For Christmas, I made my nieces some cloth dolls. I made one for their big sister years ago, and now they each have one. I didn’t want them to all be identical, so I mixed it up with each of their faces and hair. The fabrics used for the bodies are the same on each.

Cloth dolls are so much fun to make, and the hair is no exception! On one of the dolls, I used wool felt and stitched an extra circle of felt on for a bun. I did a little bit of free motion quilting to do the swirl on the hair. I was planning for it to look nice and smooth, but I actually like the wonky way it turned out. For the other doll, I made wool hair. I followed this tutorial to make two wefts of hair that are then stitched onto the dolls head. I am thrilled with the way it turned out! It’s so much fun to play with and was lots of fun to create. I am tempted to make one for myself.

The pattern I used for the dolls is based on the ‘Violet’ doll from the book Hop Skip Jump by Fiona Dalton. Sadly the book is out of print. It’s such a beautiful book and I’ve made quite a few of the sotfies out of it, like these softies and this fox. I’ve actually used the Violet doll pattern six times now! If you come across the book in your travels, then do pick it up.

I’d love to work my way through to book and make each softie. It’d be great to have them on hand for baby or kids gifts. What’s your favourite softie pattern?