Easy way to needle sculpt dolls head

Transcription

1 Easy way to needle sculpt dolls head Crocheted head is done and stuffed firmly. Use pins as seen on the photo to help you follow the stitches when sculpting later. Yellow pin is where nose will be sewed. Black ones are where eyes will be placed later and red ones are the corners of the mouth. You can play with these red pins, or how wide you d like mouth to be. For this tutorial and mermaids, I used simple, normal size mouth and smile. 1

2 Thread your darning needle with the same yarn you used for crocheting your head and starting from the bottom head opening push the needle towards the nose area. Count two stitches you ll need for the nose. Two stitches you will sew over several times to create little nose. I placed it right under the first 12 increases round, centered in front of the face. Use above photo for the reference and stitch count to make it easier for your this first time. Once you see how easy it is, you can change your eyes, nose, mouth different ways to create different facial expressions. As said, starting from the bottom head opening, push the needle toward the nose area. 2

3 Work over two horizontal stitches, sewing and creating nose nicely. 3

4 Once nose is done, while finishing your last sewing stitch an while pushing down into the head, push the needle towards one of the mouth corners. I have pushed it to the right, but either side is fine. These photos are here to help you understand how it is done and whatever side you go, you won t make it wrong. 4

5 Pull the needle and yarn out all the way, wrapping one stitch push the needle back to the head, towards the eye on the same side where you worked the mouth corner. I have started with right side, so I am continuing with right eye area as well. 5

6 Here we are, needle is out on the same side where mouth corner is created. Wrap one stitch on the eye area 6

7 and push the needle back to the head, but this time push it towards the other side of the face, where next mouth corner will be created. Looking at the photo below, you will see we are working on our second red pin. Pull the yarn gently. Keep pulling after each of the mouth and eye stitches are sewed. Observe your work as you go. Always pull gently, little by little until you are satisfied with how your face is sculpting. 7

8 And again, wrap the yarn over one stitch, push the needle back in the head towards the eye area of the same side. Look at the photo for better understanding. 8

9 We have worked over all the pins and are ready to finish our sculpting. By now you can clearly see the facial expression of your new doll s face. Let s finish this last sculpting face stitch. 9

10 Wrap the yarn over one stitch on the eye area. And push the needle back in the head. The next photos will show you how to add yarn lips. This is optional. You can change the color of your yarn at this point and finish, making lips with red or pink color yarn, or you can continue with same color yarn and add little bit of color late, using pink marker or textile paint. I suggest you try to sculpt your doll and add the lips with same color yarn, following my last few photos. Just to get the idea what is to be made. Later you can experiment and play. As said, push the needle back to the head, towards the opposite side of the face and corner of the mouth created earlier. Look at the photo. Try to push the needle through the same stitch you worked when creating the corners. 10

11 To make it easier forming the lips, I used pin one more time. Placed it half or round lower from mouth corners. Tried to pin it in the center of where lips will be. Once wrapping and sewing over the pin and pulling yarn, it will not get sucked in and lost in between the rounds and stitches. This pin will hold the yarn on the surface and make lips look nice and visible. Push the needle through the next side of the mouth corners and push it toward the top of the head. Once the needle is out, pull gently, making sure the yarn stays behind the pin. Using your fingers form the lips if necessary, but if you followed the last steps right, lips should look nicely by now. 11

12 After you made your lips look nice, and pulled the yarn all the way out. You can tie a knot to fix your work. One more push and pull and we are done with sculpting. 12

13 Push the needle back, to the head and towards the bottom of head opening. Pull the yarn slightly, cut it and hide inside the head. Add some more stuffing. 13

14 Your little face is finished. You can sew the eyes on. Most of the times I use 4-5 mm round, black, wooden beads. Fro this photo I placed pins, to show you how the face looks after needle sculpting. 14

15 I hope you like this tutorial and find it easy to follow and make. Looking forward to see you needle sculpt dolls in the future. Also hope this will inspire you to try new and different facial expressions using this simple method. For any questions you might need, please feel free to write me on my mail and ask. Will be glad if I can help. Vanja 15