Fleece Plush Doll

by JOANN |

Item # 4221156703P23

Intermediate 3-5 Hours

Set the front hair piece in place on one of the head pieces, just to get a sense of where it will be, and draw the eyes, nose, and mouth on the face with a disappearing ink pen (or chalk, or lightly with pencil.)

With right sides together, sew head with embroidered face to a dress piece, bottom of neck to top of dress. Set aside.

With right sides together, sew the other head piece to the other dress piece, bottom of neck to top of dress. Set aside.

Place two leg pieces, right sides together and sew all the way around, leaving the place where it will attach to the dress. Repeat to make the other leg.

Fold an arm piece right sides together and sew all the way around, leaving open the place where it will attach to the dress. Repeat to make the other arm.

Trim off a little extra fabric in the seam at the toe points of the foot and the finger points of the arm, keeping about a 1/4" seam in those areas.

Turn legs and arms right side out and stuff with Poly-fil, using something like a point turner or the handle of a paintbrush to push the fabric and the stuffing.

Flip the arms in so that they are resting on top of the dress, and keep their curved edge openings lined up with the curved edge armhole of the dress. Straight pin in place.

Flip the legs up so they are resting on top of the dress (and on top of the arms, too), keep their openings lined up with the bottom edge of the dress. Straight pin in place.

Place the front of the head and dress piece right side down over the arms and legs and match all its edges up with the back of the head and dress piece. Straight pin in place.

Now you basically have the front and back head and dress pieces pinned right sides together, with the arms and legs sandwiched on the inside.

Flip the doll right side out, and fill with Poly-fil, again using something like the handle of a paintbrush to get the stuffing down.

Sew the opening at the top of the head closed, and set the doll momentarily aside.

With right sides together, sew the front hair piece to the back hair piece. Turn right side out and place over the head. Fill with a little bit of stuffing, especially at the top and side curls of the hair. Use Fabric Glue to attach it to the head, and use straight pins to secure it in place as the Fabric Glue dries. Set the doll aside to dry as you make the shoes and the bow.

For the shoes, make sure that one shoe piece is solid and the other has a little inset cut out to give it a Mary Jane appearance. This may be most precisely done with a sharp X-Acto knife, but can be done with scissors as well.

Match up front of shoe to back of shoe, right sides together, pin, and sew all the way around, leaving the top open. Trim fabric bulk off the point of the toe and turn right side out. Repeat for the other shoe.

Pull the shoes on over the doll’s feet and dab the inside with Fabric Glue. Secure the shoes in place with straight pins as the glue dries.

For the hair bow, simply squish in the middle of the 2"x 7" rectangle that you’d cut and tie into place with a bit of your embroidery floss. Then take the skinny 1/4" rectangle and wrap it over the tied embroidery floss, hand sew it in place at the back of the bow, and trim off any excess fabric length.

Set the bow in place on the hair and hand sew it on with the embroidery floss. Then give it a dab of Fabric Glue as well and secure it in place with a couple pins as the glue dries.

Flip the doll over to hand sew the opening on the bottom edge of the back of the hair. Tuck the hem in so that the edge looks consistent with the turned-in edge of the rest of the hair back, and hand sew with a slipstitch.

To slip stitch: with matching thread in a hand sewing needle, start thread in the hem and knot. Then pull straight up through the hem crease. Next, pull the thread over to the hem crease on the opposite side of the opening and push down through the hem crease. Make a little stitch on the inner part of the hem, and pull to the outside again through the hem crease. Continue in this pattern, with all of your stitching along the edge hidden inside the hem and and all of your little stitches from hem crease to hem crease on the outside, across the opening. At the end of the opening, knot in the hem.

When the Fabric Glue is all set, remove the straight pins and the doll is finished.

Take care to cut and assemble all your fleece doll pieces so that the fluffy side of the fleece is on the outside and the smoother side of the fleece is on the inside.

When you’re drawing the face at the very beginning, consider giving about an inch of space between the top of the neck and the mouth placement because, once stuffed, the mouth will look a little like it’s on the neck if it’s embroidered lower.