Peg Doll Tutorials

How to make Mrs Moss, Rainbow Peg Dolls & Three Wise Men



We can't resist these sweet wooden peg dolls, the possibilities for personalising them are endless! We like to combine them with needle felting and sheet felt, they can also be painted, decorated with scraps or have sewn fabric accessories. They make great gifts and cake toppers, and we even know someone who has created a peg doll chess set!

In the photo above, we have created a few different versions using the following materials:


- Curved Cone Wooden Peg Dolls
- Hand Dyed Teeswater Curls in 'Citrus'
- Green & Yellow Dyed Leicester Curls
- Pea Green dyed New Zealand Merino batts
- Felt Sheets in Off-White & Indigo
- Peach Stamens
- PVA Glue
- Felting needle
- Felting mat


Mrs Moss

(pictured above centre):


Take a pinch of green wool batts and wrap it around the peg doll. It needs to cover the body of the peg doll, with a layer just thick enough to hide the wood underneath, add more wool if needed.
Lay this wool on your mat and begin felting all over. Carefully turn the wool and felt the other side. Here I used one of our 4 needle tool which works much faster than a single needle.
Check the wool still fits your peg doll.
Lay some of the dyed green Leicester curls over the felted wool, and felt through both layers to attach. You may sometimes need to lay a few fibres of batts over the top of the curls and felt in to help them attach.
Choose which side of the peg doll you want for its face. Wrap the wool shape around your peg doll to check it still fits, add / remove wool where necessary. Add glue around the peg doll, making sure you have gone around just below the neck line, and just above the base, as well as plenty in between these lines.
Wrap the wool over the glue and press gently to help stick. You may need to felt the join a little by working on a sideways angle with your needle.
Take a single curl from the 'Citrus' hand dyed Teeswater curls, and begin spiralling it around starting with the more 'fluffy' end. Overlap the edges slightly and stab as you go to felt together. Keep peeling the wool away from your mat to prevent it attaching. Make the spiral wider as you go, once shaped in the next steps it will be a hat for your peg doll.
Keep felting around, until all the curl is used up. Turn the hat and felt the other side.
To shape the hat, if you have one of our Eco Felting Mats, the corner comes in handy to make the hat shape.
You can also pinch the sides of the hat as you felt to help it get its shape.
Try the hat on for size!
When happy, add glue around the hairline and then in between the lines.
Stick the hat on, pressing gently to attach. Leave to dry. Your peg doll is finished!


Rainbow Peg Dolls



Download Felt Sheet Scale Templates PDF here



Per doll, you will need:

- 1x 60mm curved cone wooden peg doll blank.
- 1x 9x10cm viscose/wool felt sheet.
- Needle & thread
- Pen, scissors & glue (PVA)

Make your the templates for the dress and front & back of hat. Draw around them onto your felt sheet, then cut out these pieces.

Cover the body of the peg doll with glue - ensure that all of the area from the neck to the bottom edge is covered.

Then fit the dress shape onto the peg doll tightly. Tuck the fabric in at the neckline where the glue should help shaping.
Cut any excess fabric off around the base. The felt should meet around the body but if there is excess, cut this off too.
Next thread your needle and lay the two hat parts on top of each other so that the rounded edges match up.
Using blanket stitch, sew together only the rounded top edges of the hat pieces. Alternatively you could sew it with backstitch then turn it inside out so the seam is on the inside.
You should end with a little cap that fits your finger
Decide where the face will be - sometimes the grain in the wood will help you choose. Cover the top and back of the head with glue.
Fit the little hat on so that the face is visible and the hat back reaches all the way to the body fabric. Optional: If you have coloured pencils draw on minimalistic facial features such as eyes, mouth, hair etc.
To make a toadstool, you will also need:
1x 64mm (L) wooden toadstool blank.
1x 7x7cm red viscose/wool felt sheet.
1x 4x4cm white viscose/wool felt sheet.
Draw around the Toadstool Cap template onto your red felt, then cut it out. Also cut out 5-6 white dots, each about 1cm in diameter. Cover the top part of the toadstool with glue, all the way to the edge...
...and fit the felt cap by folding it in where the wedges have been cut. Leave any excess felt hanging down and glue the white felt spots on the top.

Now make more Peg Dolls in all the rainbow colours using our Rainbow Felt Pack!


Why not Make-Along with us?


Three Wise Men Peg Dolls

You will need:

- 3 x Cone Shaped Peg Dolls
- Felt sheets in bright colours - our Rainbow Felt Sheet Pack is ideal!
- 3 x small gold and silver-coloured crowns
- Clear drying PVA glue
- scissors

Download a FREE PDF Template for their clothes HERE

  

You can find lots more video tutorials and Live Streams on our YouTube channel!