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This doll is quick and easy to make that I whipped her up in just two days. In my picture you can see that I knitted a skirt for her, but this pattern has a crocheted version written. She stands about 11 inches tall and would be lots of fun for any little girl to play with. I made a best friend from this same great pattern. The possibilities are endless.
Materials Needed:
• worsted weight yarn in your choice of colors (more details on what I used in the pattern)
• sport weight yarn for hair (optional, see the note below this list for details)
•
Crochet Hook in Size D
or F
•
Steel Crochet Hook Size 6/1.8mm
(or the smallest hook you have, like any steel hook or a B or C hook)
• pair of
9mm Safety Eyes
•
Poly-Fil Premium Polyester Fiber
•
Tapestry Needle
for sewing together
• cotton thread and/or
Embroidery Floss
for facial features, likes eyelids, lips, and brows
• craft supplies for accessories, I used
Mini Pom-Poms
to make a flower (optional)
Note: The hair is one of my favorite parts and can really be a deciding factor in the overall aesthetic of your doll. There are so many yarn options out there to explore, from weights to types and colors, and different techniques to make all sorts of different textures. On this doll I used a sport weight yarn to make a thinner, nicer looking strand without crowding the head full of hair. You can use any kind of yarn you like and still follow my technique/pattern. :)
Let’s get started!
Tip: Everything is crocheted in the round, using a stitch marker to mark the beginning of your round unless otherwise stated!
Head
Start using your size D hook and your skin color yarn. I used Red Heart Super Saver in the color Aran
for this doll.
Rnd 1: Make a magic loop and sc 6 in the loop. (6 sts)
Rnd 2: increase in every sc around (12 sts)
Rnd 3: (sc, inc) around (18 sts)
Rnd 4: (sc in next 2 sts, inc) around (24 sts)
Rnd 5: (sc in next 3 sts, inc) around (30 sts)
Rnd 6: (sc in next 4 sts, inc) around (36 sts)
Rnd 7-14: sc across (36 sts)
Rnd 15: (sc in next 4 sts, dec) around (30 sts)
Rnd 16: (sc in next 3 sts, dec) around (24 sts)
At this point it may be a good idea to add the safety eyes where you would like. I added mine between rows 12 and 13. Once your eyes are in place, lightly stuff the head to make the stuffing process a little easier later.
Rnd 17: (sc in next 2 sts, dec) around (18 sts)
Rnd 18: (sc, dec) around (12 sts)
Rnd 19: dec around (6 sts)
Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing to the body. Finish stuffing the head FIRMLY.
At this point I like to decorate the face to give me a better understanding of how her "mood" will be and how I want to style her. You can do this now or skip it and do it later.
Eyelids (Make 2)
You can use your skin color or even an eye shadow color for the eyelids. You'll also need your steel/smaller hook for this. DO NOT WORK IN THE ROUND FOR THE LIDS.
Row 1: Make a magic loop and sc 4 in the loop. Turn (4 sts)
Row 2: sc across (4 sts)
Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing to the head.
Eyes
You should already have the eyes in place, so you will need to sew the eyelids over the eyes. You can position them however you like to achieve the look you want. Making more of the black show makes the eyes look more awake and natural, whereas the lower you go over the black of the eye the sleepier it looks. Play around with it and don't hesitate to take it apart and try again if it's not looking right.
Nose
In the center of the face, between the eyes, use your cotton floss/embroidery thread to around two stitches a few times. Just bring your needle up on one side and place your needle back down after two stitches. Come back up and around a few times until you feel the nose is thick enough. The number of times you go around can change the look of the face greatly, so do whatever you think if right for the look you want.
Mouth
Play around with lip colors to suit your needs. For a more natural look, stick to peachy colors instead of the skin color. The mouth is a little harder to explain, but I hope my little sketch below helps to explain how I achieved the look of my lips. (Tip: Bring your stitches up through the posts of crochet stitches, not through the spaces between them.)
