Old Fashioned Yarn Dolls For Homeschoolers Bonus Chapter Two
Old fashioned yarn dolls are a perfect thing to add to your homeschool! They are easy and fun to make. Older children should be able to follow the directions without you if you need them to that day because the piles of laundry have been calling your name for so long they are now yelling to get your attention! 😉
Children about 7 and younger will need some help, but don’t worry; it truly is a simple craft to make and only requires some cutting, wrapping, and knot tying!
I teach you how to make these old fashioned yarn dolls through story, because why not? Can we ever have too much wonder in our homeschooling lives?
Old Fashioned Yarn Doll Materials
1. Yarn dolls are great for using up leftover yarn. It doesn’t matter what color, ANY color will work just fine. If you don’t have any yarn, a good place to grab some yarn is at the dollar tree!
2. Other things you will need are scissors, which if your house is like mine, you can’t find anywhere. But never fear, for the dollar store is here once again! I buy all my scissors there with the exception of fabric scissors.
3. Lastly you will need cardboard. Do you remember your last Amazon order? That box it came in will be perfect for this project!
Before you begin your old fashioned yarn doll tutorial, I will need to inform you of something really quickly:
I write stories to create a free embroidery handwork/handicraft curriculum for your homeschoolers. The main characters are Charlotte and her brother William, along with a tiny wood nymph named Willow. This story “yarn doll tutorial” stars these characters, but don’t worry, you don’t need to have read any past story embroidery lessons before enjoying the story tutorial below!
You are now ready to begin!
Chapter 8
Charlotte Makes Willow A Yarn Doll
Charlotte woke up one morning with nothing to do. It wasn’t Saturday when she had embroidery lessons with her tiny wood nymph friend and her older brother William. Those were some of her favorite times!
No, today had nothing that needed to be done. So the question now was “what should she do?”
Charlotte dressed herself, ate breakfast with her 3 siblings and her parents and did her morning chores. She and William had fun with their baby sister and 3 year-old brother. After that she wondered into the living room and looked at what she could do.
Mom walked in and saw her daughter staring at seemingly nothing. When several minutes passed by without Charlotte noticing that her mom had walked into the room, mom asked, “Need a craft idea? You can look at the craft books.”
“That’s a good idea! Thanks mom!”
So Charlotte looked at one craft book after another. She looked at paper crafts, felted crafts, and knitted crafts. She was about to give up when she started looking at a book with all sorts of random crafts in it.
Making Of The Old Fashioned Yarn Doll
There it was! Just the craft she was excited to make! A yarn doll!
Charlotte went to the basket of yarn, picked out fuzzy yarn. She gathered scissors and cardboard. She cut a 6″ piece of cardboard and a 5 1/2″ piece of cardboard.
To make the arms, she picked up the 5 1/2″ cardboard pieces and she wrapped yarn around them 12 times. Then she cut the yarn.
She slipped the yarn off and tied each end near the tip.
Wrap 12 times 
Next she picked up the 6″ piece of cardboard and wrapped the yarn around 25 times, then slipped it off.
Then she tied a knot to make hair, followed by another knot to make the face.
Charlotte put the arm piece in between the longer piece right under the face.
She tied a piece of yarn just below the arms.
To finish up the doll, she cut the yarn where the “hands” are and at the bottom of the dress. Lastly she trimed the yarn where she tied knots.
Making A Yarn Doll For Willow
“That was fun!” thought Charlotte. “I can make one for Willow! Of course it will need to be much smaller.”
She figured out how small to make a yarn doll for her friend and began to make it.
“Oh my goodness this is so tiny and cute! Perfect for my tiny wood nymph friend! I am going to give this to her right now!”
Thankfully she remember to tell her mom she was going into the woods behind her house for a bit, like she was supposed to each time she went. Mom and dad didn’t know about Willow. The right time hadn’t arrived yet.
Charlotte ran! Soon she was at the tree where Willow and her family lived. It was the only Willow tree in the woods. Ash, one of Willow’s brothers saw Charlotte, said hello, and told her Willow was in the barn.
“Barn? I don’t know where that is.” said Charlotte.
“Do you see that tree stump?” asked Ash pointing, “That’s the barn.”
“Thank you Ash!”
Willow Is Delighted With Her Yarn Doll
Off Charlotte went to the tree stump. She couldn’t believe she had never seen it before!
Many fences created several pastures with pigs, horses, cows, sheep, chickens, and goats, in them. There was an open door on what looked like a second story. From here there was hay being tossed out.
“Willow, is that you?” asked Charlotte?
The hay stopped flying in the air and a little head poked out.
“Why Charlotte!” exclaimed Willow, ” I didn’t know you were coming today! What a pleasant surprise!”
“I made you something but I couldn’t wait until our next embroidery lesson to give it you! Here.” Charlotte brought out the yarn doll.
Willow drew a deep breath and said, “Wow. This is darling!”
Charlotte was tickled that her friend loved her doll!
“Thank you oh ever so much!” said Willow gratefully, then an idea came to her. “After I teach you the blanket stitch in our embroidery lessons I can teach you how to sew doll clothes!”
Naming Of The Yarn Dolls
“I would love that!” exclaimed Charlotte. “I made myself a yarn doll too. I named her Evelyn. What will you name yours?”
Willow thought for a few moments and said, “What’s your middle name?”
Charlotte was surprised by the question. “Rebecca.”
“Then her name is Rebecca!”
“That’s a wonderful idea! I will rename my doll. What’s your middle name?”
“You already named her my middle name!” smiled Willow.
Charlotte started to laugh heartily with her friend joining in.
“I can’t believe it! What an amazing coincidence!” declared Charlotte.
“If you think about it, us meeting is an amazing coincidence. And I for one am quite happy about it!” beamed Willow.
“Me too,” replied Charlotte, beaming as well.
Charlotte and Willow had a happy time playing with their dolls together.
Now it’s your turn to play with your yarn doll! What adventure will you start with?
The End
What’s Going On Next Week
Thank you for joining me today! I hope your family has hours of happy times with your own yarn doll. Be sure to come back next week for a tutorial for a simple tutu Christmas tree ornament.
Also you won’t want to miss out when Willow teaches Charlotte how to make clothes for your wonderfully old fashioned yarn doll!
Interested in joining the free embroidery curriculum handwork lessons?
Click here to skip the beginning lessons and start your embroidery sampler.
See you next week!