The pattern and instructions in this tutorial will make a body and clothing that can be used for any shoulderhead doll. The dress pattern can be adapted to many different looks and will fit a wide variety of Hittys very nicely. Use our carving blank pattern and carve your own Hitty Shoulderhead in wood or other carveable materials, or create your shoulderhead from clay, paper mache, etc. The patterns and instructions below for a Shoulderhead Hitty's body and clothing are reproduced from the materials that accompany my Resin and Wooden Shoulderhead Hitty Doll Kits. For more assistance with carving your shoulderhead, visit our Practical Hitty Face Carving Tutorial, which features photos of my Hitty Melissa resin casting model white ash shoulderhead in progress. You may also enjoy my Hitty Shoulderhead Doll Gallery on Sara Cole Studios.

Click for the printable shoulderhead carving blank pattern I use for my own carved wooden Hitty shoulderheads.

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Shoulderhead Doll Fabric Body and Clothing

Printable Pattern Pages:
Page 1
Page 2

Remember: always read all directions before getting started!

You will need:
*A Shoulderhead
*Printouts of Printable Pattern Pages 1 and 2
* Three fabrics to create Hitty’s body, dress, and pantaloons
*Cotton lace to trim Hitty’s dress and pantaloons
*Silk ribbon to gather Hitty’s pantaloons
*Small, sharp scissors
*An iron
*A tiny hook-and-eye fastener
*Handsewing needle and thread
*A sewing machine
*Beeswax or other thread conditioner
*A pencil (mechanical for greatest accuracy)
*Fabric glue (permanent, not temporary or basting glue)
*A fray stopping product
*Paint or ink for Hitty’s stockings and boots
*Elastic thread
*Round elastic cord or crochet cotton
*Polyester or wool stuffing
*A long, sharp darning needle

You may also like to use:
*Buttons or beads to decorate joints
*Tea, coffee, onion skins, or rit dye to antique fabrics
*Plastic-shaft q-tips to reinforce limbs
*Beads for Hitty’s necklace
*A very small hemostat tool

Let’s begin by finishing Hitty herself, then she can help you to make her clothes!

Hitty:

I use plain or hand-dyed cream-colored muslin is Hitty’s body fabric. This fabric is a very tightly-woven 200-thread count muslin, so that Hitty’s body can be stuffed very firmly and will be a strong support for the head.

1. Double the fabric, and iron out any wrinkles.

2. Cut out each body pattern piece: arm, leg, and body. Trace each piece in pencil on the doubled muslin. Trace one body, two arms, and two legs. DO NOT CUT OUT!

3. Set your sewing machine to a very short stitch length to create tight, strong seam. Stitch along your penciled lines, leaving openings where designated in the Stitching Guide section on your pattern page. The arm opening is at the back of the upper arm, the body opening at the bottom of the body piece, and the leg has openings both at the back of the thigh and at the tip of the toe. Stitch again DIRECTLY on top of your pencil lines and original seams at the spots marked by the wavy lines in the stitching guide. I do not recommend overstitching the entire seam, as this will make such tiny parts stiff and hard to turn. Pencil-mark the dots indicated on the body and leg pattern pieces on both the front and back of the pieces.

4. Cut out each piece, 3/16-inch outside of the seam. Cut a little wider around the openings, just in case those areas fray a bit when the pieces are turned.

5. Clip the curves and corners where marked by the arrows in the stitching guide.
6. Open and flatten the shoulder corners on the body piece, bringing the top and side seams together. The pencil-dots should be on the outer edge of the flattened area. Handstitch a straight seam between the two dots, as if creating a mattress corner, using doubled and conditioned (waxed) thread. Use tiny, tight stitches and double or backstitch this seam.

7. Repeat the process in step six for each heel corner.

8. Open and flatten toe opening, bringing top and bottom seams together. Using doubled, conditioned thread, handstitch across toe, using tiny, tight stitches and doubling or backstitching the seam.

9. Turn each piece right side out using a hemostat or pushing from the outside with a knitting needle. Alternatively, you can turn each piece with a darning needle and crochet cotton. Thread the needle with the cotton and knot the end. Insert the needle in through the toe, hand, or shoulder, through the inside, and out through the opening, then tug the string very slowly and gently to draw the piece right side out.

