Aptly named Beatrice, meaning the bringer of joy and happiness, we can just imagine that this dazzling doll with her snow-white hair is visiting from a nearby holly tree to play. By stitching her, you’ll learn handy toy-making tricks, including creating hair without needing to work over the entire area, and how to ensure she keeps her head erect on such a slim neck. The dress is so simple, so why not gift her with an extra frock wrapped as a present?
Download the template from sewmag.co.uk, print and cut out. Snip two wings from patterned fabric and one from wadding. Cut four legs from patterned fabrics, and two bodies and four arms from plain cotton. Pair up the body, arms and legs, wrong sides together, and sew, leaving the underside of each arm, the bottom straight edge of the body and top straight edges of the legs unsewn for turning.
Align the wings with right sides together and the wadding on one side, then stitch around the edge, leaving a 3cm gap in the lower edge. Turn out the wings, fold in the raw edges and topstitch around the shape. Add lines of topstitching from the centre out to the points in the wings. Turn out the legs and stuff fairly firmly with fibre filling to 1cm from the top. Tack across the top of each leg to hold in the filling. Turn out the arms and stuff, then fold in the raw edges at the turning gap and slip-stitch closed.
Turn out the body and stuff firmly, adding a craft stick to the neck area to prevent the head from drooping. Firmly pack the fibre filling to 1.5cm from the lower edge and t