I am continuing a discuss that I started on September 8 on making two of my cloth dolls. Kitty is eighteen inches ( 46 cm). Her pattern is found in my new book, Sewing for Large Dolls. Twinkle is six and one half inches (16.5 cm). Her pattern is found in my book, Sewing for Mini Dolls. If you are interested in finding out more about these books you can read about them on My Books page by clicking here.

Kitty’s head is made of five cloth pieces, not counting the ears, which are optional. The much smaller Twinkle has a two piece head.

I am very proud of my method of attaching Kitty’s head to her body. I think that it is easy to do. In the book we have a diagram for matching the head to the neck. For this Kitty doll, I asked Tech Support (husband) to take photos. The head and neck will be sewn right sides together. The top of the head will go inside the body and the chin dart will be matched with the neck at the center front seam.

The chin dart is pinned to the center front seam. The raw edges of the head and neck are pinned together.

Here is a close up of the head pinned to the neck.

After the head and neck are sewn together, the head is pulled out of the body and the backs of the head are sewn together. Then the head/body casing can be turned right side out. Kitty’s head is stuffed before the arms and legs are attached to the body with doll joints. After I stuffed her head, I removed the stuffing to show you how much the stuffing compresses in a firmly stuffed doll.

I then replaced the stuffing and added a little more. Kitty’s body will not be stuffed until her arms and legs have been attached.

Twinkle’s head was sewn on by hand using the ladder stitch. Directions for the ladder stitch can be found in my free download Tools, Tips, and Techniques. If you are interested in this booklet, you can find it on my Patterns Page by clicking here.

Twinkle’s arms and legs are attached to her body by stringing, rather than doll joints. Her body is stuffed before her arms and legs are attached.

Next week we will attach the dolls’ arms and legs.

sherralyn Christmas Sewing, My books Making Eighteen Dolls, Making Six and One Half Inch Dolls