Rag Doll Continued pg. 5
Attaching legs to body: With the back leg seam in the center of each leg, pin the legs side by side onto the outside front bottom of the body. Make sure the tops of the legs run down the front of the body and the toes are pointing toward the face. Baste in place. Turn the straight edge of the bottom of the back body seat gusset under 1/8" and pin to the front body with the legs sandwiched in between. Hand sew the body front, legs and back all together. Set aside.
Hand/Arms: Insert a prepared stem into the arm and firmly stuff the hand around the stem, up to the wrist, keeping the stem in the middle, and then moderately stuff the arm to the elbow. If you are making the child's doll, omit the prepared stems. Choose the type of joint you will be using for the doll, the knotted or the string, and work as follows:
- Knotted joints for the arms - Loosely tie a knot in the arm and move the knot to where you wish the elbow to be. Tighten the knot, but not too tightly and keep the seams straight and under the arm. Very lightly stuff the top of the arm. Repeat for the other arm, making sure the knotted elbows are even.
- Optional string joints for the arms - Hand sew the joint, using a needle and thread that matches the color of the arms. Leave a thread tail about 6" long for tying off and start at the bottom underarm seam of the arm where you wish the elbow joint to be, take a few small stitches in the same place to anchor the thread. Sew a small running stitch evenly all around the elbow, meeting the beginning thread tail at the bottom of the elbow. Pull the thread to draw the elbow tightly in. Wrap the thread once around the joint and then tie the threads together at the back of the elbow. Very lightly stuff the top of the arm. Repeat for the other arm, making sure the string elbows are even.
Attaching arms to body: Tack the end of the stem in place on the shoulder. Adjust the end of the arm material to the proper length by turning in the raw edge at the top. Arrange the arm material evenly around the shoulder making sure the thumbs on the hand point toward the front and the arm seam is at the bottom of the underarm and then hand sew the arm in place.
Finishing:
Skirt: With the right sides together fold the skirt fabric in half lengthwise. Folded, the piece will measure 5"x 5". Sew the back seam and finger press it open (open seam). You may also serge the seam. Clean finish both top and bottom raw edges of the skirt. Turn up the bottom edge of the skirt ¼ " and hand or machine sew the hem in place. Fold the top edge of the skirt down ¼ " and run a small gathering stitch by hand or machine around the top. Press the skirt. Place the skirt on the doll where you wish the skirt to be and pull up the gathering threads to fit evenly around the body. Tie the gathering threads tightly together at the back of the skirt and cut them off. Tack the skirt to the body at the sides, front and back at the top in the skirt gathers.
