Hello everyone!
Pic 1: The doll I made
First and foremost, let me start of by telling you all
that the video I have made on the DIY Stuffed Felt Doll is my own work but full
disclosure that I did get the idea from another video on youtube! I followed
some ideas from that video and added some of my own when I was making the doll.
However, all the work I did on the doll was completely my own. I made my own
templates from scratch and got started.
Pic 2: Screenshot of the video from which I got the idea (not linking here)
Check out my video on YouTube to see the method on
making the felt doll. I have decided to upload the video in two parts. The
first part includes the making of the main doll as such and the hair and shoes.
The second part will focus more on the dresses and accessories. I will be
sharing the templates only for the first video since I did not use any proper
template for the dresses. I only drew some outlines but it is difficult to
share these. You will have to measure your way around the doll to make the
dresses.
Pic 3: The dresses which will be demonstrated in part 2 of the video
In this post I will be sharing some thoughts with you
on why I did some of the steps in a certain way so you can choose to follow my
example or modify what I have done.
Tips
and Tricks
The size of the
templates- Even though I tried pretty hard to get the right sized
templates, the final one came out to be a bit smaller than the doll I wanted.
This was due to the size restrictions of the A4 size paper. Also keep a note
that you need to understand that once you cut the felt as per the template size
you also need to account for the little bit of the edges where you would
stitch.
Now you might find some templates on Pinterest which
may be the right size when printed (I didn’t have much luck finding something
that suited me). However, if you choose to download my templates and use them
then it would help to leave a bit of a margin while drawing it out on felt as I
have done in the video. You can do this with the body template and the face
template (match the face template to see if you want it any bigger).
I would also like to mention that what you see in the
video is the result of a third trial
(the body). In the first trial I used a thinner, floppier felt which when
inverted had too many loose strands and didn’t look very neat. In the second
trial I used a single stitch to seal the edges. However, when I had filled in
the stuffing it started splitting at the seams due to this and I didn’t want to
go on and make a substandard toy since it was meant to be a gift. You will
notice in the video that one or two parts would be from an earlier trial (The part where I am drawing the template on felt and where I am drawing the shoes- I had
made much bigger shoes in the earlier trial than the final one)
Pic 4: Three versions to get it right
Due to the reason mentioned about my second trial, I
ended up using double stitches to
seal the edges of the body and the face. I initially did a running stitch to
join them and then I sealed the edges again as you can see from the video. This
was much stronger when I inverted the parts and filled with the stuffing.
The stuffing that I used was easily available in the
local shop that I usually buy my craft
supplies. I also used felt from the similar shop. I didn’t use the thicker
felt that I normally use for my finger puppets. As this would be very difficult
to invert as it is not very pliable. There are so many types of felt that are
available in the market these days. You will need to use your judgement to
decide on which kind to use. The glue I am using in the video is the fevicol
all fix glue. Now its not the strongest type but since I am stitching all the
parts again it is good enough.
I have used little bits of pipe cleaner for the shoes. It was a last-minute idea I got
as my shoe size was quite smaller in the third trial such that when I inverted
it the front of the shoe totally vanished into the seams. If you make the front
a little bigger in size as per the template then you need not worry about this
step. If however, you do like this idea then please note that when you cut the pipe
cleaner, the edges may be a little pointy. To avoid any problems adding a
little glue to the edges would make it smoother so that it doesn’t hurt your
child when playing with it. If you do so then the child will also have the
additional fun of feeling the soft texture of the pipe cleaner.
So these are some of the pointers that I could think
of which I thought would help those who would want to try out the doll. I am
sure you can also try the same doll with cloth (like any old T-Shirts) instead
of using felt.
Click the link to download the templates. I have
included templates for the body, face, hair mainly.
To learn the process in detail, check out the link for
the youtube video. https://youtu.be/O3Ipwel0Qfg
Do follow me on my other social media handles.
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/artsyaudiologist/
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