GiggleBugs© Kate Erbach 2007

Supplies:

j 1 fat quarter for bodyj scraps of woven cotton for wings, bows, band

(I use contrasting and coordinating patterns)j scrap of brown wool felt for hair (or hair color

of choice)j scrap of skin tone woven for facej scrap of pale peach wool felt for handsj scraps of Warm & Natural or thin batting

j Fabric glue stickj Polyfill stuffingj threads to match fabricsj black paint pen, brown gel pen, white paintpen or gel pen, peachy pink crayon, raspberrycolored pencil, lt. brown colored pencilj And of course, your sewing machine and yoursewing and stuffing tools.

GiggleBugs are simple little dolls meant for small children. They would be perfect for Easterbaskets, Christmas stockings or baby showers. I will show options to make your GiggleBug aboy or girl along with a few extra faces.

Sewing is done with a small stitch on your machine, 1.5 and satin stitching is done at a 3.0 width and a.5 length.

This pattern assumes you have basic sewing skills.

The Face:Cut one face from the skin tone woven. Using a lightbox, trace the face onto the fabric with a mechani-cal pencil or light brown colored pencil. If you don’t have a lightbox, trace using a window behind thefabric so the light shines through.

Go over the traced lines with a brown gel pen. Fill in the eyelasheswith a black paint pen, also fill in the open mouth with black.Color the teeth white with your paint pen and lightly outline withthe brown gel pen. With the raspberry colored pencil shade in thetongue, keeping your shading darker around the edges and lightertowards the middle of the tongue. Using your peachy pink crayonblush the cheeks, nose and chin.

The Body:Cut out a body front and back from your woven fabric, this has a 1/4” seam allowance included. If youwant to make a boy doll, cut the Body B pattern from a contrasting fabric, seam it to the Body A piecesand continue. Also cut one hair appliqué from the brown wool felt. Apply glue stick to the back of thehead and the backs of the hands. The head appliqué is centered onthe body head area, the hands are put in the position that is notedon the pattern piece. Allow glue to dry.

Set your machine for the satin stitch described above. Satin stitch(zig-zag) the hands to the body starting at one side of the wrist andending at the other side of the wrist. Satin stitch the head 2/3 allaround starting at one side and going down around the face and upthe other side. The top of the face doesn’t need to be stitched as itwill be covered by hair.

Apply glue to the back of the hair appliqué and lay on top of theface with the top edge of the hair about 1/4” away from the edge of the body. Stitch the hair on with astraight stitch VERY close to the edge of the hair.

Place body pieces right sidestogether and stitch from theopening at the bottom allaround to the other side of theopening. Remember to back-stitch when starting and stop-ping.

Bring the side and bottom seamtogether to form a triangle, sewstraight across the triangle

approximately 3/4” in from the tip of the triangle. Clip the excess off. Turn bodyright side out through the opening. This method creates a paper bag bottom thatis relatively stable.

Stuff the body through the opening making sure to make the neck area very firmand fill out the head smoothly. Close the opening with a ladder stitch.

The Wings:The wings are a template and should be traced to freezer paper and then ironedonto the wrong side of doubled fabric. Layer a piece of batting or Warm &Natural under the fabric and stitch all around the wings next to the template.Cut out with a small seam allowance. Make a small vertical slit on the fabric side, going through onlyone layer of the fabric. Turn right side out and press. Quilt the wings following the curves of the piece.

To attach the wings, pin to the back of the doll and ladder stitch from the side against the doll to theback of the doll.

The Bows/Bow tie:Using the same methods as on the wings make two bows for the girl doll or one for the boy doll. Onthe top of the bow, (the side without the slash) topstitch lines in to look like folds in a bow. The bow tieis attached just below the face on the boy doll using a ladder stitch. For the girl, attach one bow in herhair and make a sash using the waistband guidelines on the pattern page. Sew down one long side ofthe sash, turn right side out, press. Wrap the sash around the doll and stitch to secure in the back. Youmay want to use some fabric glue also to secure it around the doll’s body. Attach the other bow slightlyoff center on the sash in the front.

Optional Stinger:The stinger is an optional piece. Trace the pattern to freezer paper, iron to the wrong side of doubledfabric, sew around leaving open where indicated. Turn right side out, lightly stuff, turn raw edges under1/4” and with small stitches attach to the back of the doll. Wrap the stinger with decorative gold thread.

Copyright 2007 Kate Erbach