Today we are sharing a softie that is part of a month long softie blog hop, coordinated by Trixi from Coloured Buttons. We had so much fun participating last year and my girls were excited to take part again. See our contribution this year below and then be sure to visit the hashtag #sewasoftie on Instagram to catch up on the July sewing fest.

This year we made a soft version of a Babushka/Nesting doll featuring a large doll with a pocket for her babes. I grew up playing with my grandmother’s collection as a child and was in love with them. She displayed dozens of her wooden dolls on a shelf that were collected from places she had visited all over the world. Our soft version incorporates some upcycled material, family heirlooms, and a few simple supplies.

See our steps and materials below including a FREE template.

This post contains affiliate links.

Materials:

• Fabric (felt, remnant bin finds, old denim)
• Lace trim
• Buttons
• Burlap scraps
• Scissors
• Fabric glue
• Fabric markers
• Pins
• Sewing needles
• Embroidery thread
• Poly-fil
• Babushka Doll FREE TEMPLATE

 

Start by gathering your fabric for your dolls. We used a variety of fabrics including some of my dad’s old work jeans, some remnants I found at my local craft store discount bins, and some scrap felt from previous projects. Anything works!

Print out the FREE TEMPLATE and cut out the Babushka doll shapes.

(*Template is for personal use only. Please link back to theartgardenblog.com if sharing with others.)

Trace the template shapes, two for each body, onto your fabric with a pen or fabric marker and cut them out.

My girls worked on two of the small doll shapes, adding decorative details with scraps of denim, burlap, lace trim (from my late grandmother’s old collection), and buttons using fabric glue. We used fabric markers to draw features on the face.

I decorated the large doll body and created a pocket with a piece of denim. I used the fabric glue just around the edge of the pocket and adhered it to the front of my doll.

Once you have finished decorating the front and the glue is dry, pin the two body pieces of fabric together. I assisted my girls as they stitched a basic running stitch around the edges of their dolls, leaving a space at the bottom for filling. I worked on a blanket stitch for mine that I saw on Red Ted Art: Basic Hand Stitches for Beginners that I thought would be a good secure stitch for my bigger doll and showed off a little embroidery color.

Stuff your dolls with Poly-fil and stitch up the opening.

My girls were so proud of their dolls!

Want to make a friend for these girls? Check out another account on the Sew A Softie trail that has the sweetest little softie with a similar style.

If you give this softie a try, I’d love to see how it turns out! Tag me over on Instagram @theartgardenblog or Facebook!

Happy sewing and save your fabric scraps for this art project!