Making a Waldorf-Style Doll: Tips & Techniques

© 2005, Kathryn Sheehan. The Silver Penny, Cape Elizabeth, MaineFor personal use only. Please do not duplicate without written permission.

Web Address: http://www.thesilverpenny.com

Included in this free project worksheet are tips and directions for creating a Waldorf-style doll, althoughany dollmaker will find the suggestions helpful. The origin of the Waldorf doll is believed to come fromGermany in the 1920’s. The distinct features are that the doll is handmade from natural materials, suchas cotton and wool and its facial features are minimal, so the child can imagine the mood or feelings ofthe doll depending on the situation.

Part 1: Forming the Head

Directions for Creating a Doll's Head for 11" tall doll.Pattern can be adjusted, reduced or enlarged for other sizedolls.

1.) Take a 12” length of 2" wide tubular gauze and, with heavy craftthread, sew a running stitch 1/2” from one short end. Pull tightly to gatherand close the end. Secure with a knot. Turn inside-out to hide the stitching.It will look like a tube sock. Set aside.

2.) Cleaned and carded wool fleece will tear easily in one direction. Tearseveral strips that are 2” wide and about 15” long. Tear another strip that is6” wide and 9” long; set this one aside.

3.) Next, you will form the inner ball for the head. This must be very firm oryour doll’s head will be too soft and lack dimension. Take one of the 2” stripsand begin forming a small, tight ball on one short end. Roll and fold the wool tomake the ball bigger, always keeping it as firm as possible and round. You willnotice the wool sticks to itself as you go, making this process easier as the ballgrows. Continue rolling and wrapping until the ball measures 8-5/8” (22 cm.)around. Measure it in several directions to assure that your ball is indeedround.

4.) Lay the ball on the 6”x 9” piece of wool, allowing 1/4 of the ball to extendabove the wool strip (see following photo). Roll up in jelly roll fashion. (Nowyou have a tube of wool with the head at one end and a roll of excess wool onthe other. This excess roll of wool is necessary to form a sturdy neck. Withoutit, your doll’s head would be floppy.) Take this and push it into the tubular gauze sock, head first. Takea 16” piece of cotton string and tie tightly under the ball to create the neck. The wool hanging below willeventually form the body (or trunk) of your doll. But, for now, just leave it hanging loose and open.

5.) To give your doll’s head some natural curves, use strongcotton string to make an eyeline. Wrap a 24” piece ofcotton string twice around the exact middle of the head (seeEyeline Placement diagram at left). Tie with an overhand (orsquare) knot, pulling moderately to create an indentation.This is the eyeline, with the knot at the back of the head.

6.) Take another 24” piece of cotton string and wrap ittwice around from the top of the head, under the chin andback to the top. Secure with an overhand (or square) knoton the top of the head, although do not tie this string astightly as the eyeline. This string will help create the cheeksof your doll. (see diagram at right)

Making a Waldorf-style Doll ~ 2 ~

7.) With needle and heavy-duty craft thread, secure the points where the two strings cross over eachother on the sides of the head by sewing an “X” over them. Dig down into the wool with each stitch forgreater security. (see Cheek Line Placement Diagram on previous page)

8.) Finish shaping the head by pulling the string at the back of the headdown toward the back of the neck. If you have difficulty, this can bedone easily with the aide of a small crochet hook. Stop about 1/4”above the neck string. Secure it in place by zigzagging back and forth afew times with needle and thread from this string to the cheek string(which is running down the side of the head under the “X, see the photoat left).

9.) To make a nose, very lightly draw a 3/8” (1 cm.) circle with a watererasable marker or pencil in the center of the face directly under theeyeline (see photos and diagram below). With heavy-duty craftthread, take small stitches back and forth across from each other in acircular pattern. Think of the circle as a clock and start at 3:00, take astitch under the wool and come out at 9:00, pull gently. Move to 10:00,take a stitch under the wool and come out at 4:00, pull gently. Move to5:00, take a stitch under the wool and come out at 11:00, pull gently.

Move to 12:00 and so on, continuing in this pattern until you come out at 3:00 again. Pull your thread andthe wool will draw up into a tight, little ball. Spread a very thin layer of glue on the nose to protect itsshape. Allow to dry. Now your head sculpting is complete!

10.) Take a piece of cotton knit skin fabric and fold in half, with the stretch going across. Place thebody pattern provided on the fold (as indicated) and draw the shape onto the fabric with a water erasablemarker. Sew on this line and cut 1/8” away from the seam and turn to right side.