So in my little guideline, the red lines will make up the upper lip and the blue lines will make up the lower lip. I started with the lower red line, making the two dashes meet in the center, then did the upper two lines. I then created the blue lines, working my way down and making sure the lines touch the upper lip but curving them down in the center. If this doesn't make sense then please feel free to leave a comment! :)
Eyebrows
I usually wait until I have the hair on to do the eyebrows, but here is how I did them. They are super easy and are made up of two lines. Starting at the inside corner of the eye, you will create a long line starting a a little further to the inside of the face and ending just after the black pupil part of the eye. Then make a smaller line slanting downward and a little farther past the outside corner of the eye.
You can make the eyebrows into any shape you want, so feel free to play with them to give the look some character.
Ears
In your skin yarn and size D hook, make a magic loop and sc 4 into the loop. Pull the loop tight and don't slst. Fasten it off, leaving a long tail to sew to the head.
Body
Use your skin color and your size D hook.
Rnd 1: Make a magic loop and sc 6 into the loop. (6 sts)
Rnd 2: inc around (12 sts)
Rnd 3: sc around (12 sts)
Switch to your shirt color.
Rnd 4: (sc, inc) around (18 sts)
Rnd 5: sc around
Rnd 6: (sc in next 2 sts, inc) around (24 sts)
Rnd 7-16: sc around
Now you can switch to your skirt color.
Rnd 17-21: sc around
Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing the body closed later.
Legs (Make 2)
The feet are worked from the bottom up. Use your skin color and size D hook.
Rnd 1: Make a magic loop and sc 6 into the loop. (6 sts)
Rnd 2: inc around (12 sts)
Rnd 3: (sc, inc) around (18 sts)
Rnd 4: (sc in next 2 sts, inc) around (24 sts)
Rnd 5-6: sc around
Rnd 7: sc next 6 sts, dec 6 times, sc in next 6 sts (18 sts)
Rnd 8: dec, sc in next 4 sts, dec 3 times, sc in next 4 sts, dec (13 sts)
Rnd 9: sc in next 5 sts, dec, sc in last 6 sts (12 sts)
Rnd 10: sc across
Rnd 11: (dec, sc in next 4 sts) 2 times (10 sts)
Rnd 12-31: sc around
Fasten off. You don't need a tail for these. Stuff them firmly, leaving the last two rows of sc's empty for sewing to the body.
Arms (Make 2)
Use your skin color and size D hook.
Rnd 1: make a magic loop and sc 6 into the loop. (6 sts)
Rnd 2: (inc, sc in next 2 sts) 2 times (8 sts)
Rnd 3-4: sc across
Rnd 5: sc across, make a thumb (ch 4, sk 1, slst next 3 ch's) (8 sts and a thumb)
Rnd 6: sc across in the 8 sc's
Rnd 7: (sc in next 2 sts, dec) 2 times (6 sts)
Stuff the hand firmly.
Rnd 8-21: sc across
Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing to the body. I choose not to stuff the arms to make them lay flat nicely and more pose-able.
Shoes (Make 2)
I used two different colors, one for soles and one for the upper part of the shoe. You can use two colors or one. If you choose to use two colors, change to the second color after round 4.
Rnd 1: Make a magic loop and sc 6 into the loop. (6 sts)
Rnd 2: inc around (12 sts)
Rnd 3: (sc, inc) around (18 sts)
Rnd 4: (sc in next 2 sts, inc) around (24 sts)
Rnd 5-7: sc around
Rnd 8: sc in next 7 sts, hdc, dc2tog 2 times, trc3tog (instructions for this st are below), dc2tog 2 times, hdc, sc, slst to the next st (15 sts)
Fasten off and weave in end. You can attach the shoes to the feet when you’re all done.
Trc3tog (treble crochet 3 together): Yarn over 2 times and insert hook into the first st, yarn over and draw loop through the st (4 loops on hook). Yarn over and pull through two loops on hook, yarn over and pull through two loops again (2 loops now on hook). Yarn over 2 times and insert hook into the second st, yarn over and draw loop through the st (5loops on hook). Yarn over and pull through two loops on hook, yarn over and pull through two loops again (3 loops now on hook). Yarn over 2 times and insert hook into the third st, yarn over and draw loop through the st (6 loops on hook). Yarn over and pull through two loops on hook, yarn over and pull through two loops again (4 loops now on hook).Then yarn over and pull through all the loops on the hook.
