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Thank you so much for your purchase, I want your doll making experience to be
a seamless one! Please request to join the 'Wild Willow Dolls Maker’s Group’ on
Facebook: (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1053405892197198), I will
approve your request once I’ve verified your purchase. Use this group to ask any
questions about the process, and share your creations!

Materials
- Approx. 300g of carded wool.
- 1/2 metre of doll skin fabric, I recommend De Witt Engel or Laib Yala.
- 6cm wide tubular bandage.
- Gutterman upholstery thread in a light color, or a color that matches your skin fabric.
- Long doll making needles.
- Crochet hook.
- Fabric scissors.
- Embroidery needle.
- Embroidery thread in pink for the mouth, and your chosen eye color.
- Beeswax crayon in red or pink.
- Dissolvable fabric pen
- Forceps (or other tool for stuffing)
- Sewing machine with matching thread to your skin fabric.
- For the hair you will need a weft of your choice, approximately 3-4m long, You can find
these on Etsy by searching for mohair or goat hair weft. Alternatively you could make a
brushed mohair cap using specialized mohair yarn (I use the dollymo brand). Find
instructions for the mohair cap here: https://www.weircrafts.com/doll-hair-yarn/brushed-
cap-hairstyles.html
(Figure 1)

Equipment
- Sewing machine. I use a computerized Brother machine. (Figure 2)

I recommend purchasing your supplies from Winterwood toys (if in Australia), You can
also buy supplies from Little Oke Dolls, Kamrin’s Poppen Atelier, or WollKnoll.

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 Figure 1: Some of the supplies you will need.

Figure 2: The Brother sewing machine I use.

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 Part One
Sewing The Doll Body

* Before you begin, please view my “invisible stitch and invisible backstitch” video
demonstration on YouTube. You will need to use these stitches later on: https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BJiWt3tFzQ

Step One
Print your pattern pieces and cut them out (Figure 3). Attach the leg pattern piece to
the body pattern piece. Remember, the body, legs, arms and ear pieces do NOT
include seam allowance. Using your dissolvable fabric marker, trace the body piece
(with legs attached) onto a single layer of fabric on the wrong side. (This is only
relevant if your are using Laib Yala fabric, as this type of knit has two different sides. If
you are using De Witt Engel, or any other knit fabric without a distinct ‘right’ and
‘wrong’ side, you do not need to worry which side you trace the pattern on to). While
you are working with the single layer of fabric, trace the head pieces (Figure 4). Cut
out the body+leg piece leaving approx. a 5mm seam allowance. Cut out the head
pieces without leaving a seam allowance. Now, double up your fabric and trace 2 of
the arm pieces, and two of the ear pieces and cut out, leaving a 5mm seam allowance
(Figure 5 & 6).

Figure 3: Pattern pieces cut out. Figure 4: Body+legs, and head traced

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Figure 5: Arms and ears outlined. Figure 6: Arms and ears cut out.

Step Two
Sew the darts indicated in the body pattern piece. The darts at the lower end of the
torso will allow space for the bottom (Figure 7), and the darts at the feet allow for heel
space (Figure 8). Now, pin the body piece (I’ll call this BODY1) with the sewn darts
onto a single layer of your skin fabric. If you are using Laib Yala, be sure that your
fabric is facing right sides together. Trace around BODY1 and, leaving the fabric
pinned to BODY1, cut out from the piece of fabric underneath (Figure 9, 10 & 11). You

Figure 8: Heel darts. Figure 7: Bottom darts.

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Figure 9 Body piece ready to trace and cut, Figure 10: Second body piece cut.

Figure 11: Close up of the two layers.

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 will now have two pieces cut out for the body: 1 with darts and one without. The piece
without darts will be the front of your doll.

