Sally Doll From the Nightmare Before Christmas

This instructable was inspired by the recent contest on instructables. The most difficult part of this project was creating the pattern for the doll and the doll's dress, Other than that it was easy to make. I am visiting with my daughter for the holidays and her sewing machine was not working so I made everything by hand. It really did not take that long, which surprised me. The embroidery work did take a little longer than regular sewing but embroidery is an awesome craft because you can take it with you and while your waiting for the children after school or a doctors office, you can work on hand sewing projects and relax while your doing it. It make waiting a lot more fun and just think of the time you save by making holiday gifts. Follow through and let's make Sally!

Assorted fabric scraps
Red yarn
Filler for the dolls body such as batting, straw, or rice
Black and white Socks with no match ( all of us at one time or another have a sock with no mate) and I used one black trouser sock
Thread
Embroidery thread
Pattern for doll and dress or make your own pattern like I did
Embroidery hoop
Assorted needles
Scissors
Skewer
Pencil
Iron/and board

Draw the pattern pieces and cut them out.
Trace the pattern onto the fabric using a light pencil, It helps to allow room along the edges of the fabric to place the hoop so that the fabric will be tight as you embroidery the design.
Do not cut out the fabric pieces until after you embroider all of the designs.

Embroider all the designs on the doll's body parts.

It is time to cut out all the body parts to be sewn together and stuffed.
With right sides together sew around the body of the doll leaving the hip section open to allow for stuffing.
Sew the arms and legs leaving the end open of the arms and legs that will be attached to the body of the doll.

Stuff the body of the doll and stitch the open end to secure the filler. I found it was easier to turn the arms and legs to the right side by using the skewer and only turn about two inches and stuff a little filler in and use the skewer to pack it and stuff a little more and pack it and continue like this until the arms and legs are almost full and then they should be right side out.
Stitch the open ends after filling with the filler. I hope you can understand by viewing the pictures

Stitch the arms and legs to the body of the doll.

Cut the yarn the length that you want.
Sew a few strands of yarn to frame the dolls forehead and part of the face as shown.
Fold a piece of the yarn in half.
Place the center of the yarn over the head of the doll where you want to sew and place one strand to the front of the face and the remaining half over the back of the head and stitch to secure.
When the desired amount of hair is sewn use your hand and flip the yarn strands from the front over the head towards the back and use your fingers straighten out the hair.

We made a pattern as shown in the picture.
Cut out the dress front and back pieces.
Cut fabric shapes to sew to the dress front.
Sew the scraps onto the dress front.
Place the right sides of the dress front to the right sides of the dress back together.
Sew the shoulders and side seams of the dress.
Press.
Dress the doll.

I cut the black and white sock and made a sock to fit the doll as shown.
I put the socks on the doll.
Then I cut the black trouser sock in the shape of a shoe and stitched it to the doll.

Creating a sewing project by making your own pattern is a daunting but rewarding task if it turn out! In this case it did! I must confess I had just a wee bit of help from my lovely daughter because I am visiting her through The holidays! I brought this project with me so she could make the patterns. Unfortunately we did not have an opportunity to make a PDF file for you but hopefully you can print out the picture and make a pattern similar to the picture. Before I came here I made my version of Sally but I like her version much better because of the tear designs and she made hers much larger! This doll would make a great Christmas gift for anyone who loves dolls. We had a great time making her and so did my daughter's kittens! They enjoyed playing with the yarn! Thank you for visiting and I thank Instructables and our sponsors for the great contest! Have a happy and safe holiday!
Sunshiine