How to sew a Black Apple Rag Doll – Beginner Sewing Project
Many moons ago (2011 to be precise), I made a set of Black Apple Rag Dolls with a lovely free pattern. It is a great beginner’s sewing project and wonderful for using up odds and scraps of fabrics. For my original Rag Dolls, I actually used my kids’ old clothes, turning these into wonderful keepsake dolls for us! You may also like my Rabbit Rag Doll Pattern.
I have a small photo gallery of the dolls I amde. And you can see that I definitely improved my sewing skills as well as placing of the face” skills with each one!! Well, we all learn, right?
A flash back to the original posts about this.
This is a popular rag doll that Emily from Black Apple made for Martha Steward‘s site. The original post on this is no longer available, but you can still access the pattern (phew) and I also made some notes on it!
The first doll, I made was the simple black haird doll. I made it for a friend’s daughter’s first birthday.. you can see that my sewing skills still need a little improving. Plus, I didn’t place the face too well. But I improved very quickly…
At the time, I loved the doll so much, that I *really* had to make another fo rmy daughter. And then a friend asked if I could make her one with pink hair too.. so I did!
I have to say it is rather an addictive doll to make.. once you have made one, you want to make more and more… I LOVE LOVE LOVE her! And you fill see that you improve your skills very quickly!
In some of the photos my dolls look a little lumpy, but they aren’t, I just too bad photos! Ha.
Supplies needed to make your doll
I upcycled some of my kids’ old clothes, which makes them super cute keep sakes. However, I did use some t-shirt material, which is stretchy and harded to work with.. so I recommend using cottons in future! You will need:
- plain cotton in the skin tone of choice
- pattern fabric (ideally not a stretchy one) for both the main body and the legs (this is where using upcycled fabrics is really nice)
- some felt pieces for the hair
- pins, scissors & fabric chalk
- stuffing (we like to upcycle old pillows)
- ideally a sewing machine, but these can be hand sewn too
- fabric pen for the eyes and mouth or you can hand stitch them or you can use a little acrylic paint but be careful not to smudge it (I did at first!)
Please note: the original Black Apple Doll by Emily post is no longer available on the Martha Steward Website, however the pattern still is!! And I have linked to the pattern directly. SHOULD this get taken down over time (quite possible!) please do contact me and let me know, as I can possibly recreate something similar for you!
Notes on sewing your doll
1) Add a seam allowance to the arms
The arms don’t have a seam allowance, so mark them out and sew them before cutting them out.
2) Be playful with the hair
I added little pig tails – two pieces of felt sewing together and then added the same way the arms and legs are added – I saw some other dolls around with them and wanted them for my doll too!
3) Upcycle Clothes to make a keepsake
I used a little top my little girl used to wear between 3-6months (aaah). The 3 buttons were already on it.I had to hand sew that bit, as the buttons wouldn’t “go under the needle on the machine”. I guess I could have taken the button off and sewn back on later.. either way it didn’t take long. The dolls “tights” are one of Pip Squeak’s babygrows (onesies)!
In hindsight, I would look to upcycle my kids’ COTTON clothes. The clothes I used were stretchy and a little harder to work with (also partly why the photo looks a lumpy).
4) Opening for turning and stuffing:
Instead of leaving the opening for turning inside out on the head, I left it on the side of the body. I thought it was neater that way (and if you look at my first doll, the head has a slightly funny shape because of the original placement of the opening).
5) Don’t smudge the face (ha!)
I smudge the eye a little when taking the photo AAARRRRRGGGH.
Black Apple Dolls rock!
Want to take your sewing skills a step further? Check out my “Doll in a Box” gift set I made my little girl. This uses a different doll pattern, but there are a lot of similarities. And we enjoyed accessorising the doll with many more makes!:
More sewing projects to have a go at:
