This Queen of Hearts is quite the tart and here for your Valentine's Day!
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Details
This Queen of Hearts is quite the tart and here for your Valentine's Day!
This royal lady is perfect for stealing hearts on Valentine's Day but her pattern is more than just a holiday novelty. Her Royal Robe is easily constructed from felt. The Gown is made from a traditional Bishop Dress pattern that is so easy and can be adapted for many costumes on other dolls. Her long golden hair is caught in a beautiful gold mesh snood. And her regal crown is easily made from jewelry findings. But the best part is the beautiful body pattern. The torso is designed like a dressmakers manikin. It's a simple construction but has lots of shape.
I hope your Valentine's Day is filled with dolls and lots of love! Happy Valentine's Day!
Diane Lewis
To ensure your success making this doll I suggest you read through the instructions before you begin. Once you have a general idea of what you are about to do you can proceed with ease!
Supply List
-1/4 Yard of high quality fabric for body. I used Southern Belle Muslin
-A piece of Silk, Organza, or other light weight fabric for the Gown. The size is 12" by 15."
-Two 8" by 10" squares of red felt.
-Scraps of white or pink felt for embellishments.
-High quality polyester fiberfill. I always use Airtex Premium Quality Fiberfill.
-Medium White Rick Rack for embellishments. (Or you can choose any type of lace, roping, or trims)
-A 7" circle of gold mesh. (Most always found in the formal and bridal departments of fabric stores.)
-Elastic Thread - preferably gold metallic.
-Good quality thread.
-A 2" brass loop. ( Found in craft stores)
-Heart shaped jewelry findings or charms.
-A 6 or 7 inch piece of 1/8 inch ribbon.
-Hot glue gun
-GRRRIP Glue
-Doll hair. (This doll used Blond Curly Roving by All Cooped Up)
-Micron Pens and Prismacolor Pencils for the face.
-Tiny Turning Tubes for fingers.
Instructions:
You will need to add a 1/4 inch seam allowance to all body parts except the arms. Be sure to read the instructions on the pattern before you cut on the arms and legs!
Carefully cut the pattern pieces from your fabric. Begin with the body front parts. Pin the front side panel to the center front panel using the marks on the pattern pieces. I find it is much easier to sew if I baste the pieces together first. Sew both side panels to the center panel. Press seams open. ( Yes, this is a pain in the neck! But you will have a much nicer body if you take the time to do this. If it was only so easy for our bodies!)
With right sides together pin the front and back of the body together. Sew together but be sure you leave the arm and leg openings open. It is wise to back stitch at the end of the seams before you move over the arm or leg hole and move to the next seam line.
Once the front and back are sewn you can begin to stuff the body. Use the arm holes to fill the upper torso, the leg holes for the bottom torso. Stuff the body firmly. ( Especially the neck as it will support the head.) It will look like the stuffing is coming out of the arm and leg openings but you will be able to tuck it back in when you attach the appendages.
Legs
Trace the leg pattern directly on the fabric. (Or read the doll tip at the bottom of directions.) Be sure to leave an opening at the back of the leg so you can stuff it. Once legs are sewn, cut from fabric and trim to about an 1/8 inch from the seam. Stuff the legs taking extra care to firmly stuff the ankles. Using small amounts of stuffing and firmly packing as you go will give you a smooth strong leg. Pay attention to the ankles! If you don't stuff firmly she will look like she needs orthopedic shoes and is wearing baggy stockings!
Once the legs are stuffed, hand sew the opening closed using a small ladder stitch. I always finger press the seam allowance back so that it matches the rest of the seam allowance of the part. Then it is easy to take small invisible stitches to close the opening.
Arms
If you want to make great hands you need to really take your time sewing these parts. You must use a very tiny stitch when sewing the fingers. The other thing that can make or break doll fingers is using a high quality fabric. Turning little fingers puts lots of stress on both fabric and seams. The better the quality of fabric ( meaning a high thread count for wovens like muslins and tight weave for knits) the better your success will be in turning a finger without bursting a seam. I always use Fray Check or similar product around the fingers before I cut trim the hands out of fabric. Always let it dry first! Once it dries you can massage the fabric so it won't be so stiff and then cut the hand out. Trim very close to the seams. Use turning tubes or other tools to turn your fingers.
As with the legs, be sure to leave the back of the arm open so you can turn and stuff the arm. If you want to have moveable fingers you can use chenille stems (pipe cleaners) that have been wrapped with a wisp of stuffing to stuff the fingers. Then you can position the fingers like a real hand.
When you stuff the hands be careful with your stuffing. Too much stuffing makes an unrealistic hand. You need to "place your stuffing" rather than "stuff" your stuffing. The wrists are a different story. You need to have strong wrists on your doll.
Once your arms are stuffed, hand sew the opening closed using a small ladder stitch.
The Head
Before you begin the head, draw the face on the fabric. If you goof you haven't lost much. You can practice doing faces until you have a great one and then position the head pattern over the face and trace it on. The eyes should be at about the halfway point of the face. Once the pattern is traced on the fabric, sew the side seams up. Cut the head from the fabric.
At this point you will sew a running stitch around the top of the head where it is indicated on the pattern. Leave the needle and thread in place. You will use this to close the head after it is stuffed.
The throat is now turned up inside the head. Take a pencil and insert it into the "Throat" part of the head piece and begin stuffing the "chin" part of the head. By leaving the pencil in place you will be creating a cavity to insert the neck of the doll. By carefully stuffing around the pencil you will create a nice chin with no wrinkles. Continue stuffing the head firmly. Once you have the head stuffed you can pull the needle and thread to gather and close the top of the head. You can now arrange any gathers that would detract from the face side of the doll. Once you are satisfied with the way the face and head look, take a few stitches and secure the top of the head closed. Knot the thread securely.
Attaching the Arms and Legs.
Beginning with the legs, you will be place them so they are nestled in the "Hip Socket." The seam on the front of the leg should line up with the side panel seams on the torso. Pin legs in place securely and stitch in place, tucking in any excess stuffing as you go.
The same procedure is used for the arms. The only difference is that you can position the arms to change the expression (or body language) of the doll. Once you have the arms in the position you want, stitch them in place. Remember to finger press the seam allowance around the arm and leg holes before sewing on arms and legs. You will want to be sewing a folded edge not a raw edge of fabric. Use a tiny ladder stitch to attach.
Sewing on the Head
Place the neck from the body into the cavity you have created at the bottom of the head. You can position and pose the head however you choose. Then sew the head securely in place.
The Hair
The hair I used for this doll was Curly Roving but you can choose any hair you have on hand or are comfortable working with. Because the hair is covered with a snood you don't need to do anything terribly dramatic. I just attached the hair using GRRRIP glue and trimmed it once the glue was dry.
The Golden Snood
Cut a seven inch circle of gold mesh. Fold under about a ½ inch and sew a running stitch using elastic thread around the perimeter of the circle. (I used gold metallic elastic.) Pull to gather, testing the size before you knot the thread. The snood should be sort of like a hair net. The gold mesh will give a regal air to the hair and crown.
The Dress
Cut a piece of fabric 12 inches by 15 inches. Fold fabric in half and cut the "V" (armholes) from fabric as indicated on pattern. Stitch the seam sleeves from the bottom of sleeve (the cuff) to the dot marked on pattern. Stitch the sleeves into the armholes. Press seams open.
Sew a running stitch across the top of the dress. Pull thread to gather, measuring on the doll. Once you have gathered the neckline so it comfortably fits the doll, knot to secure gathering. You may want to sew two lines of running stitches and gather the two together. By doing this you can get the gathers to fall more uniformly. Because the neckline of this dress will be covered up by the robe, you may choose to leave the neckline raw. To finish the neck use binding tape or a strip of fabric cut on the bias.
Try the dress on the doll and hem. You are almost done!
Hem the sleeves and either sew a small elastic tape to the inside of the hem to gather it or simply sew a running stitch at the edge and gather. Be sure you do this once it is on the doll or you may have trouble getting it over her hands.
Hand stitch the back closed. You can also sew the back closed on your sewing machine leaving enough of an opening to get it on the doll and then sew the rest closed by hand or fasten with buttons or Velcro.
You can use a simple ribbon to cinch the waist.
Now this dress looked pretty good but it lacked that "something." I decided that it needed to have the shoulders puffed up so they would not flatten down once the robe was on. I took a small piece of nylon tulle (netting) and cut a 2 ½ inch circle. I sewed a running stitch round the edge and pulled to gather. Before I closed it I filled it with a small ball of stuffing. Pull it closed and voila! You have royal shoulder pads! I simply secured them in place with a couple of stitches.
Now we are getting somewhere! I decided that the sides of the dress needed a bustle to keep the skirt full at the sides. A six inch circle of tulle gathered and stuffed made perfect bustles. Now the dress drapes over the hips looking just royal! Once the Robe was put on the Gown stuck out at all the right places. Try making these simple shoulder pads and bustles. It will make your costume go from peasant to pleasant!
The Robe
Cut the felt as indicated on the pattern. Stitch the shoulder seams and iron seams flat. Be careful to check your iron temp on the felt. Some synthetics have a really low heat tolerance. The robe was embellished with medium rick rack and gold braid. The white felt hearts were applied with GRRRIP Glue as was the rest of the trim. Once you have completed the embellishments you can add ribbon ties to close the back of the garment. The robe is a perfect opportunity to use your stash of trims and jewels. Get creative!
The Crowning Touch!
Craft stores have an abundance of great charms and jewelry findings that made this crown so easy to make. I used 3/8 inch gold hearts. Lay out a piece of scotch tape - sticky side up. ( I laid this on my ironing board and used a straight pin to hold the tape in place.) For a two inch crown you will need a 6 ¼ inch piece of tape. Line the hearts up next to each other on the tape using the bottom of the tape as a guide to keep them level. Once you have the hearts arranged on the tape and any other jewels you want in your crown, run a small line of hot glue across the hearts. Before the glue has time to cool lay an 1/8 piece of ribbon on the glue and let the glue set. Once the glue has cooled you can gently remove the tape from the front of the hearts.
Now you can wrap your hearts and jewels into a circle. It can be easily glued to the 2 inch brass ring. And now you have the Crown Jewels!
Word of caution! If your hearts and jewels have metallic plating on them the scotch tape may pull it off. Test the back side of a heart with tape before you begin.
The Bouquet
Snip a small bit of greenery from a silk plant that has small leaves. The blossoms in her bouquet are red felt hearts that are tacked to the ends of the stems.
Sewing Tip~
You may find sewing tiny parts like hands and legs much easier if you trace the pattern on paper - tracing paper, or other thin paper, and then sew directly on the paper over the fabric. The paper will glide under the pressure foot much easier than fabric. Once you are done sewing you can just rip the paper off. This works especially well when you are trying to turn small curves like finger tips and small feet.
Best for Adults
