Sewing Resources

Doll Making Supplies ~ Fabrics ~ Threads ~ Stuffing ~ & More

FREE SEWING GUIDE ~ No2. Sewing Resources

This guide is the second in a series on sewing, tailored primarily for beginners and hobbyists eager to expand their knowledge of textiles and sewing techniques.

Before beginning your new sewing project, it's essential to gather all the necessary resources.

Just like following a recipe to bake a cake, you need all the ingredients; flour, butter, sugar, eggs and the equipment; bowl, wooden spoon, cake tins, etc…

before you can make, bake and enjoy your cake.

Think of your sewing resources as your ingredients, your fabric is like the flour, your threads are the eggs, If something is missing you will not get the result you want.

Here I have put together an easy reference guide for some essential sewing resources and doll making supplies to help get you started.

Fabrics

Fabrics are categorised into different groups based on their quality, weight, type of construction, fibres and attributes.

For example:

A premium quality, heavy (weight), woven (construction), wool (fibre) Tartan

While this fabric may be the best choice for making a traditional Scottish Kilt, it is not really suitable for the type of dolls that I make.

Woven fabrics work best for my designs and I prefer to work with either medium or light weight woven fabrics. I have found these fabrics are best for creating the small stuffed shapes used in doll making. They have very little stretch and are often used to make shirts, dresses and trousers.

In contrast, knitted fabrics e.g. T-shirts and sweatshirts, are stretch fabrics and will stretch out of shape when stuffed, meaning you have less control over the finished result.

Woven cotton or polycotton fabrics, e.g. Poplin, Gingham, Lawn are widely available, easy to use, versatile, affordable and come in a wide range of colours and designs.

I usually pay anything from £7 to £13 for one metre of printed, dressmaking cotton or polycotton.

The great thing about doll making is that you only need small quantities of fabric, so you can often recycle children’s clothing or an old shirt for little or no cost.

Many of my designs use recycled fabrics or small scraps left over from other projects and often you will need small amounts of a variety of different fabrics.

Pre-used fabrics have a wonderful slightly worn quality to them, I really enjoy breathing new life into something old and repurposing it into something new.

It’s a good idea to collect fabrics and supplies even if you don’t know what you will use them for. Then, when inspiration does strike, you will have a choice of suitable fabrics available.

Read my blog post about collecting fabrics for free (or very cheap) for more ideas.

Collecting recyclable fabrics – 8 ideas for sourcing, free or very cheap, fabrics.

Sewing Threads

Sewing threads are available in an almost endless array of colours, weights and fibres, far too many to mention here.
Often the choice of thread is based on what it will be used for and whether you will be sewing by hand or machine.
Below are some of my personal favourites, they are easily available and versatile for the type of dolls that I make. Don’t worry if you can’t find the exact same ones or if you use a different brand, this is down to personal preference and availability. If it gets the job done, then that’s the main thing to remember.

I like Coats Moon, polyester thread for general sewing, Coats Duet and Gutermann threads are also good.

Generally speaking, if sewing by machine, you need a good quality thread to keep the tension of the stitch consistent (so the stitch sits flat on the fabric without pulling, forming loops, knotting or snapping). I like to keep a good range of colours in these threads because I use them for general sewing, both by hand and machine.

I also use Coats Nylbond, a very strong polyester thread, great for doll making and in particular for stitching closed openings after stuffing or attaching heads and ears.
I buy this thread on large spools (1500m), my suppliers only stock a limited colour range in this size, (e.g black, white, and beige) but they are available in a wider range of colours in the smaller size (60m).

Stuffings & Fillings

Historically a variety of different materials have been used to stuff toys and many of these are still available from specialist suppliers. It is primarily down to personal choice, as to which materials you use.

Traditionally materials like straw, horsehair, crushed walnut shells and sawdust were used for stuffing toys, you might choose one of these if you want to achieve a very old, authentic feel. On the downside these materials can be very messy to use and the finished result can be very heavy. A cleaner alternative to straw is wood wool but still has a similar feel and weight.

Post WWII toy manufacturers started using more synthetic materials and materials better suited to washing. Wool, cotton and polyester fibre fillings gave a softer, lighter weight result and were washable.

Some people use leftover scraps of fabric, yarn or old tights and socks to fill their homemade dolls and toys. I have tried using these materials but again, similar to traditional materials, the end result can be a little on the heavy side.

My personal favourite for versatility, price and availability is polyester fibre filling. If you look online or shop at craft stores, polyester fibre toy filling is available to buy in small bags. Small quantities are great if you are new to doll making and want to experiment, without investing too heavily to begin with. I buy polyester fibre filling in bulk, direct from manufacturers, through Ebay, a cheap alternative is an old polyester fibre filled pillow, just make sure you wash and dry it thoroughly first.

Sometimes I like to give some weight and balance to a doll, this is achieved by adding a small amount of weighted material to specific parts of the doll (body and legs). Traditionally, materials like dried lentils, rice and steel shot (tiny metal balls) were used, again these have generally been replaced in modern manufacturing with cleaner alternatives like plastic pellets, glass beads and steel balls.

I prefer to use glass bead, I like the weight it gives while still allowing movement, it is clean and not expensive (a little goes a long way), but generally it is only available from specialist bear and doll making suppliers online.

