DIY Softie Flip Doll

Catie from Do Ah Diddy is here to share her ADORABLE DIY for a Softie Flip Doll. My girls would LOVE this! I'm trying to think of more nursery rhymes that would work. If you have a good one, let us know in the comments. You could win that AWESOME SOCK-TOPUS up there to the left with any clever/sweet/hilarious comment you leave this week. And if you can't think of a rhyme, just let Catie know how much you love her Softie Flip Doll.

Rock a by baby, thy cradle is green.

Father's a nobleman.

Mother's a queen.

And Betty's a lady and wears a gold ring.

And Johnny's a drummer and drums for the king.

Click here to get the Softie Flip Doll DIY.

Take it away Catie!
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Remember this cloth softie doll that I made for Baa Baa Black Sheep??  Well, I made a tutorial.  :)
This one is Rock A By Baby (but not on a tree top).  It's from the book, The Real Mother Goose.

If you'd like to make one, you'd need gather your materials first.

• Skin-colored fabric
• Fabric scraps
• Embroidery thread/needle
• Transfer paper
• Applique paper
• Fiber fill
• Ink printer
• Basic sewing stuff

1. First thing, print this template on your transfer paper and set aside:


2. Now, you'll need to create your pattern.
I took a regular sheet of paper and folded it in half.  then drew a 2/3 circle on the fold.  Cut it out and make it even.  You don't need to ever unfold it.  All your cutting will be on the fold or edge of the fabric.  It's just to give you an idea of how big the doll will be when completed.


3. On the fold of your skin colored fabric, trace three patterns.


4. Open them up and stack the three on top of each other.


5. Then slice down the center.  Discard only one piece.  You'll have five left over for the five faces of your doll (sounds a bit Sybil, doesn't it?  Sorry, I'm watching Bones as I type this tutorial up.)


6. Now, on the fold, cut 2 pattern pieces for the baby, one for Mother, and one for Betty.  Then, on the edge of the fabric, cut one pattern piece for Father, and one for Johnny.  The picture below is representative of what pieces you should have.


7. Now, cut ONE of the baby pieces, the Betty, and Mother piece in half.


8. Fold them in half.


9. Cut a circle from the inside leaving at least 1" around the edge.


Here's what they'll look like.


10. Now, you'll begin your 5 faces.  I set mine up like this.  I gave each woman some lace under the patterned perimeter around the forehead, the baby a curl, the males some hair and Father a mustache.  Pin and sew.


11. Now, embroider your faces on.  Set the faces aside.  Get your transfer paper.


12. First, iron the applique paper onto the back of some neutral material (it doesn't show well, but mine is a pale, pale green).  Then, apply the transfer onto the front of the appliqued material.  Make sure you leave the applique paper backing on the fabric.


13. Next, cut out your words.  The title and first line are cut together, then each subsequent line alone.


14. I found it easiest to have everything in front of me so I didn't get confused.  So, set out your baby in front of you like so.


15. Remove applique paper backing.


16. Cover with used transfer paper (make sure it's the transfer side and not the back of the paper.  I did it wrong with one line and transferred the words back to the paper never to be removed again.  Pain, pain, pain!  Had to reprint the whole thing again!  grrrrr!!) so as not to scorch the words and iron applique onto bottom half of baby.


17. Do each line for each person.  You should know which line goes with which body by the first word.  Mother with Mother bottom, Betty with Betty's bottom, etc.



Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of Mother.

18. After ironing the appliqued fabric onto the bodies, do a quick zig zag stitch around the perimeter.

19. Alright, set Baby and Father next together (again, so we don't get confused).


20. Now, put Father's top above Baby's bottom.


21. Lay Father's head right sides facing with Baby's bottom.  Sew around the curve.  Leave the straight edge open. 


22. Flip right side out.  Place Baby's bottom under Baby's head.


23. Flip up and now you have Father's head.


24. Next, repeat step 21-23 with Mother's head with Father's bottom.





25. Now, repeat step 21-23 with Betty's head and Mother's bottom.




26. Now, repeat step 21-23 with Johnny's head and Betty's bottom.




27. Put Johnny's bottom under his head.


28. Now flip it up. You have them all stacked. Put the straight edges together as neatly as you can.


29. Sew them all together along the straight edge. 


30. It should look like this photo now.


31. Now, take the complete back to the doll.  It should be the Baby's material.  Face it right sides together.  Pin completely around the top of the doll with the pages down.  Now, fold the pages in as well as you can (as shown below) and pin in 2/3 down on either side.  Leave the opening at the bottom.


32. Sew around the edge leaving an opening at the bottom for turning and stuffing.  Be careful on the middle part (where the leaf pins are in the photograph).  It's the most difficult part to sew.


33. Flip it right side out.  Here's the front of the book.

34. Here's the last page of the book.

35. Stuff with fiber fill.


36. Pin, pin, pin, and close with a blind stitch (there are a lot of tutorials out there if you don't know how to do it).

And, TADA!!!

Rock a by baby, thy cradle is green.

Father's a nobleman.

Mother's a queen.

And Betty's a lady and wears a gold ring.

And Johnny's a drummer and drums for the king.


Now, this baby is perfect for kissing...
Or reading!

And, by the way, she takes it everywhere!  Totally worth all the time!!

If you make one, please, please send pictures!!

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Thanks Catie! Love this project!