Hansel and Gretel, Part 4: Making the Body
Chapter 4 of our ongoing Dollmaking Series in making a set of waldorf-inspired natural dolls, inspired by the story of Hansel and Gretel.
In this video tutorial I show you how to draw and design a very simple doll pattern. This is one of the most magical aspects of doll making, creating your very own doll designs, according to your specifications, clothing ideas or proposed age of your doll.
While this is one of the most simple doll patterns you can think of, and one traditionally taught in waldorf schools, with the legs and torso in one part, you can also add a lot of nuance and beauty by including certain curves, more space between the legs and longer and prettier feet.
I give you a few choices for leg and arm design and a few tips on how to make the whole thing look prettier. This so you start practicing your designing muscles and stop being afraid of creating your own patterns.
Now, if this step truly terrifies you, or you just want your dolls to look as close as possible to the ones I am making in this series, then you can purchase a PDF version of the actual pattern pieces I am using in the video.
It is a one-page pdf that gives you the body pattern and arm pattern I am using, as the head cover we traced and sewn already.
The goal with this series is to encourage you to create this set of dolls, and if by having the pdf you will be more likely to get going on your dollmaking adventure then I am happy to provide it for you.
Aside designing (or printing) the body pattern pieces, tracing on doll skin fabric and sewing using your sewing machine (for which I give you many tips for successful results), then you will be stuffing the dolls using wool batting.
Some areas to pay attention to:
Make sure the skin fabric is lying straight so you don’t have the vertical lines going on a diagonal over the torso or legs.
For this purpose I give you a “grain line” in the body and arm pattern, which you can use to align with the vertical rows of the knit fabric.
Make sure to use a small gauge needle. I normally use a Universal needle but you can also use a ballpoint or a microtex. Don’t use a stretch needle, those are used for when you are sewing items with lycra in the fabric or complete synthetics.
Ensure you have sufficient amount of fabric at the top of the body pattern to cover the entire torso of your little doll and to do a nice “fold” so you can hide the raw edges of the fabric and hide them within the seam of the neck.
We will have everything ready now for the next chapter, in which we will assemble the dolls and do a little bit of detail sculpting.
Nothing major to give you anxiety, just a cute detail that adds charm to the dolls: belly buttons.
Like I mention in the video, if you are in fact creating this set I simply would love to check out your ‘makes’ so please tag your progress photos on Instagram using the hashtag #hanselandgretelwithfigandme so I can come and check it out.
There are already quite a few others using it and so I think it gives you momentum to know other fellow dollmakers are embarking on the same journey, or if you happened upon this series once it is all said and done, maybe you would like to get some ideas of what other handy doll makers have created.
You will see all sorts of clothing and hair options, so definitely check the out the hashtag on Instagram.
Thank you so much for supporting this series, with your comments, your likes, subscription to the YouTube channel, or by purchasing the PDF pattern too. I hope this gentle guidance makes you fall in love with this very mindful way of exercising your creative spirit.
See you soon on the next chapter: assembling the dolls.
