New Bendy dolls and Tutorial

i LOVE bendy dolls. i really do. i remember first making these back when i was in girl scouts as a kid. Of course the ones i make now are much nicer, but the concept is still the same. They are very easy to make, and kids love them. i've had a lot of requests from folks asking just how they are made, so i thought i'd put together a tutorial.

After repairing a bunch of bendies that the puppy chewed on, i decided to make Sage a few news ones for Yule. i'm working on putting together a few full play sets, i'll post pics of those later. Alice was a special request, but i'm feeling inspired to make a full set...including the Mad hatter, Queen of hearts a few of the card knights and a needle felted white rabbit and Cheshire cat. :) Okay, that may be a bit too ambitious for me. :)


i've also started an under water mermaid set. Of course when Sage noticed i was making mermaids she requested Ariel. i love making mermaids!

Okay, on to the tutorial. All you need is pipe cleaners, wooden beads for the head, embroidery floss and a bit of craft glue. For the hair you can use wool roving, yarn or embroidery floss they all work well. The clothing can be made from felt, fabric or silk flowers. You can embellish them with other items and you can be as simple or as creative as you want.

Cut your pipe cleaner in 2 pieces, so you'll have one 4" piece (arms) and one 8" piece (legs). Fold the legs in half down the middle, and you should have something like the above picture.

Now your going to put your bead on and push it down a bit. Open up the top of the pipe clear to create a loop. i tend to snip some of the 'fuzz' off the very top of the pipe cleaner. It makes it fit inside the bead better, and leaves less fuzz sticking up in the hair. Choose your material for the hair, cut it the desired length.

Place the hair inside the loop so you have an even amount on each side.

Then pull the pipe cleaner through the bead as tight as you can. Don't worry if a little bit of the pipe cleaner shows. Later on you can add a dot of glue to it and cover it with a few strands of hair.


Now take your 4" piece of pipe cleaner and twist it in place for the arms. This will be secured with the floss, so you really only have to twist it once.


Now grab your embroidery floss and begin wrapping. Start at the torso, make an X over and under the arms. Once you get this area covered well, begin moving down one arm.


Wrap the floss all the way to the end, trying to cover as much of the pipe cleaner as possible. It's okay if a bit shows through, you'll be going back over it. When you get to the very end, begin wrapping back toward the body about 1/3 of the way down. Then bend over the hand, making sure to leave extra that will help secure it to the arm.


Wrap the hand very tightly. Do not wrap too close to the end or the threads can come loose, i like to leave about 1/4" unwrapped. Continue wrapping tightly, and begin moving back down the arm, wrapping evenly and covering any pipe cleaner fuzz. When you get back to the torso, wrap a few times around the neck, criss-cross around the body and then continue on to the next arm. Following the same steps as above.

When both arms are completed, continue wrapping the torso, until you have the waist covered. You can then continue with this floss and cover the legs. Or switch colors to create 'tights'. If you chose to switch colors, i like to tie off my original thread but leave a bit of a tail. When i wrap the legs, the tail will be covered in the wrapping.


Beginning at the waist, start wrapping your new color. If you want striped tights, use two different colors together. Wrap down the legs, and finish the feet the same way the hands are done but fold back a bit more for the feet. Wrap back up the legs paying special attention to the pattern. Go around the body a few times, then begin wrapping the second leg.


When you get back to the top, wrap around the waist a couple times again, and then tie off your thread. i like to leave a small tail. i place a few drops of craft glue on the knot, and wrap the tail around the body through the glue 'gluing it' down.This will keep the knot from unraveling.


With the hair, i like to put a little glue on the back of the bead, and glue some of the under layer of hair in place. i leave the top free, and if the pipe cleaner is visable at the top of the head use a tiny bit of glue and arrange the hair over it.

Now you can customize your doll! i like to make simple clothing out of felt. i use a blanket stitch to sew it together and it gives a decorative edge. The clothing can be as simple or as elaborate as you want. If i was better at embroidery i'd be adding flowers and little details to these.

Sometimes i add faces, and sometimes i don't. You can use paint pens, gel pens or regular paints. i decided this girl needed some wings. i cut them out of felt and did a simple blanket stitch around the edge. Then sew it on her back with a few quick stitches.

Here she is complete.

Here she is hanging out on my nature table. She looked so nice on it, i had to post a second picture. i've had a few folks ask if i sell these, and as soon as i get some more wooden bead heads i may make a few and put them for sale on here. i'm going to play around with some different themes, but you can probably expect to see a few posts on these.

i hope my tutorial was helpful. Feel free to let me know if you still have questions!

You can also purchase these directly from me. Visit my the bendy doll folder in on Facebook page to see what i have available.