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Learn to Make Yarn Dolls

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Over the centuries, mothers have made dolls for their children from common materials found at home. Yarn dolls are one of these historical folk craft dolls that remain as popular today as they were in early America. Making yarn dolls is a fun and easy project to do at home.

Here are some easy instructions:
To make a yarn doll you will need yarn and scissors.  Start by cutting lengths of yarn twice the finished size of your doll.  If you would like your doll to be 10 inches tall, you will need to cut your yarn 20 inches long.  You can decide how many strands you would like to cut depending on how thick you would like your finished doll to be.  While making yarn dolls at Sauder Village we use 30 to 40 strands of yarn.  Once you have your strands cut, tie a piece of yarn around all strands in the middle.  Then double the yarn over once you have the yarn tied off in the middle.  Tie a piece of yarn around all strands to form a neck to form the head of your yarn doll.  Then separate about 5 pieces of yarn on each side to form arms.  Cut the yarn strands that form the arms to the appropriate length and then tie a piece of yarn around those arm strands to form wrists.  Tie another piece of yarn around the doll to form the waist.  For a boy doll, separate the yarn strands below the waist into two groups, tying a piece of yarn at the bottom of each group to form ankles. 

Congratulations!  Enjoy the yarn doll you have created!  

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