Waldorf Doll

Sorry, Deacon had dibbs on me yesterday. It was his birthday after all :)

Besides, if we're being honest his present was bald until lunchtime!

Sorry it's a little blurry, he didn't want to give him up for the pictures! This little guy has been officially named Ya the Sky King, through family consensus. (Ya because that was Deacon's answer to every name we suggested.)

I did the three layer hair for this doll. You can find instructions all over the internet. The fancy braid is because I was getting impatient and didn't sew the top layer tightly enough. It keeps Deacon from pulling all of Ya's hair out until I fix it. The pictures don't do the hair colour justice. It was this ball of great winter sky coloured blue worsted wool.

This is what the little guy looked like first thing in the morning. Getting to this point seriously took about six hours. Poor little thing definitely looks like a first attempt! Clothes and hair will cover it though. You can find tons of great instructions all over the internet for these. I just skimmed a few as I'd seen them made in a book recently.

Ya's skin was an old t-shirt. His stuffing is a bit unconventional. Instead of wool roving I used a thrifted wool sweater to keep costs down. I cut it into strips (like above) and wound it in a ball for the head. I then covered it with a square from another felted sweater and continued just the same as a normal Waldorf doll.  I made the stuffing for the rest of the body by unraveling the rest of the strips and using the resulting "fluff". It's important that they be stuffed with wool for a few reasons. First of all it's antibacterial. It also will hold body heat when snuggled :)

Next step for Ya is some clothes. Not like Deacon will leave them on him for more than 8 seconds, but the option should be there ;)