#habitdoll

[mudzdale]

Habitdoll and the Very Hot October

[mudzdale]

sometimes he gets jostled into silly positions when im making the bed (: please excuse his state of undress in the second one, he is currently being fitted for some new clothing...

[mudzdale]

for anyone who may be interested in creating a Habitdoll of their very own... here is, to the best of my ability, the organized pattern that @nottodaylogic has so kindly requested & patiently awaited (':

notes & instructional thoughts below the cut! (read: this is a freaking essay. good gog. i am so sorry)

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each of these images is meant to be 1 printer page each. i included a line on the 2 habit parts so they could be cut out & matched to each other at that line, to achieve his full size. obviously you, the dollmaker, are welcome to resize & readjust as you see fit (:

i included 2 versions of his upper body - one with the smaller head size i used, and one with the larger head i wish i had used. please choose whichever you prefer at your own discretion. the smaller head certainly isn't bad - that's why i still have my first draft doll! but to my eye the larger head is preferable.

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i included my clothing patterns which i adapted from Chelly Wood, legendary creator & distributor of free patterns for doll clothes. they are not perfect translations to the Habitdoll's cartoonish body plan, of course, but imo they serve the intended purpose decently enough. if you wish to use these patterns i've adjusted, please see Miss Chelly's video tutorials for the pants and the coat (that said, please take the coat pattern in particular with a grain of salt - obviously we are not adding a hood, piping, etc., but it should help with the overall construction of the garment).

i also did not add a lining to his clothing, or any other part of this plush, because i worked exclusively with NO-PILL FLEECE - i found it too thick to be worth adding any kind of lining to, but of course your mileage may vary if you use a different fabric, etc (: follow your heart!

his shoes are of course just his foot pattern, only a little larger - be sure to hem the tops! they are falling off all the time, however; if you do not plan on changing his clothes very often, you may consider tacking them onto his ankles with a couple of stitches. i did not want to mess around with buttonholes, so his coat is just closed with some velcro.

the trim on his coat & pants... i added them by sewing folded rectangles onto the inner hem of each piece. this is probably cheating, but i don't care. please double-check the length of your navy parts before adding the blue, to make sure the lining adds the appropriate amount of length - trim (as in cut) the navy as needed before you hem!

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of course, if you wish to skip this mess entirely and cut out simple, 2D clothing patterns, chuck jones' grinch style...

that is also perfectly valid! definitely way easier to do. good gog, the challenges i faced with this clothing.

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as i noted in my first Habitdoll post, making habit's face pieces with felt is the wiser thing to do. however, i haven't had any issues with the raw edges on his fleece coming apart yet... select your fabric at your own discretion, but i definitely recommend felt.

his eyes are created by cutting out the eyeline+eyelashes in black, then layering the orange eye on top of that, and then layering the black pupil on top of that!

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Habitdoll's hair construction was VERY TRICKY. i am so sorry i cannot provide detailed guidance here. as you can see on the pattern, i extended what would be the curve of the head pattern so i could drape my first piece over his head, and pin down the darts i found from there. then i just sewed down the darts, trimmed the excess fabric away to follow the curve of his head, and then did the same with the 2nd hair piece.

after making sure the 2 pieces matched each other, i sewed them together partially, then sewed them to his head. i recommend really stuffing his "hairline" so it stands tall and gives you the space you'll need to attach the bangs.

and speaking of his bangs, my final sin... i did not provide a pattern for the ones i actually went up going with because they were a combination of freehand & experimental luck (you are welcome to try something with the one i Did include in the pattern, if inspiration strikes you).

to recreate what i Actually did for the left ones, i believe i traced a quarter for the smaller circle, and then something else - maybe a bottlecap? - for the larger circle. cut 2 of each of these, sew together, & invert. stuff them both, close them up, then stitch a spiral into each - see me with questions if needed 😅 attach to his hairline with a ladder stitch.

