Bendy Doll Tutorial

So about a year ago I bought some super cute bendy dolls from Bear Dance Crafts.  I wanted to make a little family of dollhouse dolls for my kids to play with but for the life of me I couldn't find much online about these specific types of dolls and how to enhance them.  Woolhalla does these amazing dolls with fabric heads but I wasn't *quite* that ambitious so I decided to come up with a more simple way to make them.  I also decided I'd share what I did just in case there's anyone out there who wants to be able to make a simple set off bendy dollhouse dolls.  :)

So far I've made three dolls, one of each of my daughters and one of myself.  I haven't yet made my husband, hopefully I'll get around to him soon!  This tutorial is going to be for the mom doll simply because her dress is easier to make, all other aspects of these dolls have been done the same.  Please note this is for the large doll base (5 1/2"), for the smaller doll you would simply need to shorten the dress a bit. 

The first thing I did was paint the feet.  I used acrylic paint and then sealed it off with a soy varnish.  You may have to do 2 coats of paint depending on how opaque you like it.

Next I cut a long piece of cotton embroidery floss, you'll want all six strands and a really long piece.  Thread them into a needle and take that needle and stick it through the leg of the doll, starting about a cm away from the foot and angling it to come out as close to the foot as possible.

Take that thread and start to wrap it around the leg, keeping the layers of thread as close to possible without overlapping.  Make sure to go over the raw end of the thread you inserted.  Keep winding around until you get to the top of the leg.

Once you get to the top, insert the needle back into the leg, aiming underneath the thread you just wound and coming out at a part lower down the leg.  Snip off the loose ends.

Repeat for the other leg.

Now do the same for the arms.

To do the hair, take embroidery floss and wind it around something stiff (a piece of cardboard, or in my case, a deck of cards :) ) that is roughly twice as long as you want the hair to be.  Wind enough to cover the head, starting at the forehead and going down the back of the head.  Snip the thread at one long edge.

I then took the thread and glued it to the head all over the crown, leaving the ends loose for ponytails.  I just used white Elmer's glue but I'm sure there are many other options.  :)

Print out the dress pattern and trace it onto a piece of wool felt.  Cut it out and pin it onto the doll.  Sew the dress together under the arms and along the sides.  Do a blanket stitch around the neck to keep it stable and sew together down the back.

Using acrylic paint, paint on two eyes and if you like, a mouth.  And you're done!  :)