Dolly Pegs Dolls and Christmas Angels

This is the tutorial featured in Dolls House Magazine…

A great way to use treasured scraps and threads to create your own individual mini people.  Lovely as Christmas Tree decorations and of course to make a fairy or Angel for the top of the tree!  The instructions are as follows, or you will find a downloadable PDF here: Planet Penny Dolly Peg Dolls

You need:

Materials:  Wooden dolly pegs –  Scraps of fabric – Felt – Lace, Ric Rac braid or similar trimming – Button – Oddments of yarn –  Thread – cord

Equipment: Fine pen – scissors – ruler – sewing needle – yarn needle – glue, I use UHU or a glue gun

Select an unblemished dolly peg and, using a fine pen, draw in the features (fig 1).  I keep mine very simple, but you can add a nose and rosy cheeks if you like.

Then prepare your fabric, pressing if necessary(yes I know, I feel like that about ironing too, but if it’s all creased up you won’t like it)

Cut a rectangle of fabric for the skirt approximately 5”x3”/12.5cmx8cm

Cut a piece of lace or Ric Rac braid 5”/12.5cm long

Cut a felt triangle for the shawl 2”/5cm along the short edges.

To make the bodice, use a yarn oddment in your chosen colour and wind round the solid (body) part of the peg,

trapping the loose end as you start, and securing at the end with a dab of glue.

Skirt:  Take the rectangle of fabric and make a small hem along one edge and stitch using a running stitch.  Attach the trim approx. ½”/1cm from the bottom edge in the same way.

With right sides facing, stitch the short edges together.

Stitch a gathering thread on the top edge of the skirt with a double thread.

Without fastening off the thread, turn the skirt right side out and slip over the dolly peg.

Gather the skirt tightly, make a double back stitch to secure the thread, arrange the gathers around the body then back stitch round the skirt, attaching it to the bodice.  Fasten off and cut thread.

If you want to hang the dolly, at this point cut a piece of cord approx 8”/20cm long, knot it and then glue to the back.

Shawl: wrap the triangle of felt around the body of the doll, covering the knot on the hanger and glue one point at the front,

then wrap over the other corner and glue.

Using a yarn oddment double stitch into the button, knot at the back and trim ends,

then glue to the front of the shawl.

Hair: * Using an oddment of yarn, measure off several strands approx. 6”/15cm long.  I used 4 ply, and 12 strands.

Cover the head with glue and arrange the central part of the yarn over the glue arranging it carefully (no bald patches!)

cut through the ends, so that you can now either plait the hair or tie into bunches with a little bow and cut to your desired length.

If you’re feeling ambitious you can try twirling it into a beehive!

Angels are made in exactly the same way.  I used white felt for the skirt with cream lace, a vintage Mother of Pearl button and skeleton leaves for the wings.  Another version of the Angels can be seen in this post.

These look really pretty as Christmas tree ornaments..

…but are just as nice to use all the year round hanging on door handles or notice boards.

This is just a suggestion really.  There’s so much else you can do with dolly pegs .  As you can see, I’ve crocheted some of the shawls and skirt trimmings, and if you want to know more please let me know.

* I have used fleece scraps for hair because I happen to have quite a lot about, but yarn works just as well

©Planet Penny 2015
This pattern is the intellectual property of Planet Penny.
It must not be copied or resold without permission of Planet Penny.
Products from this pattern are not to be made up for re-sale