by side, not on top of the first sewing line)

Sew about 1/8th of an inch on the inside of your marked line.  

 

Step 3:  Cutting out your pattern 

I like to use pinking shears like these when I am cutting out my patterns, as it makes them super easy to turn, but you can use any type of good scissors.  Be sure to clip close (but not through your stitching!) at the webbing of the thumb and the groin so that it turns nicely!

 

 

Step 4: turning your pattern

The final step in this part of the tutorial is to turn your pattern pieces right side out.  It helps to use a chopstick, paying careful attention to the thumbs, making sure everything is completely turned.

You can set this aside now, and check back for the next part of the dollmaking tutorial where we put it all together!

 

As always, if you have any questions feel free to ask!  You can comment on this post or head over to my facebook page and send me a message!