Anna Branford

how to make a tiny witch doll

This small halloween project is easy enough for quite young crafters,especially if there is someone nearby who can lend a helping hand with the fiddly parts. You can make a friendly witch or a scary one, whichever you prefer. (Mine is quite friendly.)

To make a tiny witch you will need:

- a wooden bead that you think is a good colour for a witchy face (roughly the size of a marble but can be smaller)
- some thin felt that you think is a good colour for witchy clothes
- some wool that you think is a good colour for witchy hair
- a pipe cleaner (the colour doesn’t matter – it will be hidden)
- a button or two
- some glue (I like using glue sticks for these projects – it’s less messy than craft glue)
- a needle and thread
- a fine liner pen

Step one:

Fold your pipe cleaner in half and poke the ends into the hole in the bead. Then keep folding the pipe cleaner until it is the size you would like your tiny witch to be.

Step two:

Cut a rectangle of felt that is long enough to dress your witch from her chin to her toes and wide enough to roll her up in twice. (You don’t actually need to roll her up, it’s just a good way to measure.) Then lay her in the middle like this.

Step three:

Fold the felt around her like a cone with the tightest part around her neck.

Step four:

Secure the folded felt in place with a few stitches that pass in and out of the pipe cleaners. This will hold your witch doll together. Then add a button to her front.

Step five:

Next you need to cut out two pieces to make your tiny witch doll’s hat. The first is a donut shape. Cut the outside of the circle as wide as you would like the brim of your witch’s hat to be. Then fold it in half and cut out the middle, wide enough so that it can sit on your witch’s head. The second shape is a rectangle. The short sides should be about the width of the donut and the long sides should be a bit more than twice the width.

Step six:

Roll the rectangle into a cone and pull the donut down over it.

Step six:

Secure the seam down the cone and the brim of the hat with a few stitches and then trim off the part below the brim (being careful not to cut though your stitches).

Step seven:

Cut a few strips of wool that are about twice as long as you would like your witch’s hair to be. Then put lots of glue on the top and back of your doll’s head and lay the wool over it, leaving her face bare. This is how mine looked at the front:

And this is how it looked at the back:

Step eight:

Next you need to put some glue on over the woolly head which can get your glue stick a bit messy. The best way is not to put the stick right on the wool but to use something else, like the handle of a teaspoon or one of your fingers, to add this last bit of glue. Then all you need to do is put your tiny witch’s hat on and draw her a face with your fineliner.

Tadaaaaaa!