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Easy Knit Doll

Easy Knit Doll with free pattern

Size

12 inches (30 cm) tall.

Materials

  • Small amounts of double knit yarn in various colours. You won’t need more than 2 ounces (56 grams) of any colour unless you use cotton (which is heavier).
  • 1 pair of US#3 knitting needles (UK#10, 3.25mm)
  • Stuffing

Gauge

26sts and 52 rows to 4 inches (10cm) over garter stitch on suggested needles.

Pattern

Legs (make 2)
Using your shoe colour cast on 26 stitches and k 16 rows.
Cut your shoe colour and join the colour for your doll’s pants.
K 42 rows, then cast off.

Body and Head (make 1)
Using your pants colour, cast on 52 sts and k 16 rows.
Change to your shirt colour and k 42 rows.
Change to your skin colour and k 40 rows.
Cut your yarn, leaving a long tail. Thread it through the lives sts, pull tight to gather and fasten off.

Arms (make 2)
Using skin tone cast on 20sts and knit 10 rows.
Change to shirt colour and knit 46 rows. Cast off.

Making Up

Fold the Body in half and sew the long side.
Fold so that the seam just sewn runs down the centre back, stuff and sew the bottom seam.
Gather around the neck and pull firmly to make the neck.
Embroider face.

Fold the arms and legs in half lengthways.
Sew seam on one end and long edge.
Stuff, then sew remaining short end closed.

Sew to body as shown in the photograph.

Wig (excerpt from “Bliss’s Dolly” pattern):

For a Girl:
First, decide how long you want the wig to be. Do this by measuring from the gather at the top of the head down the back of the doll to the point you want the hair to reach. You may want to embroider the face on the doll first to help determine this.

Take a book, the width of which is roughly 2 inches more than the length you want the hair to be. The best thing to use here is a hard-cover novel if you can find one the right size. (I used ‘Knitting in America’)

Wind the yarn you have chosen for the hair round & round the book neatly until you have covered the length determined by your measurement (mine was 11cm). Wind back over the first layer to make a nice thick head of hair. Repeat if desired.

Wig diagram

Sew through the yarn down the spine of the book with a small neat backstitch, making sure to catch all the yarn in the stitches.

Cut the yarn on the opposite edge of the book so that you end up with lots of long strands of yarn sewn together down the middle. Using the stitched line as the part in the hair sew it to the head of the doll.

For a fringe (bangs) you can trim the front, or if you prefer you can embroider them underneath before sewing on the wig.

Style the hair as you wish. If making pigtails, make sure you catch down a suitable amount of the hair near the ears (if she had any), so as to avoid a ‘mohawk’.

Boy’s Wig:
Make wig as for girl’s hair, but wind around a ruler instead of a book and slip the loops off the ruler instead of cutting.

Make several of these and, starting at the gather on top of the head, sew down in an outward spiral. This should create a thick curly head of hair suitable for a boy doll. Keep going until you have covered the head.


This pattern is Copyright © Sarah Bradberry April 2nd 2001, all rights reserved.