Hi! I recently found your existence and we have a shocking amount in common.
Anyway, do you have any tips regarding crocheting human shaped dolls? (you... you do them so well-) Like things with stuffing, how to get them in, how much fluff?
do you prefer stitching together limbs or crocheting it as one piece?
How do you go around tying ends?
Your method of colour changing?
How do you make clothes in their size, how do you plan/design a doll?
Any things you wish you knew when you started? Tidbits of knowledge you want to pass down?
Why, hello! Crocheting is one of my special interests, so be prepared for a very long essay because I WILL ramble.
First, I'll get started on my process for making human-shaped dolls. But I'll lead with some preamble first.
I hate sewing. It's my least favorite part of crocheting. So, if it's possible to make something one piece without compromising the cuteness of the item, I will crochet it as one piece.
This lovely doll pattern is actually one that I made myself - birthed from my hatred of sewing limbs. You start with the head, then do the neck, stop to stuff the head, and when you start doing the body, you have to stop after increasing it to match the head. I skip sections on both sides to create arm holes, then continue going around and around to make the body.
When I deem the torso long enough, I split my total stitches in half, one side of each leg. Like I did with the arms, I just skip a bunch of stitches and start working into the one I want like normal. But I stuff the body before this. Then I go around and around until the leg is long enough. I'll stuff the leg at this point. To close it, just close it off, leave a long tail, and weave it through the stitches so you can pull it closed. After, tie 2 really tight knots and then stuff it inside the leg to hide it.
Welp, we have a body with no arms and one leg... what now? Well, this is the fun part. Instead of sewing limbs on, we just put our hook in one of the stitches we skipped, pull the yarn through so we have a loop, and then just crochet like normal. Go around and around until it's the same height as the other leg, and close it off the same, too.
Now the arms. You treat them the same way as the legs. Just stick your hook in, pull through a loop of yarn, and start going. But I do want to add that on the arms, if you go purely into the stitches you made, you'll have an armpit hole. To avoid that, you have to "decrease". Basically, take the stitch next to the where the torso starts, go into a random spot of that torso section, and decrease. You'll still have the same amount of stitches, but it closes up that hole you would have had.
(I'm sorry, I know I'm explaining this badly. I'll have to write up a pattern with pictures for this. Or I'll make a video and put it on my yt channel.)
Anyways, you'll make the arms as long as you want, then stuff and close them the same as the legs.
There are a few ways to do this depending on the result you want. If you're making neat edges, I'd recommend slip stitching and chaining at the end/start of every round. To change colors like this. Close off after you slip stitch, cut the yarn, and leave it long enough so we can hide it in the stitches.
Then, take your new color. Like I mentioned before with putting limbs on the dolls, you just shove your hook into a stitch, pull a loop of your new color in, and just crochet like normal.
Alternatively, if you don’t like the look of starting and stopping in your rounds, you can use another method. This is for when you don't really care about having neat edges, or the bumps of the slip stitches irritate you too much. Or you have to change colors multiple times within a round. When you are doing your final stitch, stop before pulling your yarn through the loops on your hook. You'll take your new color, loop it, and pull that through to finish your stitch.
The type of stuffing you use matters. Poly-fil polyester is what I use for most of my plushies. It makes them squishy and still holds shape. However, if you want a firmer and harder, use yarn scraps and yarn fluff.
Also, also, use black stuffing for darker plushies. I wish I knew that black stuffing was a thing when I started!!! It exists!!! It's so useful!!!
I hate weaving in ends, so I just crochet them in as I work. Just put the tail along the back of your stitches and crochet like your crocheting over wire. Boom! No sewing needles.
Speaking of sewing needles. Don't use them!!! It's a scam!!! A 2 mm hook works wayyyy better than a sewing needle. I do have a video on my yt channel that showcases me sewing pieces and weaving in yarn to make eyes.
This video actually has a bunch of those little things you mentioned and I mentioned. How to stuff, how to weave in ends, how I don't use sewing needles and just use a small hook, how to sew pieces on, how to change color, etc.
Again, I'll work on making a video on the doll. Because I'm a lot better at visually showing when I'm crocheting instead of explaining it.
But back to one question I haven't answered yet. How do I plan one of my dolls?
Let's use one I just finished as a custom order
So for this little guy, I first made the body. Then I started plucking in the hair (that wording makes no sense but it just feels like the best way to explain my little loop latch-hooking method). After that, I brushed the hair out with a pet brush. So I had fluffy hair and tons of yarn fluff to use as stuffing for future projects. Next, I took a flat iron to the hair (I use acrylic yarn for hair so it won't catch on fire).
For the clothes, there is no one design to follow, just a structure. Usually, what I do is I'll take a reference picture and free-style it.
How I structure the clothing, that I can tell you. I start by chaining, and I have to wrap it around the legs to make sure I have enough stitches and the pants will fit. Then I'll make 2 cylinders. After that, I'll sew 4-5 stitches of those cylinders together and keep crocheting around to get the hip/waist of the pants done.
For shirts, it's a similar method. I'll chain around the torso (be mindful of allowing it to fit the torso and pants) and I'll make a cylinder up to the armpits. After that, I have to work in 2 sections, the front and the back (so we have arm holes). Once I get about 3 rounds up from that, I'll chain however many stitches I skipped to leave space for the arms. And I'll just slip stitch those onto the opposing section.
Next, I'll start decreasing rapidly because we're on the shoulders going to the neck. For the naruto doll, I had to make a collar, so I just went around a few times without increasing or decreasing to get that tight collar.
For the details, I had to change colors and weave yarn in.
For the shoes, I used a magic circle and increased it. I usually put 6 single crochets and start from there. But you'll have to sew them into the legs or attach them to the pants to keep them from falling off.
The eyes are basic plastic eyes because I have no embroidery talent, lol.
I hope I answered a bunch of your questions. And again, I apologize if I didn't explain things properly. I'm better at just writing patterns or making a video.
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