So, I have purchased another tutorial on Domestika.org (did I mention yet how great these are?), and I can now talk some more about how to make your own doll and give you a review of the course.
Mind you, while I only purchase courses that I would love to learn myself, I have never made my own dolls before.
So I’m looking at this course as a total beginner and giving you my honest opinion on everything about it: the teacher, the topic, the quality, and if I would be doing this project myself.
And of course a complete walkthrough on what you will learn in the course itself, and a little bit about how to make your own doll or soft toy with fabric.
So without further do, let’s go!
Who Will Teach You How To Make Your Own Doll?
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The teacher of this course is presented by Maria Mandea, who has a website of her own with her work and dolls, called Micul Haos, which is her full-time job now.
Born in Bucharest, where she still lives, she comes from an artistic background. Both of her parents are artists.
At an early age, she learned how to sew, before even learning how to read and write.
Her mother taught her how to make her own doll clothes and she can still rely on her expertise if needed.
At the age of 16, she decided to become a toy designer and she started to take academic drawing lessons.
After that she started college to study product design at the Architecture University in Bucharest, always choosing products to play with.
After graduating, she started her own design studio called Super Serios and she now is officially a “play designer”.
There is lots more information about her journey, everything she works on as well, and her influences in the online course from Domestika!
What Will You Learn In This Course On How To Make Your Own Doll?
In this course you will create a soft toy character, so an actual doll made from fabric, paper, and other materials, but not from plastic or clay!
You will learn about all the techniques to make the final product and by the end of the course, you will have learned how to create hand puppets and basically any kind of doll made with textiles.
Maria will also teach you how to share your projects on social media. Take a look at her Instagram page!
This course has English Audio and subtitles in different languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Italian, Polish, Dutch
13 lessons (1h 55m)
21 additional resources (11 files)
Has unlimited access
Level: beginner
Which materials do you need to make your own doll?
In the course, you will also learn about all the materials that you need to make your own doll. Here’s a little list:
scissors: one for fabrics and one for paper. Investing in a nice and sturdy pair of fabric scissors is probably a good idea.
another pair of scissors that you could provide, but not absolutely necessary, is a small pair which is nice for threads and smaller details. I do use a small one like that a lot for my DIY miniature kits though!
Fabrics, mostly made from cotton and preferably stretchy, so that the dolls look nice when filled. Have a variety of colors.
Paper sheets, also a variety of colors
Felt, which can be used for details.
To fill the doll, we will use hypoallergenic filling, which you can find in pillows for example. Make sure it is synthetic.
The other with a thicker tip to fill bigger spaces.
You will also need some pins and a sewing needle, and some threads. In the same colors as the colors of your doll. From a thick thread, we will make the hair of the doll.
You can use a sewing machine to make things go faster
How To Make Your Own Doll – Step By Step – A Walkthrough Of All Classes
Class Number 1: How to create a sketch and choose the colors?
In this class about 15 minutes long, you will learn how to play with ideas and colors, get your sketchbook out!
Maria will show you how she sketches her drawings, anything that comes up in her mind in her sketchbook, even while doing the dishes 🙂
Furthermore, she will show you how she organizes the colors of the project, more specifically helping you to decide which part of the doll’s body is going to have a particular color!
Also, you will learn how to draw the parts on colored sheets of paper.
Class Number 2: Learn how to create a pattern.
In this class of about 9 minutes long, Maria will teach you how to create a pattern from the character that you just created in the previous class.
The character that you created out of paper, will be now cut out on the fabric and these colors will match.
She will also teach you how to draw the outline of the character with chalk or pencil, how the fabric stretches, and how to cut it all out.
Also, Maria will show you why and when she uses fabric but sometimes prefers to use velvet.
And there are some things that you need to consider when cutting out the fabric!
Class Number 3: How to hand sew your doll?
In the next class of about 15 minutes long, Maria will teach you how to sew by hand one part of the doll’s body.
She will use a basic stitch for this and do it on the whole outline of the piece.
Then she will turn it inside out, fill it, and close it.
Maria will guide you all the way through in detail on sewing your doll by hand.
In this lesson, she will also show you how to stuff the sewed body part of the character.
Finally, she will show you how to hide parts of the body that you needed to sew on the outside.
In the next class, Maria will teach you how you can photograph your object and create a simple setup.
She will explain in detail which materials to use, how to set up the back wall with colored paper, and how to best stick the paper to the wall to use as a background for the doll.
She will also teach you how to use Fisherman’s thread to hang your doll to the wall, set up the lights, and a few hints on how to best take your picture for your Instagram or Etsy account!
Class Number 9: Sharing your doll with the world!
In this class, you will learn how to select the pictures that you took of your doll to share it on social media. It is about 5 minutes long.
She will also learn you a little bit about the filter app called VSCO, so you can change the colors a bit: warmer, colder, darker, lighter, more saturated, or even black and white.
Then it is time to share your project on Instagram, and she will tell you some more about how to do that as well!
Class Number 10: Final Project.
Finally, the teacher Maria would love it if you share your project with her! In the course, you can also see the work of others in the community, keep creating!
I hope that you enjoyed this blog post on how to make your own doll. If you have any more questions or would just like to chat with me, please leave a message below in the comment section.
6 thoughts on “How To Make Your Own Doll From Fabric – Another Online Course Review”
First of all, thank you for being so honest and transparent about your knowledge and how you’re yet to start making any creations based on this course. That is really helpful to know that you’re also starting as some of us are as well. Maria’s Instagram is quite a ride with all of her creations and creativity on the line. I really appreciate how everything is so neatly organized and now it has an aesthetic view to it. I also love that the course itself has subtitules in various languages so it makes things fall more smoothly for those of us whose main language is not English. I really like that the classes are divided in a large number but the run time is managed really well so that the viewers don’t lose interest in what it’s being portrait.
My granddaughter loves dolls, and I love crafts. Always wondered about making dolls myself, and that is why conducting research to find out how to make a doll. After reading your guide to and review on an online course, I have bookmarked your article to come back later to start the course and learn to make dolls. I already have ideas in mind, as she loves Frozen and especially Elsa. Would like to make dolls, with beautiful color dresses to fit Elsa. Thank you
First of all, thank you for being so honest and transparent about your knowledge and how you’re yet to start making any creations based on this course. That is really helpful to know that you’re also starting as some of us are as well. Maria’s Instagram is quite a ride with all of her creations and creativity on the line. I really appreciate how everything is so neatly organized and now it has an aesthetic view to it. I also love that the course itself has subtitules in various languages so it makes things fall more smoothly for those of us whose main language is not English. I really like that the classes are divided in a large number but the run time is managed really well so that the viewers don’t lose interest in what it’s being portrait.
Hi Stephanie,
Thank you for your comment and I hope that you will love this course as well 😉
I wish you happy crafting!
Kind regards,
Lizzy
My granddaughter loves dolls, and I love crafts. Always wondered about making dolls myself, and that is why conducting research to find out how to make a doll. After reading your guide to and review on an online course, I have bookmarked your article to come back later to start the course and learn to make dolls. I already have ideas in mind, as she loves Frozen and especially Elsa. Would like to make dolls, with beautiful color dresses to fit Elsa. Thank you
Hi Jannette!
I hope that you will have lots of fun creating a Frozen doll or Elsa doll!
Let me know if you like the course, will you?
Kind regards,
Lizzy
Great post.
thank you 🙂