Step Three
Sew the body pieces together along the outline you drew in step one, leaving an opening at the top of
the neck, an opening on one side of the body, and an opening on the upper inner ‘thigh’ of the legs
(Figure 12). Sew together the arm pieces along the traced outline, leaving an opening at the top. Sew
together the ears in the same manner, leaving an opening on the straight side. Sew together the head
pieces using the included 5mm seam allowance, leaving an opening at the bottom of the neck, and the
top of the head (Figure 13). If you would like your dolls to be better ‘reinforced’ you may choose to do
a triple stitch (if your sewing machine allows). Or, you could use my preferred method which is going
back over the stitching twice. I find the latter option to leave a cleaner seam once the doll is stuffed.
Clip the curved seams (Figure 14, 15 & 16).

Figure 13: Sewn arms, ears and head.

Figure 14: clipped seam on the shoulder.

Figure 12: The body sewn together.

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 Figure 15: clipped seams on the hand. Figure 16: Clipped seam on head piece.

Step Four
Once you’ve finished sewing, turn your pieces right side out. I like to use forceps to
help with this step. I then go back in with the forceps (you could use a wooden dowel
or knitting needle) to gently push the edges of the seams. With your body piece
turned right side out, stitch across the lines where the legs ‘join’ the body (Figure 17 &
18). This will make it so the legs are somewhat articulated.

Figure 17: Hip joint outlined. Figure 18: Hip joints stitched.

Step 5
Taking a small bit of stuffing in your forceps (Figure 19), begin stuffing the hands
(Figure 20). Stuff very firmly and try to evenly compress the wool down as you go. Roll

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 up a little ball of wool and use your forceps to stuff this into the thumb (Figure 21).
Continue stuffing firmly until there is about 1 cm of room at the top of the arm. Push
the stuffing down as firmly as you can and pin about 2cm down from the opening at
the top of the arm (Figure 22). Repeat on the other arm (Figure 23).

Figure 20: Stuffing the hand.

Figure 19: Wool in forceps for stuffing.

Figure 21: Stuffing for the thumb. Figure 22: Finished arm.

Figure 23: Both arms stuffed.

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 Step 6
Insert the top of the arm into the arm holes that you left in the body (Figure 24). Using
the opening at the top of the neck, pull through. Pin the top of the arm (Figure 25) to
the seam of the arm holes and stitch (Figure 26). Turn right side out and repeat on
other arm (Figure 27 & 28).

Figure 24: The arm hole opening

Figure 25: Arm pulled through arm hole

(accessed via neck opening)

Figure 26: Arm stitched to body.

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Figure 27: First arm attached. Figure 28: Both arms attached.

Step 7
Make the head following my video tutorial on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=fjQMGZxeU-U
Step 8
Mark the centre of the eyeliner with your dissolvable marker. Using this centre point,
measure about 2.2cm each side and make a mark, this will be the eye marks (Figure
29). Using your upholstery thread and long doll making needle, insert the thread
through the front of the head at the eye mark leaving a long thread coming from the
front of the head (Figure 30 & 31). Re-thread the needle using the thread emerging

Figure 29: Eyes marked.

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 through the front and enter the needle right next to the eye mark (Figure 32), pull the
thread to the back and tie off the ends
(Figure 33), pulling taught to create an
indent where your eye mark was. Repeat
for the other eye (Figure 34).

Figure 30: Inserting thread into eye mark.

Figure 31: Bring thread to back.

Figure 32: Inserting thread next to eye mark.

Figure 33: Tye ends together.

Step 9
Using your dissolvable marker, draw a
circle around the eye marks you made,
the size and shape of the eye is up to
you. For this doll the circle was about
Figure 34: Indents for the eyes. 6mm wide (Figure 35).

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 Step 10
Using two strands of your
embroidery thread and your long
doll needle, insert the embroidery
thread into the centre of the eye
and bring it through to the back of
the head, leaving a tail (Figure 36).
Switch to your embroidery needle
to work with the thread still at the
Figure 35: Eyes outlined,
front of the head.

