Making Tips
Cloth Figures & Rag Dolls

These pages are here as a guide.
If you want to get good at cloth doll making you need to practice and  experiment; 
make mistakes and learn from them!

Go ahead and enjoy yourself, nothing is a waste of time or materials because you will
always be learning something!

• Check out the recommended Books section on this website

• Buy some patterns                             See also Supplies

• Take an online class (e.g.www.craftycollege.com website) and just have a go! 

Fabrics 
for soft scultpure 
cloth figures  

High thread count, 100% woven cotton fabrics are best: Pimatex & Egyptian  Cottons are recommended.

Velour (Robe Velour)  100% polyester 1 way stretch knit, thicker and slightly more stretchy than Buck Suede.

'Doll Skin' polyester double knit with a one way stretch

Sensua Nude 4 way stretch Tricot

Lycra Ribbing 96% cotton, 4% Tubular Ribbing Lycra that has great stretch and shape retention.

Stockinette elasticated knitted fabric, also known as cotton jersey knit.

Fabrics 
for soft scultpure 
cloth figures  

Doe suede 100% Polyester 58/60" Wide,  with a one way stretch and comes in a variety of colours.  The right side is soft with a little fuzzy texture and the wrong side is a smooth knit.

To clothe your cloth figures or create the illusion of costume 
it is important to choose fabrics with small size prints, checks and plaids so that they fit in with the overall proportions of the doll.  The easiest fabrics to sew are the 100% cottons, whilst silks give a crisp shine to the look of your doll.

Calico/ 100% muslin cottons (In its natural state, the stuffing does not show through. Nevertheless, calico can also be easily dyed)

Cotton jersey knits/ stockinette (stretchy and soft)
These tend to be sold as either natural/unbleached (cream colour) or white. They are produced in different weights in UK: Light, medium & 'good quality' and sold in widths of 150cm (60"); 90cms (36") and 240cms (extra wide).
It is possible to dye them with tea or cold water dyes to achieve more ethnic skin tones. 

Sewing Basics

You will need a sewing machine, cotton/polyester threads, pins, needles, fabric markers/HB pencils, supersoft polyester stuffing, an iron.

Your sewing machine should be regularly serviced, cleaned, oiled and a new needle inserted.

Machine Feet

I find  machine feet with ¼" seam allowance and those with an open clear view of the stitches/sewing line are best.

Freezer paper

See templates for information about Freezer paper.

Stuffing Tools

There are some excellent little stuffing hooks available with a forked end in different sizes which get the filling into all those awkward fingers and corners. 
Tweezers, chop sticks and wooden dowel sticks are also useful. 
Using Stuffing forks is like making a mini candy floss (cotton buds), as you trap wisps of polyester filling between the forked end and then twirl it around the stuffing fork.

Mini Pliers

I find these invaluable for pulling the needle through when sewing on limbs or when the needle has to go through tough layers of fabric, as it saves my fingers from getting slashed when the needle slips! Available from tool suppliers & model shops.

Scissors

You will need sharp pairs of scissors for different tasks. I have a separate pair for paper/card and one for fabrics as well as a small pair of embroidery scissors for little jobs.

These are like scissor-clamps and are available in various sizes. I find the 5" a good size. They are useful for bending the ends of chenille stems to prevent them tearing into the cloth and for gently pulling hand RSO, once the fingers have been turned.

Doll Needles:
These vary in size from 3", 5" and 7" and are ideal for sewing limbs onto the body and for needle sculpting features.

Felting Needles: Are made from tempered steel and are very sharp and brittle, so handle with care. They are used for working doll hair fibres into the doll head.

The needle looks like a small Allen wrench at one end, whilst the other end tapers into a sharp needle, the triangular shaft of which has tiny barbs allowing the fibres to catch onto them. As the needle passes downwards into the doll head material, the fibre is caught onto the barbs and drawn down rooting the hair to the doll head. 

Fabric Glues, Stiffeners & Fray Stopper
Glue hair or features in place before or instead of sewing; add 'Fray stopper' to stop fabric fraying temporarily whilst you work with it and apply stiffener to allow you to mould and shape doll hands.

PVA glue, Mod podge or Crystal lacquer are great for adding a gloss finish after fabric painting shoes etc.  

Turning Tools: 

An Easy Method of Turning Sewn Pattern Pieces Right-Side Out.  They are like tubes or straws of varying widths with correspondingly sized sticks.

The Brass finger tubes are especially important for turning tiny fingered hands.

It is also useful to have a mood board on which you can put source materials: pictures, fabric and ideas to help inspire your creations or specifically your latest project

Seam Tools

If you need to add a seam allowance of 0.6mm (¼") then these tools are very useful.
With a Quilter's Wonder Wheel or ¼" ruler, you can draw a 0.6mm (¼") border around your patterns.

I also keep a scrapbook filled with pictures and ideas.