When I saw this ragdoll pattern by Amy Karol being offered for sale on her blog, I knew right away that I wanted to make one for Larkspur so I bought it (it’s a pdf download so you get it instantly!) Around that same time I got an email about a craft sale being planned to rasie funds for a local women’s shelter that I like to support. I committed to make something for the sale, but I wasn’t sure what. I knew I wanted to make something special and eye catching. Then it occured to me that I should make ragdolls following Amy’s pattern.
I think they are pretty cute and would make a good Christmas gift for a little girl. I am still planning to make another one for Larkspur.
Included in the download are patterns for the doll and five different articles of clothing along with great instructions. They are very customizable, but I really adhered to Amy’s suggestions. I stink at stretching/sewing elastic so for a lot of the elastic I used that technique of winding elastic thread around the bobbin and sewing the elastic on that way. It worked well on the dress sleeves and across the pinafores and around the bloomer legs.
I did not have any decent felt on hand (that stuff from Joanne’s rips really easily) so I used wool yarn for the hair, braiding it into lots of individual braids. I very rarely get a large chunk of time to work on something, so I made these bit by bit. So one night I made all the braids, another I sewed arms and legs, and Jonny took the kids fossil hunting one day so I could make all the clothes.
They sat around faceless for a couple of weeks because I was really paranoid about ruining them. Again, for lack of decent felt, I used cotton velour for the face details along with buttons and a fancy pen. I followed Amy’s face template exactly. I am not creative in that department and really need something to copy.
I am pretty detail oriented so these may have taken me longer to make than they would someone else. I have to make everything perfect or it bothers me. The thing with this sort of doll is that it’s not supposed to be perfect so it was sort of hard for me.
Luckily Joanne’s did have nice brown wool blend felt to use for the little boots. They are so cute.
So now that they are finished:
The hard part for me is deciding how much they should sale these for at the craft sale. I don’t have anything really to base a price on other than the fact that they took me many many hours to complete and they are being sold to rasie money for charity. Any opinions?
p.s.-Amy asks that this pattern not be used to make dolls to sale for personal profit, but she gave me her permission to sale these for charity.
Wife to the Rockstar says
So sweet!!!
Ginny says
Molly, I am tempted to apply for that job! I guess that would be crazy though.
Ginny says
Jenny, there will be a brown one in my next batch! I just have to find the right fabric to use. I used cotton muslin for these which is cheap and only comes in white and off white at Joannes.
Jenny says
They are darling – you should whip up some brown faced ones too!:)Julia wont leave any clothes on dolls for more than 3 minutes – frustrating!
Meghan says
They are adorable! I wish they were for sale for profit I would buy one!
molly says
Hi Ginny,I love the handmade dolls! This is probably random, but I thought of you when I saw this job posting: http://www.catholicjobs.com/job/3399107553 ~ molly (from Ohio)
crispy says
They are beautiful. I could imagine it would be hard to part with them.