Step 11
Make a horizontal stitch across the
width of the eye (Figure 37). Then,
make vertical stitches going from
top to bottom of the circle you
drew (Figure 38 & 39).

Step 12
Satin stitch from the top of the eye
outline to the bottom (Figure 40).
Figure 36: Inserting embroidery thread. Be careful to keep your tension even and
avoid any loops or bumps. Go over the
eye a second time with satin stitch (from the top of the eye to the bottom) (Figure 41
& 42), this will help to make the edges nice and neat. Finally, you can add a lash if you
wish. I like to add the lash extending from the mid of the top of the eye pointing in a
downturned direction to the outer edge of the eye (Figure 43 & 44). On the last stitch,
use your long doll needle to pull the thread through to the back and tie off with the
other tail end (Figure 46 & 46). Repeat for the other eye (Figure 47).

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Figure 37: First horizontal stitch. Figure 38: Start making vertical stitches.

Figure 39: Vertical stitches. Figure 40: Satin stitch from top to bottom

Figure 41: After second layer of satin stitches. Figure 42: After second layer of satin stitches.

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 Figure 43: Start of the eyelash. Figure 44: Direction of the eyelash.

Figure 45: Finished eyelash. Figure 46: The ends tied at the back.

Step 13
Using your dissolvable fabric pen, mark
where you would like the corners of the
mouth to be (Figure 48). I like to make
the mouth about the same width of the
nose, or slightly narrower. I also like to
put the mouth about the same distance
from the nose as the nose is from the
eyes. As I mentioned in the head making
Figure 47: Both eyes finished.
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 video, I

Figure 48: Corners of the mouth marked Figure 49: Pulling the thread to the top of the head.

divide the part of the head under the eye-line into 3rds. I place the nose at the
bottom of the first third, and the mouth at the bottom of the second third. You can
play with this rule to make the face how you like. Using your upholstery thread and
long doll making needle, insert the needle at one of the marks you made and pull
through to the top of the head (Figure 49), leaving a short tail out of the top of the
head and the remainder of the thread coming from the front. Re-thread the needle
with the tail coming out the front and insert right next to where you inserted it the first
time (Figure 50), and pull up to the top of the head. Pull the threads taught to make
an indent at the mouth mark and tie off (Figure 51). Repeat for the other corner of the
mouth (Figure 52).

Figure 50: Inserting the thread next to Figure 51: Threads pulled taught and tied.
the first insertion point.

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Figure 52: Both corners of the mouth pulled taught. Figure 53: Inserting the needle from front to back
to make a stitch for the mouth.

Step 14
Using two strands of your embroidery thread and long doll making needle, make a
single long stitch from one corner of the mouth to the other (Figure 53), pulling the
tail ends to the back of the head. Tie off (Figure 54).

Figure 54: Tied off at the back. Figure 56: Finished mouth.

Step 15
Make another, narrower stitch in the same fashion underneath the first stitch. This
pronounces the appearance of the smile (Figure 56).

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 Step 16
Turn the ear pieces right side out and stuff with a small amount of wool (Figure 57).
Fold the seams inward and stitch together using an invisible stitch (Figure 58). Pin the
ears to the head using the underneath threading as a guide. The top of the ear should
begin at the eye line (Figure 59). Using a small needle and thread matching the skin
tone, invisible stitch the ears to the head, going around twice (Figure 60 & 61). Tie off
and hide the tails by inserting them into the head and out of a seam. Pull the tails
taught and trim (Figure 62).

Figure 57: Ears turned right side out ready Figure 58: Ears stuffed and pinned.
to be stuffed

Figure 59: Ear pinned in place. Figure 60: Invisible stitching the ear.

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Figure 61: Stitching the back of the ear, I’ve Figure 62: Invisible stitch pulled taught.
The stitches loose to demonstrate how I do
my stitching.

Figure 63: Both ears attached.

