Melly & Me have started a fantastic little series on their blog called “Tips & Tricks Tuesday“.
Their first tip/trick addresses one common softie-making question: “How do you sew and turn out those small softie parts?“. This includes parts like ears, little arms or legs, feet, horns, etc. that are easy enough to sew up but can drive one to instant insanity when it comes to turning them right-side out.
Melly provides a very clear tutorial accompanied by excellent pics.
Rice Babies provides a great tip on how to use animal silhouettes to make forest-themed stuffies/softies from felt. She used these as giveaways for her child’s birthday party:
Tantehilde makes extremely cute rag dolls. She shares a very helpful and clear tutorial on how to make a doll’s wig from knitting yarn, and how to attach it to a doll’s head to get this kind of hair style:
Elise of Zippypops recently contacted me to let me know that she had some tutorials up on her blog. Elise is a very talented doll-maker and you can view and purchase her beautiful creations from her shop.
In this tutorial she shares how to make a doll’s wig using synthetic hair (purchased from a craft shop or costume store) and how to attach it securely to a doll’s head creating this two-bun hair-do:
Here is an excellent tutorial by Crafty Sheep on how to create a gorgeous thick head of hair for a doll (not just for Waldorfs - you could do the same for any kind of handmade doll):
When I started making softies a few years ago, I found it fairly easy to cut them out, sew them up and stuff them. What really stumped me was the the bit at the end when the instructions would say: “Use a ladder stitch to sew up the opening” (that was used for stuffing).
I had no idea what a ladder stitch was. I searched the internet and found lots of diagrams and as great as they were, I just didn’t get it!
Finally, someone had to show me how to do it. And wow - it is the perfect stitch for closing up softies as it ends up being invisible (hence also known as the “Invisible stitch” :-)). I’ve found, in my own experience, that the trick is to keep spaces between each ‘rung’ small and even, and to pull each stitch through tight.
If it is a complete mystery to you too, just watch this clip and hopefully it will make sense!
The steps and accompanying pictures are very helpful. In my almost obsessive search for good yarn hair how-tos, I think this is one of the easier methods and actually seems very do-able - still time-consuming but at least you don’t need to know how to crochet or knit to make it. I also like the idea of using different types/colours of yarn.
Expert doll-maker Mimi Kirchner shares her thoughts and experiences on the different types of stuffing she has used for her dolls: polyester, wool, recycled wool and wool scraps.
One of the obvious things you will notice about softie-making is that felt plays a popular role in being a base material. Felt is very versatile, comes in a huge amount of colours and has enough flexibility and durability (at least in the good quality felt) to maintain shape and form.
If you are hand sewing felt pieces together for a softie, it is important to use the right stitch and to sew the stitch correctly. Doing so will avoid having your softie suddenly burst open at the most inappropriate of times e.g. handing it over to the person you made it for, whilst explaining how much effort you put into it and that you think it is the best thing you ever made.
The amazing Futuregirl has posted these excellent step-by-step tutorials (with pictures) on two stitches that are used widely in softie-making:
Copyright of free patterns remains with the respective Author so please use the pattern to make the softie as a gift or for yourself but do not make softies to sell. Thank you!
