I can’t tell you how much my Grandmother’s handmade gifts have inspired many of my own designs. She made me so many handmade gifts growing up but it is her simple rag dolls that inspired the Heirloom Crochet Doll.
When I was a child, my grandmother made all her granddaughters rag dolls. They were 2-3 feet tall and had clothes for dressing. They were simply two pieces of cloth cut into a doll shape and sewn together. We loved their hand painted faces and yarn hair. They were a truly simple design that left a lasting impression on us. Nothing is more special than a handmade gift.
It is true! Handmade gifts are extremely unique and handmade dolls are one of the most memorable gifts. How do I know? I asked my Facebook Group to share their most memorable handmade gift growing up and 50% of them said a doll or clothes for a doll.
The Doll
So let’s make a special handmade gift for someone we love with the Heirloom Crochet Doll Pattern. I will confess, this pattern will have you pulling out quite a bit of supplies from your craft room. We will use felt for hair, crochet the doll body, and embroider the facial features. I even used a little makeup to add a rose color to their cheeks.
Finding skin tone colors in yarn can be a bit tricky. In the Red Heart Super Saver line, I used Aran for a pale skin tone, Buff for a medium skin tone, and Cafe Latte for a dark skin tone (seen in video tutorial).
The Doll Clothes
You will find that there is no pattern below for doll clothes. Do not worry many designs are already in the works. Honestly though, I want to know what kind of clothes YOU would like to see patterns for! Leave a comment below telling me what doll clothes patterns would make you happy. I will use your comments to inspire future clothes patterns.
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Heirloom Crochet Doll Pattern
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Materials Needed
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70 yards (1.34 oz) of Red Heart Super Saver Yarn in Skin Tone Color
35 yards (0.67 oz) of Red Heart Super Saver Yarn in Accent Color
Crochet Hook, Size E, 3.5mm
Yarn Needle
Scissors
12 inches of 1/2 inch lace trim
Embroidery thread and needles (Thread colors for hair, eyes and eye lashes and lips)
8.5 x 11 inch Sheet of Felt in hair color
Polyfil
Glue Gun (optional)
Glue Sticks (optional)
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My Pattern Testers recommended having a row counter as well.
Stitches and Abbreviations
Ch – Chain
Sc – Single Crochet
Sc3Tog – Single Crochet Three Stitches Together
Sc2Tog – Single Crochet Two Stitches Together
Sk – Skip
St(s) – Stitches
Slst – Slip Stitch
MC – Magic Circle (Learn a new way to make a MC here!)
Difficulty Level – Intermediate
Gauge and Finished Size
Gauge – 5 Sc x 5 Rows = 1 inch
Final Size – The crochet doll measures 12.5 inches tall.
Special Stitch
Sc3Tog – *insert hook into next St, Yarn over and pull up a loop* repeat from *to* a total of three times. You will end up with 4 loops on you hook and one loop pulled up from each of the next three stitches. Yarn over and pull the first loop through all for loops on the hook.
Stitch complete.
Heirloom Crochet Doll Pattern
Notes:
– Written in US terms.
— Pattern is worked in continuous rounds.
– Arms are worked separately and sewn onto the doll.
– You will want to use a stitch marker to mark the first stitch of your current row.
Ch7
R1: Work 2 Sc into the second Ch from the hook, Sc into next 4 Ch, Work 3 Sc into last Ch, working down the other side of the Ch, Work a Sc into next 5 Ch. (14)
R2: Work 3 Sc into next St, Sc into next 6 Sts, Work 3 Sc into next St, Sc into next 6 Sts. (18)
R3: Sc into next St, 3Sc into next St, Sc into next 8 Sts, 3Sc into next St, Sc into next 7 Sts. (22)
R4: Sc into next 2 Sts, 3Sc into next St, Sc into nest 10 Sts, 3Sc into next St, Sc into next 8 Sts. (26)
R5: Sc into next 3 Sts, 3Sc into next St, Sc into next 12 Sts, 3Sc into next St, Sc into next 9 Sts. (30)
R6: Sc into next 4 Sts, 3Sc into next St, Sc into next 14 Sts, 3Sc into next St, Sc into next 10 Sts. (34)
R7-12: Sc into next 34 Sts. (34)
R13: Sc into next 4 Sts, Sc3Tog, Sc into next 14 Sts, Sc3Tog, Sc into next 10 Sts. (30)
R14: Sc into next 3 Sts, Sc3Tog, Sc into next 12 Sts, Sc3Tog, Sc into next 9 Sts. (26)
R15: Sc into next 2 Sts, Sc3Tog, Sc into next 10 Sts, Sc3Tog, Sc into next 8 Sts. (22)
R16: Sc into next 1 Sts, Sc3Tog, Sc into next 8 Sts, Sc3Tog, Sc into next 7 Sts. (18)
R17: Sc3Tog, Sc into next 6 Sts, Sc3Tog, Sc into next 6 Sts. (14)
R18-19: Sc into next 14 Sts. (14)
Stuff Doll Head. Remember that the doll head is designed to be flat and not round like a sphere.