11.) Pull the skintone fabric onto the doll’s head with the seam centered on the back of the head. Thetop opening should fall just in front of the top center of the head.

12.) Close the Top Opening: With needle and thread, sew a running stitch1/8” from the cut edge of the top opening. Push the raw edges into theopening and pull the thread to gather and close. Secure with a small knot.This gathered closure will eventually be hidden by the hair and provides asmooth, seamless forehead.

13.) Take a 10” length of the heavy-duty craft thread and tie tightly aroundthe neck, making sure to keep the doll’s chin and cheeks smooth and aswrinkle-free as possible. (There may be a few small wrinkles, not to worry.But any large ones, push to the back of the head and neck. Later these canbe hidden under the hair.)

Making a Waldorf-style Doll ~ 3 ~

14.) Before embroidering the eyes and mouth, take three ball-headed straight pins and, using your doll’shead like a pincushion, place them where you’d like the eyes and mouth to be. The pins should form anequilateral triangle, with the points of the triangle approximately 1” (2.5 cm.) away from each other. Theeye pins should be placed on the eyeline and the mouth should be directly under the nose (see the PinPlacement Diagram below).

15.) Cut a 24” (61 cm) length of eye color cotton embroidery thread and divide into 4 and 2 strands.Using the one with 4 threads, thread it onto a dollmaking needle. From the back of the head, come out1/16” to the right of the right eye pin (#1 in the eye stitch diagram above) leaving a thread tail hangingfrom the back of the head. Take a stitch approximately 1/8” (3 mm) across, go into #2 and come outagain on the right, directly under the stitch you just made (#3 in the diagram). Take a second smallerstitch, go into #4, coming out on the right again above the longer stitch at #5. Finally, take a third smallstitch above the longer center stitch, going into #6 and coming out at the back of the head. Do not pullthe thread tightly or the stitches will sink into the fabric. Instead, allow the stitches to “float” on top of thefabric with even, but light tension. Repeat with second eye, coming out at the back of the head near theentry thread tail. Tie the two thread tails together in a loose square knot to secure.

16.) For the mouth, cut an 18” length of pink embroidery thread and divide into 3 and 3 strands. Threadone group of three threads onto your dollmaking needle. Starting from the back of the head, come out1/8” to the right of the mouth pin (#1 in Mouth Stitching diagram above). Take a 1/4” stitch, go into #2 indiagram and come out at #3, under the stitch you just made. The lower stitch should be shorter than theupper stitch. Finally, finish by pushing the needle into #4 on the diagram, through the head and out theback, coming out next to the entry thread tail. Make a loose square knot to secure. Your head is nowcompleted and ready to be added to the doll's body.

Making a Waldorf-style Doll ~ 4 ~

Part 2: Creating the Torso and Inserting the Head

Part 2 will take you through the final steps of sewing and stuffing a Waldorf-style button jointed doll.Because there are so many excellent books and patterns available elsewhere, I do not provide an exacttemplate for the doll's torso, arms or legs because I do not want to infringe on anyone's copyrightedpattern. Instead I suggest you create your own using the pictures and directions below, or purchase abook or pattern. A self-made pattern is easy to create because the shapes are so simple. But no matterhow you go about getting or creating a pattern, you will find these tips and techniques helpful.

Note about Body Size: Regarding the overall size of your doll, if it is a baby doll, the head should be 1/4of the entire length. If it is a doll meant to represent an older child, the head should be 1/5th the overalllength. As an example, if the finished baby doll is 16" tall, the head should be 4" from the top of the headto the chin. The rest of the body will be 12" in length when completed. As you can see from the picturebelow, the torso is slightly more than half of the body length (so about 6-7") and the legs comprise therest of the length (about 5-6"). The arms should land about hip level, so again about 6" long.

Figure 1 Figure 2

17.) The doll's torso pictured above began as an oval (slightly tapered and leftopen at the top where it joins the neck). I made the doll's head, sewed and stuffedthe body, then inserted the head and sewed a gathering stitch around the openneck and cinched it shut and secured it with stitches around the neck.

18.) A tip about inserting the head: When you form the head, you should havestuffing coming out of the bottom under the neck when it is completed. This iscalled the "muff." (see photo at right) You can close up the muff or leave it open, itdoesn't really matter because when you stuff the body cavity, the muff is stuffed inalong with the fill for the body. (Which means the trunk of the body should be openat the neck.) This technique makes a very sturdy joint; no floppy head and it can'tfall off, even if the doll is carried by the head.

19.) After the body is stuffed and the head inserted, sew the body closed aroundthe neck. If this becomes unsightly, you can always cover it up with a band of

Making a Waldorf-style Doll ~ 5 ~

fabric. In the photo below you can see the neck band that covers up the joint. It is only sewn togetherwhere it overlaps in the back.

Example of neck band Figure 3

20.) To make a bottom & belly button: After your doll's head and torso are sewn and stuffed, you cancreate a little bottom and belly button at the same time by doing a little sculpting with thread. Thread along dollmaking needle with some heavy-duty craft thread or another option is dental floss. Start atthe top of the bottom line and sew a gathering stitch down to the base of the doll along the bottom line,insert your needle at the bottom of the line and come out where you started at the top of the line, pull tightto create the indentation. Reinsert your needle very close to the place where the thread comes out at thetop of the bottom line (do not put it in the same exact hole) and come out in front of the torso to create thebelly button (see Fig. 1). Pull tightly and the thread tension will create more "cheeky" dimension in thebottom and, while the thread is still taut, take a little back stitch or two to hold that tension between theback & front torso. Reinsert your needle and thread in the belly button and come out at the top of thebottom line again in the back of the torso and pull slightly to make the belly button draw in a bit. Knot offand your bottom & belly button are done! (see Figure 1 on page 4 & Figure 3 above)

21.) Button joint and stuffing your doll: You can probably deduce from the photos of the little boy dollabove what the shape of the arms and legs should look like (see Figures 1, 2 & 3). Sew and stuff them,but leave an opening in the upper-outer arm area (for the arms) and in the upper-outer thigh area (for thelegs). First, thread your long dollmaking needle with the heavy-duty craft thread, bring the ends ofyour thread together and make a secure knot. Insert your needle and thread through the bottom of a two-hole button, immediately bring the thread down through the second hole and direct your needle throughthe loop of thread hanging below the button and pull to create a slip knot. This secures your needle andthread to the button.

22.) Insert the two-hole button in the opening of the stuffed arm (or leg), position the arm next to the torso(the button should be inside the stuffed arm and next to the torso) and draw your needle and threadthrough the arm fabric, through the torso and out the other side of the torso where the other arm will beattached. While holding another two-hole button inside the remaining stuffed arm, insert the needle andthread through one of the button holes and draw on the thread until both arms are pulled closely to thetorso. Insert the needle & thread through the remaining button hole, through the torso, through the armfabric, into one of the holes of the button and pull to secure arms firmly next to the torso. Repeatprocedure for extra strength and security. Knot off your thread well before closing up the openings inboth arms (addition stuffing may need to be added to fill the arms firmly). The button-joint of the legs iscreated in the same manner.

23.) Hair Style: The very last thing to be done is to attach hair to your doll's head. There are manytechniques for doing this, such as crocheting a wig (like a little cap) made from mohair yarn or any fuzzy

Making a Waldorf-style Doll ~ 6 ~

type yarn and sewing it in place or you may needlefelt mohair yarn or wool roving directly into thedoll's head. There are many dollmaking booksavailable that explain the techniques for doing this. Iwould like to suggest the following:

Making Dolls by Sunnhild Reinckens. Floris Books,ISBN 0-86315-415-8. Describes how to make 17different kinds of Waldorf-style dolls. (This book iscurrently out of print, but if you can find a used oneon ebay or amazon.com, it’s worth it.)

Making Waldorf Dolls by Maricristin Sealey.Hawthorn Press, ISBN 1-903458-58-7. Ten differentdesigns from basic to jointed dolls.

Toymaking with Children by Freya Jaffke. FlorisBooks, ISBN 0-86315-367-4. Learn the secrets ofhow to make some Waldorf favorites, such as theTumbling Gnome doll, Waldorf dolls, dollhouse dollsand puppets.

Sewing Dolls by Karin Neuschultz. Floris Books,ISBN: 0-86315-719-X. In this book, the authordemonstrates new methods for sewing Waldorf-styledolls, including the use of a felting needle. Thevariety of adorable dolls is extensive and the photoswill inspire!

LIKE THE SILVER PENNY ON FACEBOOK and be the 1st

to benotified of special sales, new products & patterns, free project links,company news and FRIENDS ONLY OFFERS! Scan the tag at left withyour smart phone or search for “The Silver Penny” on Facebook andclick the LIKE button.

Text, photos & pattern ©2005 by Kathryn Sheehan of The Silver PennyCape Elizabeth, Maine, USAWeb Address: www.thesilverpenny.com