Dolls are a child’s first best friend. They serve a purpose as friends, they teach nurturing and they are really a child’s first step to becoming social. Dolls can be found in almost any household in toy boxes, on shelves full of collectible dolls, on top of wedding cakes, movie star dolls in a teenagers room and sports dolls that reside in a manly sports room. You can even make your own doll. Rag dolls were the special friend that rode with a child in the back of a covered wagon. Mothers, back then, had never heard of the words “thrift” or “recycle”, but that is exactly what they did to provide their children with a friend. They used scrap rags for the body and the clothes and weeds and straw for the stuffing. In today’s world, if you would like to make your own doll, your choices of supplies are not quite so limited. The basics for a rag doll would be a pattern, fabric and stuffing. Even those basics could be whittled down, somewhat, by using old linens and textiles from your closets and making your own pattern.

For a pattern, start by drawing a rectangle on paper for the body. Draw a circle sitting on one short end of the rectangle for the head. Round the outer corners of the body and the inner corners where the head meets the body in order to shape the pattern. Place the pattern on a doubled piece of chosen body fabric, with the right sides facing. Draw around the pattern. Sew on the drawn lines, leaving the bottom of the body unstitched. Cut the body out a 1/4 inch from the stitched lines. Clip the corners and turn right side out. Stuff the head and body firmly and close the open end.

The normal size for a leg pattern would be the measurement from the bottom of the body to almost the top of the head and slightly narrower than half the body width. The whimsy size could be quite a bit longer. Use fabric that will mimic stockings and cut two for each leg. Sew the legs the same as the body, using a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Turn and stuff the legs and close the ends. Attach the legs to the bottom seam on the doll’s body. Make the arms as long as the doll’s body and slightly narrower than the doll’s legs. Repeat the sewing used for the legs. Turn and stuff the arms and close the ends. Attach the arms to the shoulder seams of the body.

Are you familiar with the fancy, flowing writing used on many announcement cards, wedding invitations and other important documents? This is a specialized form of art combined with writing skills called calligraphy. Most people can learn how to do it with the proper instruction and practice. The first thing you need to do is collect the correct material. You can’t just grab a pencil and a piece of paper and hope to create beautiful and artful writing. Here is a list of what you should gather together. Most of these items can be found in your local art store or office supply store.

Pencils, erasers and a ruler are used to outline or trace what you will fill in with ink later. Once you master the art, you may be able to skip this first step, but as a beginner you will want all of the advantages you can get. The next things you need are paper, pens and ink. You need to use heavier paper than normal paper, usually the heavier the better, and it needs to be acid free. There are different types of pens, but the best ones use a flat tip instead of the more common ballpoint pens found most places. Calligraphy pens have special tips that are used to make smaller or larger lines and the tips are interchangeable depending on your application. The ink needs to be permanent ink and there are specialized inks just for this. Once you have all of your material, you are ready to get started. There are instructional books and DVDs available or you can find some fancy writing and start trying to copy it. Like most specialized skills, the more you practice the better you will get. Once you have perfected your skills, you can even start hiring your service out.