Zombie Rag Doll...The Zombies Are Coming...Brainz

Plantz vz Zombies has been a facination of my little one since he could hold a remote. That is around 6yrs now that he is 8. Knowing the zombie would be getting "killed" in all of the raids I made him a very appropriate rag doll to be abused as he saw fit. Let me show you how.

Fabric that matched the zombie color scheem. For our zombie here I needed:

1. Red and white striped (The tie)
2. Brown (Jacket)
3. Blue (pants)
4. White (undershirt + eyes)
5. Green (head+ nose)

Thread

1. Black to do the pupils
2. Red to make the bloody mouth more obvious
3. White to make teeth

Pattern

It is a basic rag doll pattern. Just arms, legs, belly and head. The only extra part is the Tie. The eyes, nose and tie knot are little balls to add some dimension but you are free to just glue a circle for the eyes instead and skip the nose and tie knot.

For the sewing since this was a hand made doll, i used the backstich because i wanted a stronger seam. I used this seam for everything but the eyes and nose since I wanted them to be bulging like the zombies. I'll show you that in the next step. (note my stitching is not prize worthy yet holds up just fine)

Take a look at the pattern showing the pieces with the name explanation and color code and follow the step in order.

1. Sew the neck part of the front head to the neck part front belly(the white one)
2. Sew the neck part of the back head to the neck part back belly (The brown one)
3. Place the two parts with the seams sticking up and sew around the edge of the head and belly.
4. LEAVE A QUARTER (1"-2") PART WITHOUT SEAM TO FLIP AND STUFFING
5. FLIP insideout.
6. Sew the two jacket flaps (I did a small seam on the jackets to prevent fraying)
7. Now you have a head and body ready to be stuffed.

Now the rest of the zombie

1. Place font and back of the leg and sew around the edge
2. LEAVE A QUARTER (1"-2") PART WITHOUT SEAM TO FLIP AND STUFFING
3. FLIP insideout. Now you have a leg ready to be stuffed

REPEAT WITH:

1. Second Leg
2. Both Arms
3. Tie

Stuff the flat doll with polyester filling.

I used a chopstick to get into the thin arms legs and tie.

After filling each section, make sure to sew it shut so it has a safety net against little boys "throwing the zombie off the roof" or across the room as you will.

After all the pieces are stuffed attach the arms, legs and tie to the zombie by stitching a backstitch between each section to the main body. (I sewed the bottom tip of the tie to the body to prevent accidental "Ripping the tie off"

I did not take detail pictures of this step. Sorry.

For the tie knot, eyes and nose you will make little balls.

You do this by having a Running Stitch around the circle and pulling. It creates a little balloon that you stuff with a little fluf and then sew shut. Then you attach the eyes and the nose to the head of the zombie. With mine I decided to do one eye bigger than the other. The tie knot to the top of the tie.

Once they are attached and your zombie has eyes and a nose use the embrodery thread to make a little knot in the middle of the eyes to make the pupil.

The mouth is a little bit more time consuming but it is a simple satin embroidery stitch. Which is a fancy way of saying you insert the needle on the top of the lips and take it out on the bottom x 100. Just go up and out again and again right next to each stitch to creat a raised texture of red for the lips.(I used a red marker to paint the inside of the mouth)

I used the same satin stitch to create little teeth on top of the red.

THAT IS IT. Your got yourself a zombie that can take a beating. Brainz!

Little side note: I did not make the infamous bone leg sticking out of the zombie pants because it was a very thin leg which would have needed to be turned from two pieces (front and back) to 6 pieces (top of the pants (font and back) bottom of the pants (front and back) and the even thinner bone(front and back). It was just too much for a doll that will be getting beat up by the plants. lol. My little one loved it and 6yrs later it is still getting beat up and getting back up and even managed to fit this little tutorial in.