Craft Advent 8: Waldorf-Inspired Angel

December the 8th: on this day I love to reread what Jan Richardson wrote and I drive my children mad listening to “Magnificat”… For this day I made a Waldorf-Inspired Angel Tutorial: first racing against the dullest of days and quickly diminishing light (I didn’t win) and then a total camera fail. So, a few of my photos didn’t make it, but I’ll try explain the process, it really isn’t difficult 😉What you need:
Tubular finger bandage, approximately 6″/15 cms
Jersey knit (doll skin or t-shirt material-you could dye it in tea to get the shade you want)
Thread
Filling: wool fleece in the Waldorf tradition or fiberfill, both work well!
White cotton fabric: I used an old white cotton top that had lace along the hem. This meant I didn’t have to sew a neat hem along the bottom
White felt
1 white pipecleaner
1 Sparkly pipecleanerSew up one end of the tubular bandage securely, then turn it inside out. Stuff it with filling and then sew up the other end, you now have a sausage shape. With a piece of strong thread, tie a piece around this sausage shape, approximately 1inch from the top, this will be your head. With another piece of thread, tie it halfway down the “face” to create the indent,true to the Waldorf-style. With your piece of jersey, wrap up the sausage shape, sewing it neatly from top to bottom, I usually have to cut off some excess so it doesn’t get bulky. You now have a jersey covered sausage shape! With another piece of strong thread, tie it under the chin where the first thread was tied, to create the head. The fabric should be firmly pulled around the face and indent should be clearly visible.

Fold the pipecleaner in half and wrap it around the neck, with equal length each side: these will be the arms. Fold and twist them back on themselves to the length you want them to be (mine are approximately 2 inches) Now for the dress: lay your doll body down on the fabric, allowing an extra 2″ from the bottom of the doll to the hem of the fabric and another inch on the top that you will be folding down at the neckline. I cut a piece of fabric 10″ X 6″, turned it wrong side out and sewed up the edges, creating a wide tube.

I folded down the fabric at the neckline and sewed a running stitch all along the edge, then pulled it to close, leaving it open enough to fit up over the doll body.  Once in place, I pulled it tightly and sewed a secure stitch to keep it in place.

For the hair: I had a little block of wood, but a piece of cardboard folded over would work just as well. Using a thick Aran weight yarn, I wound it around until it was approx 1.5″ wide. Then (slightly tricky!) I sewed through the yarn to hold it together (back and forwards a couple of times) I did it here in contrasting thread so it would be visible, but try match it if you can!

On the bottom of the block/card, cut along, ending up with a sheet of “hair” sewn in the middle. Fix this to the head and sew securely along the sewn line, I sewed a few times. Flatten down the hair so there is no “bald” gaps, and keep in place with a small piece of sparkly pipecleaner, that becomes the headband.For the face: With a gel pen (I find these draw on fabric really easily), draw in a simple face.

For the wings: Fold over your piece of white felt, and cut out a half-heart shape: when you open it up, it should be a heart. I cut a triangle out of the ends of mine to make them more “wing-y”

Attach the wings with a secure stitch. Add a loop of thread here so you can hang your angel on the tree.

And there you have it! A super sweet little angel to bring you joy!

• Craft Advent,
• Crft Advent,
• handmade doll,
• Magnificat,
• waldorf inspired