It's a cotton doll - not a felt one, and it's MUCH larger than the felt doll pattern, but I liked the little girl doll pattern and thought it would be perfect for my niece for christmas. I would also get a chance to test out my sewing skills along the way.
So, to start my first doll I made my first trip to Walmart. Here's what I bought:
1. Polyfil -stuffing for the doll - only $2.97
2. Cotton Fabric (even though the pattern suggest I start with a thicker material I really liked the pattern selection they had in cotton so I went with it.
I picked up six - 18"x21" cotton fabrics - see pictures below. ONLY $1 each
- a pink pattern
- a purple pattern
- a yellow fabric
- a purple fabric
- and two skin color fabrics for the face and arms.
3. I also picked up a small sewing starter kit. To be honest I had no clue what I needed for thread or needle sizes, so I figured a starter kit would get me going and I could buy other pieces as I needed them for other dolls. The starter kit costs - just under $8
4. Thick brown yarn for the hair - $3
Altogether for this doll I spent $20 and prayed I purchased everything I needed to accomplish my very first doll :)
When I got home I printed out the free doll pattern (page 1 & page 2) that I found over at MakeBabyStuff.com. I then traced it onto the fabric. Once my son saw me starting the doll he was hooked :) He wanted to make a doll for his new baby sister (due in March). This was awesome! Now I have a partner to learn along with me.
Here's our progress so far:
1. Traced the pattern onto the fabric.
2. Cut out the pattern
Pattern pieces after cut out...
Side Note: I may not have mentioned this before, but I have never sewed before in my life.. so I needed a quick tutorial to get me started. Here are the two sites that have helped me most...
- Learning to tie a knot at the end of your thread - special thanks to Heather Bailey and her picture tutorial here
- Also learned to blanket stitch from this very basic, but very easy to follow Youtube Video