R20: Work 3 Sc into next St, Sc into next 6 Sts, Work 3 Sc into next St, Sc into next 6 Sts. (18)
R21: Sc into next 18 Sts. (18)
R22: Sc into next St, 3Sc into next St, Sc into next 8 Sts, 3Sc into next St, Sc into next 7 Sts. (22)
Change to White Yarn ( or undergarment color)
R23-30: Sc into next 22 Sts. (22)
R31: Sc into next 5 Sts, 3Sc into next St, Sc into next 10 Sts, 3Sc into next St, Sc into next 5 Sts. (26)
R32-38: Sc into next 26 Sts. (26)
In Row 39 we will start working the first leg. This is also a good time to stuff the body of the doll.
R39: Sc into next 3 Sts, Skip next 13 Sts, Sc into next 10 Sts. (13)
R40: Sc into next 13 Sts. (13)
Change Back to Skin Tone Color
R41-49: Sc into next 13 Sts. (13) Stuff the leg
R50: Sc into next 4 Sts, Sc2Tog, Sc into next 5 Sts, Sc2Tog. (11)
51-64: Sc into next 11 Sts (11)
R65: Sc into next St, Sc3Tog, Sc into next 7 Sts. (9) Stuff the Leg
R66: Sc3Tog, Sc into next 6 Sts. (7)
R67-69: Sc into next 7 Sts. (7)
Fasten off leaving a long end. Lightly stuff the leg of the doll and sew the toe close.
To work the second leg, go back to Row 39 and with your undergarment color yarn, Slst your yarn to a stitch near the center of the body.
Sc into the next 13 Sts. This will act as your Row 39 for the second leg.
Repeat row 40-71 of the above pattern to complete your second leg.
To hide the color changes, glue or sew the lace trim around the top of the undergarments and around each leg.
Crochet Doll Arms: Make 2
R1: Work 5 Sc into a MC. (5)
R2: Work 2Sc into the next 5 Sts. (10)
R3-24: Sc into next 10 Sts.
Fasten off leaving a long yarn tail. Use the yarn tail to gather up the stitches in the last row. Sew the arm shut and sew it onto the doll body.
How to Add the Felt Hair
Notes:
-The felt hair can be attached in two ways. You can sew it on or hot glue it on. The directions will be the same regardless of how you choose to attach it.
-You will need one 8.5 by 11 inch piece of felt, but it is a good idea to have a second piece on hand.
– Read all the instructions before cutting your felt so that you know how to position the pieces on the felt.
Step 1: Lay your doll head on the felt in one corner and cut a piece of felt roughly 1 inch wider on each side of the doll head. Once you have the first piece cut out, trace around your first piece and cut another identical piece of felt out.
Step 2: Take one piece of felt and line it up with the doll head. You want the top edge to line up with the very top center of the head like the photo below. If you are gluing I recommend putting a small dab in the back of the head to secure your piece.
We are trying to create a seam right down the side of the head. If the sides of your felt overlap a little then you can trim it up as needed.
Step 3: Glue or sew the side of the first piece of felt to the side of the head. Leave the last ½ inch and the bottom of the felt piece unattached. We want to attach the front of the hair and make sure the sides line up before we attach these sections.
Step 4: Take your second piece of felt, center it on your doll’s head and draw out the hairstyle you would like to have. You can see that I also drew out the eyes and mouth to decide how much hair I wanted her to have in her face.
Step 5: Cut out the face. You will see that I flipped the fabric over so that the marker lines do not show.
Step 6: Glue or sew the front piece of felt along the same seam as the back piece of felt. Once you reach the bottom edge of the seam you can trim the front and back so that your seam lines up along the side. Below is a photo of this step completed.
Step 7: Cut 3 – ¾ inch by 11” pieces of felt. Then cut to slits into the pieces leaving them attached by a small section at the top of the strip (pictured below). Then take the three pieces and braid them carefully together. I used a bit of glue to secure both ends.
Step 8: We will use these three braids to cover up our hair seams. Take one strand and glue or sew it over the center seam. If gluing, only glue 1 inch at a time. Then hold that section in place while it cools.
Step 9: Take one of your other braids and roll it up into a wheel. Make this braid bun as big or small as you like buy cutting off the excess braid. Tuck the exposed end behind the bun and secure by sewing or gluing.
Step 10: Sew or glue the buns over the exposed braid ends on the side of the head. Now the hair of your doll is complete and you are ready to embroider on the eyes and lips.
Crochet Doll Facial Features
It is hard to give exact instructions on how to embroider the eyes and mouth, but I can tell you how I did it and give you a few tips.
Tip 1: Use a very thin marker to outline where you want your eyes and mouth. Also practice drawing the eyes and mouth on a piece of paper several times before drawing onto the doll.
You will see that I made puffy lips, but I recommend making a simple mouth similar to the shape of the eyes. The puffy lips were very difficult to get them to come out perfect.
Tip 2: To get a nice clean line for your eyes, stitch a simple line first then come back and make a second layer of stitches to cover the gaps left from the first layer.
How I got the Crochet Doll puffy lips:
To create the puffy lip look I used two colors of thread.
Step 1: I used stitches to outline the lip I was working on.
Step 2: I made horizontal stitches to fill the lip with color. I inserted my needle on the inside of the outline I created.
When I completed this the lips looked pretty horrible.
Step 3: I did a second layer of vertical stitches, inserting my needle on the outside of the outline I made in Step 1. This left me with pretty puffy lips.
Tip 3: If you are new to embroidery, I recommend practicing making eyes and lips on a spare piece of cloth with an embroidery hoop. If you do two layers of satin stitches (the long stitches used to fill in color.) then you will have a raised detail.
Once your face is complete your crochet doll is ready to be gifted and enjoyed.
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