No Sew Rag Dolls

We made primitive, no-sew rag dolls circa ~The Olden Days~ with our Brownies, which I thought would be appropriate for the Thanksgiving season. (I also attempted to read a great picture book about Sarah Hale, the woman who advocated for decades to make Thanksgiving a national holiday, but the girls were more interested in chatting and crafting). While the holiday's history is fraught with difficulty, the spirit of the holiday: gathering with others to express gratitude, makes it one of my favorites.

This is a craft my kids discovered when we were road-tripping out West and took an impromptu detour to Pipe Spring National Monument, a fascinating and unusual place where we learned about Pioneer and American Indian life, natural resource conflicts, and also polygamous Mormons running from the law! The ranger who led our tour did an exceptional job teaching the unique history of the place while imparting the differing perspectives of all the various peoples involved. Another employee had set this craft up for kids to make, and she was a wonderful and patient teacher. I plan to send them a thank you note for giving us such lasting memories! I highly recommend visiting if you are nearby.

The great thing about this craft is that you can use any fabric scraps you have handy, or recycle damaged clothing, pillowcases, etc. It's easiest if you use a woven fabric that you can tear easily into strips. We had a large group, so I thrifted some sheets and pillowcases to wash and prep for the project. I spent about $12, and likely had enough fabric to make at least three dozen dolls. An excellent antidote to the oncoming Black Friday and Xmas consumer craziness!

PREP: First, tear strips to approximately 22-25 inches by 1.5 inches. (I made my arm strips slightly smaller, but you could use the same size and trim later.)

Supplies for one doll: 3 strips for the head, 3 for arms in your chosen 'skin' color. About 12-20 strips for the dress portion, one strip for the pinafore, one for the bonnet. Cotton twine, and cotton balls or other stuffing material (which could be extra strips of fabric.)

1) Place 3 strips crossing at center. These will form the head/face.

2) Evenly space the remaining strips, crossing at center, with right side of fabric facing DOWN. Put 2-3 cotton balls in the center.

3) Carefully flip the whole thing over and tie at the neck. (The kids called this the Octopus stage.)

4) Take a break from the body, and make the arms by tying string at one wrist, braiding, then tying off the other end.

5) Find the face of the doll: whichever side looks best, and lay her down to face you. Flip up half of her dress, then wedge the arms up to the neck, add 2 cotton balls, then flip down and tie string at the waist.

6) Make the pinafore by centering a strip across her front. Then take each side around under her arms, then over the shoulder and back around to tie at the back waist. This holds her arms in place nicely.

7) I experimented with a few ways to tie the head scarf: this pic has it wrapped from the top to the back, then around to tie at the side.

8) The easiest way we found for the kids to do the bonnet was to wrap from the top of the head to cross at the front neck, then tie at the back. She's done! I kind of like them plain like this, but most of the girls wanted a face. We used fine point Sharpies, and paint pens on the darker 'skin', but you could get fancy (and more historic) and embroider a face. We also trimmed the arms and any other wonky pieces down at the end.

Lots of friends- many of these were made by my 7-year-old with zero adult help.

A few of the girls wanted to make boy dolls, so we just tied the dress into trousers.

The group at work.

My kids have really gotten into this-- the second grader is making them for friends upon request. They sewed the dolls blankets and made them a bed. They look very rustic, but lots of pride comes with making something with your own two hands:)