Steiner Dolls

Last Tuesday, I went to a PD on making Steiner dolls.

First, we sewed up a tube, and stuffed it.


Then we divided it into two sections. In my later doll I used a rubber band, but for this one we used tapestry thread.


Then we cut a hole in the middle of a small piece of satin, and put it on the doll like a petticoat. We stitched it on the doll.


Then we cut a hole in a piece of muslin and put it also on the doll, then stictched it in place. We added another piece of muslin, doing the same thing, and arranging the top piece so that all of the petticoat is covered before stitching this second piece into place.


We chose a hair-piece, and stitched it to the middle of the head. We only need to cover the front of the head, as there will be a head-piece covering the back of the head.


Sew the hair to both sides of the head.


Fold up a smaller piece of muslin, and arrange into a head-piece shape that you want. It might be like a peaked cloak, or like a bonnet, or however you want. This doll has a peaked cloak hat, my next doll has more like a bonnet (picture later).



Decorate the head-piece as you like. This doll has lace flowers with sequins in the centre. Pretty! Decorate the neck band, and any other parts you want.


Draw or stitch on the eyes and mouth. Steiner dolls have no nose, a straight line for the mouth, and small stitches for eyes. The point is that children can project any kind of emotion onto the doll that they want. In order to get the eyes etc in the right spot, use pins as markers and check to see that you like the expression.

That's it!

Here's the doll I made today. I used the scraps from the holes in the middle of the muslin and satin pieces to make the flower..