his right bang was a total crapshoot. i don't know if i can explain how to recreate it - hideously embarrassing, my apologies ): i just took a cut of scrap fabric, then folded it in half and stitched it shut... curled up the large end, stitched that so it stayed curled, and then ladder-stitched it onto the hairline. obviously you may headcanon his hairstyle completely different from me, so my hope is you can find a different way to give him that hair if needed. again: i am so flipping sorry. i am happy to help problem-solve if needed (':

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these patterns do NOT include any kind of seam allowance. please add at your own discretion - i prefer to just eyeball them as i cut the fabric, myself. i alternated using whip stitches and running stitches as needed throughout the project; i trust the user of this pattern has enough experience to judge which is best. however, if you have questions or feel you need guidance on any parts, you are welcome to send me an ask or DM, and i will do my best to assist! (:

thanks for your patience!

[mudzdale]

finally, my magnus opus, complete... this was an impulse, do-it-stupid project for me to tackle. i suppose it doesn't count as a ragdoll if it's made out of specifically-purchased new fabric rather than rags, though...

some process photos under the cut

feeling out the design goals + patterning. this initial pass was very inspired by @bittertoxicity 's plush designs of the cast! i wound up moving away from that as i worked, but honestly, his work is so much cuter still, and i really admire it 😄

after 3 or so failed attempts at getting well-proportioned patterning stitched & stuffed, i lopped off one piece's head and then grafted it back on to create a longer neck. unfortunately, this successfully acheived the desired effect. the epitome of my do-it-stupid technique.

the face pieces were stitched on. he is constructed entirely out of no-pill fleece (the closest accessible kind next to the puppet variety), and honesly i don't know how those raw edges are going to hold up over time. if he ever gets a second pass, this would be wiser to just do with felt.

i had wanted to simply embroider his eyebrow, but after multiple failed attempts at getting the shape right, it started to damage the fabric ): i gave up and cut an eyebrow out of fabric, and stitched it on like his other face pieces.

his clothes are removable! i fit and stitched these prior to adding his hair, correctly guessing that the hair would make it very hard to work with his developing outfit. someday, i may be inclined to make different little outfits for him, however...

the hair itself was another huge challenge (the clothes alone took weeks, fwiw). if there are patterns out there for long, non-yarn hair, i sure couldnt find them. i wound up freestyling each piece by draping them over his head like a ridiculous veil, and stitching down my "darts" from there (in quotes bc i didnt even bother to cut them away like real darts should be cut...)

overall, my vision for the hair turned out to be verrrry different than the final product, but it's probably for the best. maybe i'll experiment more if he's ever to be remade

oh, and, he is hatless because, like, i dont like the hat anyways, but in the interest of making his outfits changeable, a hat would be a lot of hassle. that's either something that has to be stitched on and cut off for outfit changes (wtf), velcro'd on (um, no way), or magnetized on (what a pain...). so i guess maybe someday, but definitely not today...

[mudzdale]

jammies for christmas morning (:

[mudzdale]

gOtt Lost in the, "Woods", forr sfevral weeks,, htey finnaly ff=ounfd me nad I only atee a few "poisounsus" berrys during my Vacavcation :-)

[mudzdale]

no, don't try to nap! it's almost bedtime!

[mudzdale]

have you made/are you planning on making a pattern for your habit plush? i only ask ‘cause you mentioned possibly doing so in the tags and he’s just. so cool & beautiful. completely understand if not!! thank you :D

yes indeedy ☺️ i have the resources saved from my venture, i just have to actually put them together for viewing and instruction. i will ask you to bear with me in

-getting them together in a timely manner (will have to carve out some time to do so)

-it being a decent, understandable pattern/directions... i cannot emphasize enough how amateur both i and the project are 😅

i can hopefully get that thrown together for you here soon! thank you very much for your interest, i am honored (:

[mudzdale]

“Gess” hoo!

[mudzdale]

“recent” adven-chures :-)

[mudzdale]

habitdoll 2.0 patch (heh) notes:

- pattern tweaks

- smeared modpodge all along the fabric edges so it wouldnt fray like the crap material it is

- general quality-of-life improvements

- :-)

[mudzdale]

COZY!!!!

sometimes he gets jostled into silly positions when im making the bed (: please excuse his state of undress in the second one, he is currently being fitted for some new clothing...