Skirt
Ok, the skirt is up for interpretation. I knitted the skirt for the doll pictured, however here is a basic pattern of what I did, but in crochet form.
Use your skirt color you did on the bottom of your body and a size D hook. Work back and forth, turning your work.
Ch 27
Row 1: sc in 2nd ch from hook and each ch across, TURN (26 sts)
Row 2-4: ch 1, sc across, TURN
Row 5: ch 1, sc 5, inc, (sc 4, inc) 3 times, sc 5, TURN (30 sts)
Row 6-8: ch 1, sc across, TURN
Row 9: ch 1, sc 3, inc, (sc 5, inc) 4 times, sc 2, TURN (35 sts)
Row 10-12: ch 1, sc across, TURN
Row 13: sc 4, picot (instructions for this st are below), (sc 3, picot) 10 times, sc last st (35 sts & 11 picots)
Fasten off, leaving a long enough tail to sew the two sides of the skirt together and then sew the skirt to the body.
Picot stitch: ch 3, sk 2 ch’s and slst to the 3rd ch to form a loop. Continue in pattern as normal.
Sew the skirt to the body so the top of the skirt matches up with the skirt line of the body (Round 17).
Assembly
You can now assemble your doll. I like to assemble the doll completely before I put the hair on so that the hair doesn’t get in the way.
Place the legs side by side inside the body opening and sew the bottom of the body shut, sewing through both layers of the body as well as the layers of the legs. Make sure the feet are facing the same direction.
Sew the head to the top of the body next. Sew through the top of the last round on the head and through the posts of the second round of the body. You can make it work the way however you like. Sew it tightly so that the head doesn’t wobble too much. (Some wobbling is to be expected.)
Now you can sew the arms how you like them. Lay the top of the arms flat and sew them down to the body. In order to make the top of the body look like a tank top, make sure you sew the arms below the neckline.
Hair
Wig Cap
You should create a cap in the color you are making your hair in order to cover the scalp of the head. This will help to make the hair look fuller and stop any of the skin color from showing through.
If you are using a worsted weight yarn in the same thickness of the body yarn, you can follow the first 10 rounds or so of the head pattern. Just keep placing the cap to the head and checking the fit til you like it.
I used a sports weight yarn to make the hair thinner. Since it’s a thinner weight yarn you won’t be able to follow the pattern completely. For sports weight yarns, follow the first 6 rounds of the head pattern and then continue in the same increases until the circle is the same diameter as the head. You can then work a few rounds of single crochets until it sits on the head the way you want it. Check it often to make sure you don’t crochet too far.
Sew your cap to the head but tilted slightly back like hair, then sew the ears just in the front of the cap, making sure they line up with the eyes.
Hair Strands
Now you’ll need to create her hair. I cut strands of yarn about 16 inches long.
The great part about a ponytail is that you don’t have to cover the entire head. I start around the crown of the head where the ponytail will go and attach the yarn in a circular section about a half an inch wide.
Attaching the Hair: Use your D hook to go around a post of a stitch and grab the center of a strand of yarn. Pull it through the cap, creating a loop. You’ll then pull the strands of the yarn through the loop and pull it tightly.
Once you've finished the ponytail section you’ll need to move on to the edges. Attach a single row of hair onto the skin/head at the edge of the cap. If you attach it to the cap it will pull up the edges of the cap, which is no good. Attaching it to the head instead of the cap will allow it to look more like an actual ponytail and it won’t pull the cap.
Once you’ve gone all the way around the edge of the cap, you will need to pull the ponytail up. Pull the edge hairs up to the ponytail hairs and wrap it with some complimenting yarn. You’ll need to trim up the ponytail so that it looks even since the edge hair will be shorter than the ponytail hair.
Finishing Touches
You can add some optional finishing touches. Here is what I did!
• I added some blush to the cheeks with my own makeup.
• I glued mini pompoms on the shirt to make a 3D flower.
• I created a belt with brown yarn and a row of single crochets. I then sewed it to the shirt line with complimenting yarn.
All done! I hope you like it!
If you have any questions about this pattern then please feel free to leave a comment or email me. For more info on my terms of use then please visit the terms page linked in the linkbar above! :)
Happy crocheting,
~Chassity O.
