Make an Ugly Doll
My 8 year old son, who abhors anything girly, asked me to get him an ugly doll.
A what?
I guess I've been under a rock for a few months. I didn't know what an ugly doll was. But I do now! And it appears that all the kids in the elementary crowd are already in on the scoop.
We bought one big Ugly Doll and 3 little ones. They are not cheap! As will any sort of stuffed toy, you can probably figure out how to make one to represent a character from your own imagination. It may not be quite as easy as it looks, but making a doll (that is meant to be ugly) is just more time consuming than difficult.
These are pictures of the dolls making the rounds in school aged kids these days. We can't provide patterns, because that would be copyright infringement and we want to stay on the good side of the law.
Here is an approach to make your own:
Sketch the doll you want to make on a piece of paper (or 2 pieces taped together if you want to make a bigger one). You will want to cut the fabric out ~ 1/2" larger than your doll. You will also want the doll to by symmetrical, so once you have sketched your idea on paper, choose which half (draw a line vertically) is best, fold along the line and cut out a paper doll shape. Since the paper is folded, it will end up symmetrical. Don't skip on this trick, it makes sewing much easier.
Cut your fabric (old sweatshirt? Flannel, fleece). out with the pattern. Sew on (or embroider or stitch or use buttons) eyes and mouth and teeth before you sew the two sides together.
I found that doing the detail for arms is a little tricky so it may be easier for some people to create little arms separately, turn them inside out, stuff them, and then pin them in place so you can sew them in when you sew the two sides together.
After you've sewn the features on, sew right sides together, leaving an unsewn part so you can flip the doll inside out. Stuff it with polyester and sew up the remaining gap. There ya go!
This would be a good project for days when you are stuck inside. You could have your kids design their own ugly doll that you can create with a little fabric, a little thread and a little time. We made a doll which was kinda-sorta like Babo in about an hour (maybe a bit more), from creating a rough pattern, cutting and sewing. The kids were very interested in the process and now they dearly love the finished doll. Every stitch made with love!