Toot Toot Tuesday-Ballerina Doll

I like to make things for my kids for Valentines day, usually little toys. My mom always made a big deal about the holiday for us, and I remember coming home from school to find a little jewelry box or a box of candy or something every year. My hubby is all over buying the candy, and this year HE is making the girls bracelets and necklaces, I can't wait to see how they turn out!

Last year I made Bekah a funny little felt doll, and Christopher a little Love Machine Robot. They absolutely love them still, and I thought I would do something similar again this year.

So I made Bekah a funny little ballerina, and I am making the boys super-hero dolls.

I figured out a few things while making the ballerina that I will do differently on the boys dolls, these are easy to make and don't require a pattern-which is my kind of sewing project-don't look too closely at my sewing skills-as I am seriously lacking in them! :)

First cut two long even strips of fabric that you want to use for the legs, make sure you cut them wide enough that when you fold them in half you are happy with the width of the leg. Since I was making a ballerina I decided her legs would be bare.
Cut shorter rectangles for the arms. And then cut out two pieces for the head-just slightly bigger than you want it for seam allowances. I ended up cutting this into two pieces, it was just easier for me to make sure the two pieces were somewhat equal.
Next cut out two shapes similar to this for the body in the fabric of your choice.
Now onto the sewing part. Stitch around the legs and arms down one long side and one short side, leaving one short side open.
Then turn them all inside out.Next using some felt scraps, cut out some hair for your doll the size of the head, the third circle is going to be a bun for the back of her hair.
Then, don't be lazy like me and change your thread color to something a little more appropriate and sew your hair onto the head following the lines.
To make the bun, I made a simple yo-yo (just using a thread and needle sew all the way around the circle and then pull the ends together to scrunch it). Then I sewed her bun and a piece of ribbon on the head piece.
Now this is where I will change my methods next time! I put the two right sides of the head together and sewed them together which is great-but I would have first attached the two pieces to the body and then made them one larger piece. Does that make sense? That way you won't have a seam between the head and the body like you will see that mine will.
Then using much better skills than me, paint a face that doesn't look like a clown, unless you are making a clown doll-then call me, I've got ya covered! I smeared the nose so I ended up having to cover it with the closest paint I had to the fabric. I will just tell my daughter she is wearing stage make-up. I was being authentic!
Now the stuffing will commence! Using your favorite High School Musical pencil stuff the arms, legs and head with batting.
Before you sew the body together, embellish with whatever you want to embellish with, buttons, yo-yo-s, appliques, paint-whatever...
Then fold over (and press if you are smarter than me) and pin the appendages to the body pieces where you want them.
When you have your voodoo doll to this point it is time to sew it together.
I used a decorative stitch, but once again this is another place where I would have done things differently. I would have sewed it all right sides together except for the leg part, and then turned it inside out and did the pinning of the legs leaving a little hole in the bottom corner for stuffing the body.
I filled the doll with rice, and a little bit of batting at the top, this way she can sit up a bit, and it gives her a little more weight. Here is the headless doll, if you followed my advice, you would not have a headless doll, you would be done, but if not and you are following my pictures instead, then you will now need to attach the head to the doll by sticking some of it into the body and sewing across. The problem with doing it this way, is the doll now has a somewhat floppy head, and it is difficult to sew when both pieces are already stuffed.
Next I made a miniature tutu with a piece of elastic, strips of tulle and ribbon and a bunch of knots.
Here is the back of the doll, she is doing the splits to show off her flexible nature. she would also like you to notice her cute little bun .
Now apart from her face, she is not too bad, luckily she is for my daughter who happens to not be afraid of clowns. So that is a good thing! Bekah will be thrilled to have a little ballerina doll made by mom, and that is really what matters. Now off to make the boys!