Make a dolly

1 Download and print the templates. Cut two body pieces and two pairs of hands from plain cotton. Snip two pairs of arms and two pairs of legs from a light shade of printed fabric. Stitch a hand to the bottom of each arm ensuring it has the right orientation. Press the seam and topstitch. Pair up the composite arms and sew right sides together leaving a gap towards the top of the outer edge. Clip the curves around the hand, turn out and press.

2 Pair up the legs and sew right sides together, leaving a turning gap towards the top back of each. Clip the curves, turn out and press. Flatten the seams in the centre of the top of each leg so that when attached the feet will face forwards. Place the arms and legs onto one body piece, matching up the raw edges and ensuring the thumbs will point inwards and the feet will face forwards. Machine tack in position before placing the other body piece on top and pinning carefully. Sew all the way around, securing the unstuffed limbs. Leave a turning gap in one side of the body. Clip the curves and turn out.

3 Stuff the limbs with small pieces of fibre filling pushed right to the ends with a knitting needle. Fold in the edges of the turning gaps and oversew closed with small stitches. Firmly stuff the body with small pieces of fibre filling to make the face as smooth as possible. Ensure there is enough stuffing at the neck to avoid a floppy head. Fold in the edges of the turning gap and oversew closed. Sketch facial features onto the centre of the head and embroider with two strands of thread using whipped back-stitch for clean, smooth lines and outlines, and satin stitch to fill in areas of colour.

4 Make hair by winding three colours of acrylic yarn loosely around a book approximately 20cm wide. Keep going using all the colours simultaneously until there are 35 full loops. Cut the bottom of all loops and flatten out the hank. Use a sewing machine to stitch across the centre of the flattened hank to hold the strands temporarily.

5 Lay the flattened hank over the centre of the head and use more yarn to back-stitch it in place, whipping back through the stitches to make a neat parting. Use a darning needle to thread some of the strands across the back of the head and through the side seam to prevent bald patches appearing. Gather all the strands together on one side of the parting and tie into a bunch. Use a clear fabric glue to fix some of the strands across the forehead and leave to dry before clipping the ends of the strands.

Stitch a tunic

1 Download and print the templates. Cut one front, two back, and one neck facing piece from patterned fabric. Stitch the pieces, right sides together at the shoulder seams, and press flat. Place the facing onto the neckline section and sew around the inside. Turn out and press to the inside of the neck, then slip-stitch down.

2 Turn under 5mm at the ends of each sleeve and sew before folding the tunic in half and sewing the side seams. Turn in and topstitch a 5mm double hem on both back openings. Turn up and stitch the same hem around the bottom edge of the tunic. Use plier fix snap fasteners on the back edges of the tunic.

Sew a skirt

1 Download and print the templates. Cut fabric, 14cm x 45cm. Snip out another piece, 17cm x 45cm. Zig zag stitch and hem the top long edge of the smaller piece of fabric. Place across the bottom of the larger piece and bind the two lower edges together with a zig zag stitch. Sew down the smaller piece of fabric to make pockets, approximately 6cm wide. Pleat the top edge of the skirt to reduce the width to 22cm and stitch down 3.5cm on each pleat to hold them secure. Cut a strip of fabric, 4cm x 22cm. Use this to bind the top edge of the skirt, creating a waistband.

2 Cut two strips of fabric, 3.5cm x 45cm each. Join the strips end to end. Hem one long edge and gather the other long edge up to a width of 45cm. Sew the gathered edge to the bottom of the skirt, fold down and topstitch the seam to make a frill. Fold the skirt in half right sides together and sew up the back seam, neatening it with a tight zig zag to prevent fraying.

Make accessories

1 Download and print the templates. Wind small wooden cotton reels with coordinating embroidery thread. Suspend the reels from thread using small buttons as stoppers at the bottom of each spool. Each one can be gathered together and stitched to the waistband of the skirt. Make a necklace by threading tiny buttons onto embroider thread and tying them around the doll’s neck.

2 Make a small needle case from two rectangles of lightly padded fabric stitched right sides together and turned out through a gap in the centre of one short edge. Make a 15cm length of piping, place the raw end into the turning gap before topstitching all the way round. The fabric can then be rolled and held closed with several wraps of the piping.