Selvedge Sally

This rag doll is a great way of using up your scraps and left-overs, and is easy to make too! I like to look of different coloured and patterns of fabric, and I'm using cotton as its easier to work with.

For the legs, four strips of fabric measuring around 11" x 2.5", jelly roll strips are perfect.

For the arms, four strips measuring 6" x 2.5".
Pair up the strips of fabric and lay right sides together, sew around three sides leaving a gap at the top and round off the bottom to give shape to the hands and feet.
Stuff them with wadding and sew across the open end.


Sew a strip of calico or any plain pale fabric measuring about 6" x 5" to the body fabric, this measures about 7" long x about 5" wide. I'm saying 'about' as the measurements really don't have to be accurate!

      

Take a cup or similar round object and draw around it on the calico for the head shape, cut out the circle and round off the shoulders.



Now for the face, I drew a simple mouth and dots for eyes, then back-stitched over the mouth and french knotted the eyes. The lips and cheeks I drew on with a pro-marker.



Right sides together, sew from one shoulder, around the head and finish at the other shoulder.



Place one arm inside the doll and sandwich it into the side seam, sew all the way down the side.



Repeat on the other side with the second arm, this is a bit of a struggle but push both arms inside the body and sew down the second side.

Turn the right side out and stuff, leaving half an inch or so unstuffed at the bottom of the doll as you'll need to attach the legs here.

Fold in the hem at the dolls bottom by about 1/2 inch, put the legs in position and pin, then sew straight across.

The hair is about 15 strips of fabric measuring about 20" x 1/2 ", I backstitched this straight down the centre of the back of the head. A little bow on top looks cute!

For her dress, I cut a strip of fabric 24" x 6" and gathered across the top, use the longest stitch on your sewing machine and sew two rows of straight stitch, then pull the bottom threads to gather. I've left the selvedge across the bottom of the skirt, this is where Sally got her name!

The waistband is a strip measuring 10" x 2", I sewed this face down to the gathered skirt, then folded over and top stitched to make neat. Then I sewed the two raw edges together to make a tube.

The straps are ribbons, attached with a couple of buttons.

The finishing touch was to tie a couple of ribbons around her ankles to look like ballet shoes, and I made a little necklace with buttons threaded onto cotton, obviously be careful if you're giving this to a small child.