10. Stuff each piece very firmly with either polyester or wool stuffing. I do not recommend cotton stuffing for Hitty, despite its hardness, because it will make the jointing of the doll extremely difficult. Our intention in stuffing is not to create a soft cloth doll, but, for authenticity, a stiff, hard and inflexible jointed body for Hitty. You may wish to reinforce the arms and legs, and if so I recommend using q-tips with a plastic shaft. These are excellent for reinforcement because they will hold their shape nicely but with cotton tips, will never shift or poke back out of the doll.

11. Pillow stitch to close the openings on the backs of the arms and legs.

12. To close body, tuck at least ¼-inch of the fabric edge back up into the tube at the bottom of the body. Bring side seams together, flatten the opening front to back, and pillow stitch closed. If possible, tighten thread and gather seam slightly, for a rounded area and neater finish.

13. Paint or ink legs as desired, with stockings and garters, or just boots. Traditionally, Hitty has white stockings and black boots, with red garters at the knees.

14. Now it’s time to attach the head! I like to use tan or brown thread, doubled and conditioned with beeswax. Pinch the top of the body and force the shoulder plate firmly down onto the body. Don’t worry, the shoulderplate is very strong and will not break! It may seem that the body is too big for the head, but the idea is to cause the shoulder plates to embed in the body, to create a smooth surface under the clothing. Continue forcing the shoulderplate down until the top of the body meets the top inside of the shoulderplate curve.

15. Sew through a shoulderplate sewhole, straight through to the opposite hole. Sew back through the other set of sewholes. Continue sewing through from front to back, and back to front, until head is very firmly attached. The thread bulk will settle into the grooves between the sewholes. In order to keep the head from slipping upward or shifting after it’s attached, concentrate stitches at the bottom edges of the sewholes.

16. Arms and legs can be attached with round elastic cord, (preferred), or string or cord like crochet cotton, and a long, sharp darning needle. Place arms so that top of arm is level with ‘shoulder’ on shoulderhead, the base of the neck. This will be a little higher than the top of the cloth body. Begin by sewing straight through body, through top of one arm, and back through the arm and body, through the other arm, and back through the arm and body again. You may make a second pass for reinforcement, but more than two passes is not recommended as it can interfere with arm movement. End between one of the arms and the body, to hide the knot. Repeat the process for the legs. Buttons or beads can be attached outside the arms and legs to enhance the appearance and reinforce the jointing, like an old-fashioned teddy bear.

Your Hitty is Finished! Now it’s time to dress her!

Pantaloons:

I use white-on-white patterned muslin is for Hitty’s pantaloons.

1. Iron the fabric if it has developed any wrinkles. Cut out pantaloon pattern piece, and cut two from patterned muslin, placing the marked edge on a fold. Finish the bottom edge of each piece with tucks, hemming, or lace.

2. Match pieces, right sides together. Stitch both curved crotch seams with a 3/16-inch seam.

3. Open, match inseams right sides together, and stitch a 3/16-inch seam.

4. Treat top raw edge for fraying, and iron over a ¼-inch hem to wrong side. Turn right side out.

5. Gather top of pantaloons with silk ribbon and a running stitch.

Dress:

I use colored cotton prints for Hitty’s dress. You have several design options in creating Hitty’s dress! The shorter dress is more child-like, and the longer dress is more old-fashioned. The sleeve bands, belt, and neckband are all optional. Skipping the bands and belt will create a pretty tucked/gathered look in the finished bodice, and can look like a little girl’s fancy party dress, especially if you use the lace to trim the skirt and use the shorter dress length. The bands and belt, combined with the longer dress length, will look more like an 1860s-style china-doll dress. This look is enhanced by including two tucks in the skirt, and trimming the skirt with a band of contrasting fabric from your own stash, instead of the lace. The bands and belt can be created from a contrasting fabric, but for the china-doll look I prefer to create them from the same fabric as the dress. You can make your own design with any combination of bands, belt, tucks, lace, and fabric. Why not enhance your dress with beads, buttons or embroidery? The two dress lengths indicated in the pattern each contain a ½-inch allowance for two 1/8-inch tucks in the skirt, so if you do not wish to include the tucks you should shorten the dress piece by ½-inch.

1. Iron fabric to remove any wrinkles, and cut out all dress pattern pieces. From fabric, cut one dress bodice/skirt piece, two sleeves and, if desired, one neckband, two sleeve bands, and one belt.

