fabric doll face

by Melanie Ann Schneiter

Example of a fabric doll with embroidered face

Hi,

I am trying to make a cloth doll. The question I have concerns the face. I made a face in Photoshop. I printed it on fabric on the printer (by temporarily gluing paper to the fabric) and it's OK but not the quality I want. So, I then used Terial Magic on the fabric and printed the face and it's better but still not what I want.

So, I printed the face on vellum and it's beautiful. I then cut it out with a round die cut but the problem is that it is flat. I need a vellum quality paper or some other paper that I can sew so that the doll head is slightly rounded. The vellum of course tears if its anything other that flat. I haven't tried iron on transfer, I don't think that' s the right solution.

Do you know a paper that can be flexible and be sewn. Or, do you have a transfer paper that I could print on and then transfer to the fabric?

Thank you. This is kind of a challenging problem for me.

How do you reply?

Melanie

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Hi Melanie

Thank you for asking about printing doll faces on flexible fabric or paper.

I currently do not know of a flexible paper that could do this, but from my quilting days I remembered there is fabric you can print photos on. I am not sure what country you live in so Google 'photo print fabric near me' to find a local supplier.

Apparently cotton T-shirts are a good fabric for printing doll faces onto as the fabric is tightly woven yet has a give to it.

I also found you a paid tutorial made by someone who knows how to print doll faces on fabric. You can find it here. I have never used this person's paid instruction sheets so please do consider if you think it will really help before committing to buying it.

Have you considered embroidering the doll face instead?

Another idea may be to search for a sewing group near you who maybe could help you discover new ways of printing doll's faces on fabric.

I found a website that shows how to print photos on fabric as well, and it may even have free tutorials? Search for The Graphics Fairy.

I really think paper will want to stay flat, not be shaped too much, though Vellum can be pushed with rounded tools to form raised areas. It can also be spritzed with water to allow the paper to stretch a bit further before it tears. When it dries it will become a bit more brittle. It will never want to be smoothly sewn into a semi circle shape though.

I hope these suggestions help. I am much more of a papercrafter than a maker of dolls!

I wish you lots of success with your doll making.

PaperCraftCentral Susan