How To Make a Yarn Doll (Frozen Yarn Dolls)

When I was a child, my mom used to make me yarn dolls to play with. Dolls in all styles and colors. They were some of my favorite toys. Even as much as I played with them as child, I had forgotten about them when I became a mom. This last week, my mom pulled out her skeins of yarn and accessories and taught my girls the joy of making and playing with yarn dolls. These little dolls have gone everywhere my girls have in the last week and I have completely rediscovered the joy of playing with something handmade. We have made about 10 dolls in the last week, everything from basic yarn dolls to Dolls resembling the characters from Frozen.

How to Make Yarn Dolls

Below find the step-by-step picture instructions for making a basic yarn doll and also separate instructions for how to make Elsa, Anna and Olaf dolls.

How To Make a Yarn Doll

You will need:

• Yarn in any color
• Scissors
• A hard back book
• buttons for eyes
• felt and other add ons

Your doll will be about the same size of the hardback book you use so find a book the size you would like you doll. Wrap the yarn fairly tightly around the book between 30 and 40 times.

Tale a long length of string and slide it under the group of strings around the book.

Slide the string up to the top of the book and tie it tight.

Slide the yarn off of the book.

Gather one side of the loops in your hand and cinch it a couple inches from the top. This will be the head of your doll.

Take a small piece of string and tie it where your hand is tight.

Cut the loops at the opposite end of the yarn doll head.

Take a small section of yarn from each side of the yarn doll. These will be the doll’s arms.

For the arms, you can either tie them at the elbow and the wrist of each arm or you can braid each arm and then tie them off with a small piece of string.

Tie the doll with a piece of string at the waist. If you want to change the doll from having a skirt to having pant, split the strings below the waist string into half. Tie each of the halves, halfway at the knees and then each at the ankles too.

My girls still have Frozen Fever around here, so we made a set of fun Frozen yarn dolls for them to enjoy. You can find the instructions for each individual doll below.

Anna Doll

You well need:

• Pink Yarn
• Orange Yarn
• A Knitting Needle
• Purple felt Blue buttons
• Pearl Trim

Wrap the orange  yarn around the bamboo skewer. Spray it down with water and bake on a cookie sheet 30-45 minutes at 200 degrees until the yarn is dry. This will set the yarn to make it curly. Peel the yarn from the skewer. Make the doll just as the tutorial above shows. Hot glue the strands of orange hair to the head, add the blue buttons for the eyes. Add the pearl bead trim around the neck and waist of the doll. Make a cape out of the Purple felt by cutting a rectangle the length of the doll from the neck to the end of the dress strings. Round the bottom edge of the cape and then hot glue it to the neck of the doll. Embellish the cape with flowers.

Elsa Doll

You will need:

• Light Blue Yarn
• A Knitting Needle
• White Felt
• White Yarn
• Pearl Bead Trim
• Round Pink Buttons
• Blue Buttons
• Snowflake buttons

Wrap the white yarn around the bamboo skewer. Spray it down with water and bake on a cookie sheet 30-45 minutes at 200 degrees until the yarn is dry. This will set the yarn to make it curly. Peel the yarn from the skewer. Make the doll just as the tutorial above shows. Hot glue the strands of white hair to the head, add the blue buttons for the eyes and the pink buttons for the cheeks. Add the pearl bead trim around the neck and waist of the doll. Make a cape out of the white felt by cutting a rectangle the length of the doll from the neck to the end of the dress strings. Round the bottom edge of the cape and then hot glue it to the neck of the doll. Embellish the cape with snowflakes.

Olaf Doll

You will need:

• White Yarn
• Black Buttons
• Carrot Button
• Hot Glue

Find a small hardback book to make Olaf. I used a mini board book from a Chick-Fil-A kids meal. Wrap the yarn around the book about 20-30 times. Tie the yarn and then slide it off. Tie off a head, but do not cut the bottom strings. Hot glue the buttons to the face.

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How To Make a Yarn Doll

Have you ever wanted to know How To Make a Yarn Doll? This easy picture tutorial will help you and your kids make these fun DIY Toys!

Keyword: Crafting, Kids, Toys, Tutorial

Materials

• Yarn in any color
• Scissors
• A hard back book
• buttons for eyes
• felt and other add ons

Anna Doll

• Pink Yarn
• Orange Yarn
• A Knitting Needle
• Purple felt Blue buttons
• Pearl Trim

Elsa Doll

• Light Blue Yarn
• A Knitting Needle
• White Felt
• White Yarn
• Pearl Bead Trim
• Round Pink Buttons
• Blue Buttons
• Snowflake buttons

Olaf Doll

• White Yarn
• Black Buttons
• Carrot Button
• Hot Glue

Instructions

• Your doll will be about the same size of the hardback book you use so find a book the size you would like you doll. Wrap the yarn fairly tightly around the book between 30 and 40 times.
• Tale a long length of string and slide it under the group of strings around the book.
• Slide the string up to the top of the book and tie it tight.
• Slide the yarn off of the book.
• Gather one side of the loops in your hand and cinch it a couple inches from the top. This will be the head of your doll.
• Take a small piece of string and tie it where your hand is tight.
• Cut the loops at the opposite end of the yarn doll head.
• Take a small section of yarn from each side of the yarn doll. These will be the doll's arms.
• For the arms, you can either tie them at the elbow and the wrist of each arm or you can braid each arm and then tie them off with a small piece of string.
• Tie the doll with a piece of string at the waist. If you want to change the doll from having a skirt to having pant, split the strings below the waist string into half. Tie each of the halves, halfway at the knees and then each at the ankles too.
• My girls still have Frozen Fever around here, so we made a set of fun Frozen yarn dolls for them to enjoy. You can find the instructions for each individual doll below.

Anna Doll

• Wrap the orange  yarn around the bamboo skewer.
• Spray it down with water and bake on a cookie sheet 30-45 minutes at 200 degrees until the yarn is dry. This will set the yarn to make it curly.
• Peel the yarn from the skewer.
• Make the doll just as the tutorial above shows.
• Hot glue the strands of orange hair to the head, add the blue buttons for the eyes.
• Add the pearl bead trim around the neck and waist of the doll.
• Make a cape out of the Purple felt by cutting a rectangle the length of the doll from the neck to the end of the dress strings.
• Round the bottom edge of the cape and then hot glue it to the neck of the doll.
• Embellish the cape with flowers.

Elsa Doll

• Wrap the white yarn around the bamboo skewer.
• Spray it down with water and bake on a cookie sheet 30-45 minutes at 200 degrees until the yarn is dry. This will set the yarn to make it curly.
• Peel the yarn from the skewer.
• Make the doll just as the tutorial above shows.
• Hot glue the strands of white hair to the head, add the blue buttons for the eyes and the pink buttons for the cheeks.
• Add the pearl bead trim around the neck and waist of the doll.
• Make a cape out of the white felt by cutting a rectangle the length of the doll from the neck to the end of the dress strings.
• Round the bottom edge of the cape and then hot glue it to the neck of the doll.
• Embellish the cape with snowflakes.

Olaf Doll

• Find a small hardback book to make Olaf. I used a mini board book from a Chick-Fil-A kids meal.
• Wrap the yarn around the book about 20-30 times.
• Tie the yarn and then slide it off.
• Tie off a head, but do not cut the bottom strings.
• Hot glue the buttons to the face.

Video

What kind of doll will you make?