Step 17
At this point I get excited about the doll coming to life and like to add a little blush!
Using a stockman beeswax crayon (I’m using the shade magenta) (Figure 64), draw a
patch onto a scrap piece of fabric. Gently rub this on the cheeks, above the nose and
on the forehead (Figure 65).

Figure 64: Stockmar crayon in magenta on scrap fabric

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 Figure 65: Doll with blush applied

Step 17
Insert the head into the neck hole, folding the neck fabric in on itself until you get the
desired neck length and pin in place (Figure 65 & 66). Measure the seam from the
neck to the shoulder and make sure they are even. Using an invisible backstitch, sew
around the neck, stitching just above the thread that you used to tie off the neck.
Stitch around the neck twice and tie off, thread the tail and into the neck to conceal
(Figure 67).

Figure 65: Neck pinned in place. Figure 66: Neck pinned in place.

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 Figure 67: Neck sewn to body.

Step 18
Put a bit of wool stuffing into the foot and ankle to separate the two layers of fabric.
Bend the foot to a 90 degree angle and pin along the front of the ankle (Figure 68).
Sew the foot in place using invisible stitch. Go back over with invisible back stitch
(Figure 69).

Figure 68: Feet pinned in place.

Figure 69: Front of ankle stitched.

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 Step 19
Using the opening at the top of the thigh, start stuffing the foot, stuff the foot firmly
and evenly, make sure you stuff down into the heel space to get the foot to stick out
correctly. As you stuff up the leg, try to evenly compress the wool down very firmly
(Figure 70). Wool stuffing tends to expand over time which will soften the stuffing, so
it’s good to make sure you make it as firm as you can. When you’re happy with your
stuffing, stitch up the leg openings with an invisible stitch first, then go over with
invisible backstitch (Figure 71, 72 & 73).

Figure 70: Stuffing the leg. Figure 71: Legs stuffed and openings pinned.

Figure 72: Invisible stitching the leg. Figure 73: Leg stitched closed.

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 Step 19
Using the opening in the torso, start stiffing the body. Take smallish (not too small) bits
of wool in your forceps and, beginning and the bottom, stuff the torso very firmly
(Figure 74). Try and evenly compress the wool, and look for any holes or gaps that you
can fill (Figure 75). When you’re happy with the torso, sew the hole using an invisible
stitch first, then an invisible backstitch (Figure 76 & 77).

Figure 74: Stuffing the torso. Figure 75: The torso firmly stuffed.

Figure 76: Torso pinned shut ready to stitch Figure 77: Torso stitched shut using invisible
closed. stitch, then invisible backstitch.

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 Step 20
Sculpt the bottom, belly button and knees using my YouTube videos here:
Belly button: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzGpCwl-Y88
Bottom: https://youtu.be/8KMKXF0PYZ8
Knees: https://youtu.be/2iDX62cxbFs
You’re nearly there! Time for the finishing touch…the hair.

Step 21
Take your weft and pin along the hair line from ear to ear (Figure 78). Using a
matching thread, stitch along the weft (Figure 79 & 80). Keep wrapping and stitching
the weft in a spiral motion. Keep the rows of wefts very close at the top of the head,
you can leave some gaps at the back bottom of the head as this won’t be as visible. I
like to leave as little gaps as possible so that the doll can wear pigtails etc. and you
won’t be able to see any of the fabric underneath. Spiral your weft until you finish with
some very small spirals at the crown (Figure 81). If you would like to, you could also
use a hot glue gun to attach the weft. Be very careful if you choose this option to not
get any glue on other parts of the doll!

Figure 78: Weft pinned from ear to ear. Figure 79: Stitching the weft.

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Figure 80: Stitching the weft.

Figure 81: Diagram of weft spiral pattern.

Figure 82: Showing the attached wefts. Figure 83: Showing the attached wefts.

Figure 84: The back of the head.

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Congratulations, you’re finished! Enjoy your wonderful creation and be proud of what
you’ve achieved! Please check my Etsy shop for more patterns.

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