Felt Dolls - To Make And Dress

By Peggy Tearle

This vintage book contains a novice-friendly guide to making clothes for felt dolls. Including handy information on tools and step-by-step instructions for the designing and making of a range of items of clothes, this volume is highly recommended for those with a practical interest in dolls. It would make for a great addition to collections of allied literature. The chapters of this book include: “Dolls to Dress”, “Materials and Tools”, “Dolls to Make”, “Beach Suits and Hats”, “Duffle Coats, Scarves and Mittens”, “Oilskins and Goloshes”, “Play Outfits”, “Nightclothes”, “More Clothes to Make”, “Tables of Measurement”, etcetera. This book is being republished now in an affordable, modern edition - complete with a specially commissioned new introduction on dolls.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: May 31, 2013
• ISBN: 9781473389847

Book preview

Introduction

One of the first steps in learning a craft is to use your hands—to experiment with the material and to find out what can be done with it—and reflection on this aspect of soft toymaking engendered this family of roly poly dolls.

In the beginning of the book, which is concerned with this first stage, no pattern more complicated than a rectangle is used. With each toy, however, the work progresses until the elements of pattern cutting are gradually introduced, and plenty of scope for original work will be found in the latter part—Dolls to Dress.

Long legged and loose limbed, these dolls are mildly acrobatic: easy to manipulate, they can with very slight assistance be made to walk.

FELT DOLLS

to Make and Dress

Dolls to Make

These toys are made without patterns, without stuffing, and with a minimum of seaming, most of which is straight; and since the bodies and limbs are made mainly from rectangles, they can be cut without waste from 9 in. felt squares.

Oddments of cane can be used for making up the cores of the limbs as the size of the individual pieces is not important; however, a medium cane such as No. 10 is the most convenient.

Tennis balls are best for the heads as they retain their shape after the holes are cut, but any ball of the same size (8 to 8 1/2-in. in circumference) will serve the purpose; used tennis balls can be bought very reasonably from sports shops.

Dolls to Dress

Patterns for the dolls’ clothes, which start with rectangles and circles, progress step by step; all other patterns, where possible, are symmetrical in shape, so that pieces such as sleeves fit either right or left sides. An actual size block is given for each doll, from which all further patterns can be drafted with the aid of the diagrams and text.

This part of the book introduces the first steps in dressmaking and pattern cutting, which processes, once familiar, will provide the key to whole wardrobes of clothes for these and other dolls.

Materials and Tools

Short lengths of cane for cores of limbs. Cellotape for binding. Cotton wadding to roll round cane. Felt squares to cover wadding.

Balls for heads. Flesh stockinette for covering heads (1/4-yd. is sufficient for all the dolls).

Wool for hair and knitted garments.

Scraps of blue, brown, scarlet and black felt for features.

Woolly toy twist for fur.