2. If using bands and belt, use your sewing machine and a zigzag stitch to seal one long edge of each sleeve band, one long edge of the neckband, and both long edges of the belt.

3. If not using sleeve bands, iron-over a 1/8-inch hem on the sleeves, and glue with fabric glue. If using sleeve bands, gather edge of sleeve, fit to long, raw edge of sleeve band, and stitch a 3/16-inch seam. If necessary, treat for fraying and trim seam.

4. Stitch underarm seam on sleeves.

5. If using sleeve bands, fold zig-zagged edge to inside (wrong side) of sleeve and handtack with a whipstitch. Zigzagged edge should provide a firm edge to tack to inside.

6. Turn sleeves right side out.

7. Finish bottom edge of dress piece as desired, with lace, tucks, hemming, or a contrasting fabric band.

8. Handstitching with conditioned thread, set sleeve into dress piece. Match ‘V’ created by sleeve with ‘V’ in dress piece. Sleeve should be right side out and set against right side of dress piece. Handsew ‘V’ with a 3/16-inch seam. This can be tricky, but it’s worth it! This design permits a finished dress without the excessive underarm seam bulk that can make Hitty dresses so hard to fit.

9. Iron-over ¼-inch hems on the shorter edges at either end of the dress piece.

10. If using neckband, machine or hand-gather raw top edge of dress piece, preserving ironed-over hems. Iron-over ¼-inch hems on short ends of neckband. Preserving ironed-over edges on both neckband and dress piece, match raw long edge of neckband with gathered edge of dress. Stitch with 3/16-inch seam. Treat seam for fraying and trim seam if necessary. Iron neck band up and over seam, so that zigzagged edge is to the inside (wrong side) of dress piece. Tack neckband to the inside with a whipstitch.

11. If not using neckband, treat top raw edge of dress piece for fraying and iron-over a ¼-inch hem. Gather with a running stitch and elastic thread 1/8-inch from edge, and fit to your Hitty low on her shoulders.

12. If not using sleeve bands, gather sleeve edge at 1/8-inch from edge with elastic thread, to fit Hitty’s arms.

13. Open ironed-over hems at either end of dress piece and match ironed creases, right sides together. Close back of dress with a 1/4–inch seam allowance, stitching along creases from 1.5 inches below neckline to bottom edge of dress.

14. Refolding ironed hems, fabric glue or stitch to finish remaining opening at back of dress.

15. With elastic thread and a running stitch, gather dress all the way around at waistline, 3/4 to one inch from neckline. Make smaller stitches outside and larger stitches inside, to hide elastic.

16. If creating the belt, you may need to adjust the length in advance to fit your Hitty. To create the belt, iron long zigzagged edges 1/4-inch to wrong side of fabric. Double belt in half lengthwise to conceal edges, and iron. Open belt back up, and iron-over 1/4–inch on short ends. Refold lengthwise, and reiron. Reopen belt, and stitch hook and eye to the inside at either end, so hook and loop protrude just beyond the ends. The side with the stitches will be the back of the belt. Refold belt, and fabric glue it closed along the entire length. You may wish to secure each end with a few tiny stitches.

Advanced options in finishing your Shoulderhead Hitty:

*Paint fabric limbs to match head and resemble wood. (Do not paint body, as this may compromise head attachment.)

*Create your own jointed body from wood, clay, or your own cloth body pattern. The dress pattern will fit a wide range of Hitty styles, and should also fit other Hittys in your collection!

*Paint Hitty’s legs with fancy boots, stockings, or garters, or stitch lace to fabric legs for garters.

*Create wooden or clay limbs to attach to your cloth body. If you’re not an experienced carver with wood and tools on-hand, you might try creating limbs from dowels, which can be found at many department and craft stores.

*Dye all the materials in your kit with tea, coffee, rit dye, or onion skins, for an antique appearance. All materials are silk or cotton and will dye well. Tea, coffee, and rit dye will create a brown or tan appearance, but onion skin will create a bright yellow or orange, so make sure to test first!

*Create Hitty’s body and clothing from real antique or vintage materials from your own collection.

Congratulations! Your Shoulderhead Hitty is finished! Don’t forget to sign and date your work. What will you name her?