Ribbons & lace

Ribbons and lace are also known as trimmings and they add something extra, to your sewing projects, sometimes functional, sometimes decorative but often both.

I use them to add finishing touches to my designs, e.g. a ribbon, tied in a bow, used to fasten in place of a button or vintage lace to edge the hem of a dress as decoration.

I like to keep a wide variety of different widths, styles and colours in stock, and have become a bit of a collector.

Ribbons and lace can be found in the haberdashery department of craft shops and are sold by the metre. They are available in a wide range of widths, fibres, colours and patterns. However, craft shops can be expensive, the ribbons are often quite stiff and a bit too pristine for my make-do-and-mend style, so I rarely buy mine from shops.

I prefer to keep an eye out for vintage bundles on Ebay, go to markets or make my own using torn strips of vintage fabrics, stained with tea and hung out in the sun to dry.

Markets are great places to pick up a bargain, often either remnants (the last few metres available) or unpopular lines being sold off cheaply in pre-cut bundles of approx 3m lengths.

There’s a market in Cornwall where you can pick up 3ms of ribbon or lace for £1. Even if I don’t need anything in particular, I will still buy a few so I have plenty of choice when I do need some, rather than having to make a special trip.

I prefer old fashioned colours and patterns because they suit my style of work and I will often stain them with tea to make them look even older.

Check out local markets near you, you might be in luck.

Buttons

Buttons, along with zips, poppers, hooks are all fastenings because the primary function of a button is to fasten two pieces of fabric together.

Consider a coat that opens down the front, with buttons on one side and buttonholes on the other. By threading the buttons through the buttonholes, you can fasten the two sides of the coat together securely.

Buttons are made of many different materials e.g. plastic, wood, shell, bone, metal and coconut shell. They are available in thousands if not millions of different colours, sizes, shapes, patterns and styles.

Buttons are attached to fabric by threading a needle and thread through the holes in the button; some have two or four holes in the center, while others have a small shank on the back with a hole in it. The counterpart for fastening may be a buttonhole, a loop, or a toggle cord.

I’ve always enjoyed collecting buttons. I store them in a large glass jar, often adding vintage finds from car boot sales and second-hand shops.

While I sometimes use buttons for their traditional purpose as fastenings on doll clothes, I primarily use them decoratively as eyes on my whimsical, recycled fabric dolls.

This works out well since the buttons don’t need to match.

Beads

Beads are commonly utilised as decorative elements in textiles, offering a variety of effects through their application.

They can be applied individually, in clusters, or scattered similar to sowing seeds. My use of beads varies with each project depending on the effect I want to achieve.

Similar to buttons, beads come in a variety of materials and are attached to fabric by threading a needle through their central hole.

My preference is for glass beads, which I typically purchase in small quantities from craft stores or on eBay. Their prices vary, from £0.70 for a small packet to over £5.00 for an individual bead.

I use tiny black beads for the eyes of small creatures such as birds or mice, small coloured beads to add texture and interest, and iridescent beads to capture light and create a three-dimensional effect.

Beading can be quite meditative, as it is a slow process that can’t be rushed.
I find it better to pour the beads into a small dish or tray, otherwise, they have a habit of getting spilt and lost.

Depending on the size of your bead and its central hole, you may have to invest in beading needles. These needles are much finer than the sharps sewing needles used for general sewing.

If you try to pass a needle that is too thick, through the bead it can snap in half, this is particularly true for the glass beads that I use, metal beads just get stuck on the needle, so check first and use the finest needle you have available.

Embroidery threads

Embroidery is the art of decorating fabric using a needle to stitch threads.
Similar to an artist painting on a canvas using a brush to apply paints.

Hand embroidery threads are available in different fibres, weights and finishes, so it really does depend on what they will be used for and the effect you want to achieve.

Probably the most versatile embroidery thread is embroidery floss or stranded cotton, these threads are actually 6 threads loosely twisted together and can be separated for finer work. They have a slight sheen and are usually made of cotton but are also produced in silk, linen and rayon.

Stranded cotton is available in a wide range of colours and is suitable for most types of embroidery. If you are new to embroidery this is probably a good choice, they are widely available from haberdashery departments, craft shops and online.
Prices start from as little as £0.99 for 8 metres.
Metallic threads, suitable for both hand and machine embroidery, contain metallic components, such as synthetic ones like lurex or actual metals, for example, genuine or imitation silver. However, they tend to be more challenging to handle and are not as flexible as stranded cotton.

Perle cotton is a two-strand twisted thread known for its high sheen and is available in five weights. The thickness of the thread is given by the number, the lower the number, the thicker the thread. I use numbers 5 and 8 in black for stitching teddy bear noses, as well as for words and numbers. This thread provides good definition due to its tighter twist when compared to stranded cotton.
Machine embroidery threads come on spools the same as those used for general sewing threads, but these threads are thicker and the spools contain fewer metres.

These threads have a high sheen and are typically made from polyester or rayon, with silk and cotton options also available. As mentioned previously, metallic and lurex threads are also available for machine embroidery.
While there are many more types of embroidery threads and yarns available, I mainly use the ones I’ve described.

For much of my embroidery work, both hand and machine, I often use just regular sewing thread in subtle shade variations to gradually add layers and build depth, stitch by stitch.