Hayah Hijabi Plushies

My Hijabi Doll Tutorial

An Eid Present Idea

Disclaimer: This is the first plushie I've ever made and am not claiming to be an expert.  

I've been crafting like crazy since school let out for the summer.  My newest craft obsession is making plushies with felt.  I've seen numerous plush tutorials but never thought that I would actually be able to do it, considering I don't have much experience with hand sewing.  My first attempted project was inspired by hijabi dolls I saw on Pinterest.  It's Ramadan right now and my best friend and I always get something for each other for Eid [she's Muslim, I'm not], so I had to find something I could make her.

If you would like to purchase a doll made by  me I have them listed in my etsy store
https://www.etsy.com/listing/159672167/cute-hand-sewn-felt-hijabi-dolls

Below is the link to the original.

http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/islamic-kawaii-softies 

To the left is my version :] I may make a prayer rug later.

First, the supplies used.  

I used 

• 33¢ felt in purple for the hijab
• 33¢ felt in light blue for the body
• 33¢ felt in a skin color for the face and hands
• regular white embroidery floss
• an embroidery needle
• puff paint for the face
• paper for a pattern
• fabric glue
• scissors
• a sharpie
• stuffing

All in all it's a really inexpensive project to do.

 The first thing I did was make a pattern. I didn't really know what I wanted initially so I practiced it for a while until I liked what I had. I folded the paper in half so that it would be equal on both sides and made sure the hijab piece fit the body well. Then I traced it onto the felt and cut two pieces out.  

After I had cut out two body pieces and two hijab pieces, I pinned them together and made sure they were exactly what I wanted.  I started stitching the hijab to the body.  I ended up cutting the blue body piece down at the top so that the hijab would connect over it in one solid piece, but you can do what you like.  I did this for both body pieces and hijab pieces.  I only sewed the bottom of the hijab since the rest of it will be sewn together once I put the whole doll together.

This is what the back[inside] ended up looking like after I had stitched it on and added a drop of glue on the knots.  I then started to cut out different face shapes to see what I liked.  The original had a very oval shape for the face but I found that I did not like it on my doll and instead went for a circle.  I traced a pill bottle directly onto my felt and cut it out. 

I think the round face makes the doll look a little bit more innocent and a lot happier, which is what I was going for.  Cut out only one face shape and stitch it onto the hijab and body piece you want to be the front of your doll.  Use any stitch you think is cute of course but this is how I chose to do mine.  You could probably even glue it if you wanted but It might not hold once stuffed and will make the felt kinda hard and stiff.  Ignore my puppy in the background. 

The back should then look something like this, or at least mine did.   Again, I glued the knots down with a little fabric glue, as I have been known to tie knots poorly.  I should also say that I used a little fabric glue on the face to help it stay but it's really not necessary to.  

This was the problem I mentioned earlier.  If I had sewn it just how I had cut it out it would have had a blue line in the middle where I did not want it.  So I trimmed that back a little bit.  Word of advice, this would've been easier before I had sewn it together, but, hindsight. 

This is what they looked like after I had cut a little bit off of each piece to line them up a little better.  This also shows just how much I cut off.  

Then I started sewing both pieces together.  I didn't know what I was going to do for hands at this point.  If I had I would have saved myself a lot of time and effort by putting them on before I had sewn the two pieces together.  Again, hindsight.

This is what the doll looked like stitched together before stuffing.  Keep in mind I did not sew the bottom so that I could put the stuffing in.  Also, I added those hands.  Thank goodness my hands are pretty small so I was able to sew them.  

Then I stuffed the doll.  My advice would be to use a pencil or something to really get the doll filled, especially the top of it.  I also wish that I had filled mine a little more.  

Cutting the bottom piece was probably the hardest part for me.  I have no prior experience and had no idea how to do this.  I ended up just tracing the bottom and sewing that on.  It worked pretty well.  This was about the shape but I ended up cutting it down a lot before putting it on.  

This is my puppy Jasper with the Hayah doll. He loooooves little stuffed animals and truly thought this was for him.  I'm currently making him a stegosaurus.

The finished product again.  I practiced the face before I actually did it just to make sure it was what I wanted.  Feel free to alter the design in any way, this is just what I did.   Let me know if you like the design or if you have any suggestions/requests and show me if you do your own version!

♥