Sunday, February 5, 2012

Dammit Doll Tutorial

I've been making a few of these for friends and neighbors who are having a frustrating time this winter. It's brought a smile to almost everyone's face!

You can purchase them on a number of sites on the web, or you can make your own. You can do a google search for the poem, too, although I've included it at the end of this post to make it more convenient.

This one is for my sister, she asked for a red one!
Print out the pattern above. There is a 1" test square so you can adjust your printer, but it doesn't matter that much. The dolls can be any size.
If you normally sew alot, the pattern is probably all you need. If you want to see how I do the hair, it's shown at the end of the post.

Pin your pattern and cut out with scissors. I'm a fan of rotary cutters, but not when the curves are this tight!
All cut out. Transfer the marks to the upper arm so you don't sew there.
Dammit! I forgot to sew on the face before I started sewing! It's easiest to sew the eyes and mouth on before you sew the doll together. You can do it after, no worries, but it's easier when you don't have to bury the knot.
Set your stitch length to 1.5 (or whatever a small stitch length is on your machine). It makes it easier to sew around the curves smoothly.
Sew all the way around the doll and clip the seams. You can see the little clips on the inside seams. I clip everywhere there is an inside seam so rounded seams are smoother when you are done stuffing. I also trim really close to the outside curving seams (you can see how close I clipped the seam around the head.)
Turn it right side out. I use a tube to help turning it right side out, but using a dowel or the eraser end of a pencil works fine, too.
Stuff! I use some poly fill, but you can take apart an old stuffed animal and re-use the stuffing, or use pieces of quilt batting.
The photos I took of stitching up the open seam were terrible! Sorry about that. Do the neatest job you can sewing up the seam.

Now for the Hair
Wrap about 10 wraps of Lion Brand Fun Fur (or whatever yarn you have in your stash) around you hand. The more open your hand is, the longer the strands of 'hair' you will have. 
Slip the yarn off your hand and use your sewing machine on a straight stitch to sew right through the middle of your yarn.
Sorry about the fuzzy photo, if you look closely you can see the white stitching line that goes through the yarn to secure it.
Hand stitch the hair in place along the stitching line on the yarn. This isn't some wonderfully, fantastic doll, it's supposed to be whacked! Don't worry about perfection on this one!
Sometimes I trim the hair, sometimes I don't. This doll's hair was sooooo wonky and long that I trimmed it to make it look better.

 The Poem Tag
Crumple up a piece of paper bag.
Iron it flat, but not too flat.
Print out the poem, rip around the edges (poem is below).
Coat both the paper bag and the poem with a thin layer of rubber cement and let it dry.
Then put the poem on the rubber cement.
Rub the extra rubber cement off the brown paper bag.
Rip close to edges of the poem, punch a hole, add some twine, and the tag is done!
Click on the photo, then download and print.

I took longer to take the photos and write the post than it did to make the doll. It's a pretty quick project.

Honestly, I hope you don't need one! And that no one you know needs one! But just in case you do, it's a fast, fun project to make.

18 comments:

Melissa said...

Love love love! That is so cute. Now... how do I learn to make the pattern, but of my own things with the 1 inch square for printing. What program do you use! This could be such helpful knowledge for me.

Heidi said...

I love this doll! My first-born and her hubby, along with my teenage grandchildren, just moved in with us... AGAIN! Hehehe (maniacal laugh), I really NEED once of these!

TJ said...

Melissa, I use a Mac computer and a cheap drawing program called Artboard. I used to do alot of drawing in Freehand, but never took the time to learn Illustrator :( I can also do quite a bit in Pages (Mac's word processing program). The 1" square can be done in any program--just draw the square and set the size to 1" x1". That was probably the easiest part of the drawing!

TJ said...

Heidi, thanks for stopping by :) Yup! With a bunch of teenage grand-kids moving in, you DEFINITELY need one!

Unknown said...

Thank you for stopping by tiarasandbowties.blogspot.com and following! I too have bacame a follower of yours. My daughter too wants to be a vet and would be in Heaven on a farm!

This Dammit Doll is the cutest funniest thing I've seen in quite a while! I know quite a few people who would love this!

TJ said...

Thanks for stopping by! Your daughter is welcome to come by anytime and help :)

My sister got her red Dammit Doll the other day and laughed so hard she almost busted! They are a so much fun!

Eva said...

Thank you for this!
I'm making one for my 13-year old daughter who is in the hospital, battleing an Eating Disorder (ED.)

So I've also modified the poem a little bit, as follows:
****
When your temper is about to boil,
You want to scream and shout!
Here’s a little DammED Doll
You cannot do without.

Just grasp it firmly by the neck,
And slam it on its head,
And as you whack the stuffing out…
Yell “Dammit, Dammit ED!”
*****

I may have to use the DammED doll myself as we battle her anorexia together.

Thank you again! And please pray for us.

TJ said...

I'm so glad that your daughter is getting some help! And especially glad that this crazy doll will brighten her day. Yes, we'll pray for you and your family. May God bless and strengthen you all!

Eva said...

Thank you! Bless you, and have a Happy New Year! May the New Year bring love, joy, health and good fortune to us all.

loveshorseslady said...

I have one, and I don't know how, but someone trademarked the "Dammit Doll"...even though they have been around for 50-60 years! So, if your planning to make and sell them, etsy will not let you because of trademark. I personally think its wrong that the FTC allowed it to be trademarked in the first place!

DeeDee2012 said...

I need this "Dammit Doll" today! We just found out Monday that my 29 year old daughter very likely has cancer. My insides have been screaming since Monday. We will know more in the coming weeks.

TJ said...

I'm so sorry about your daughter's diagnosis! My daughter almost died this summer and it's a very frightening, overwhelming thought when your child's life is on the line. "Screaming insides" is a very good description! I wish I could do more than pray for her, but I will pray that everything turns out well for your daughter, and your family.

Unknown said...

A friend on Facebook suggested I make a damnit doll. So I searched for it and found yours. This doll pattern will get a lot of use. My 12 y.o. grandson has Neuroblastoma cancer and is fighting everyday. The anger and frustration is very alive in all of us family and friends. I will be making alot of these. Thank you so much for the pattern and instructions

Kay said...

Everyone is getting the for birthday presents next year!!!!! I absolutely love it, thank you so much for the tutorial. I found this post via Pinterest by the way. xx

Unknown said...

Wow this is a blast from the past! I made these for a sewing company in the Niagara region, Ontario called Lazy Daisy. It was piece work and you made very little money but it really added up. It was nice to have a little extra cash.

Unknown said...

Wow this is a blast from the past. I used to make these for a piece work company called Lazy Daisy in the Niagara Region, Ontario. You did the sewing from home which was nice at the time because I had my baby boy.
I use to tag it with the same poem but the doll itself had pointed horns😈 not fuzzy hair. It looks cute either way

Janette said...

The tag has a misspelling. It should be its, not it's. Could you repost a corrected version?

TJ said...

I'll be happy to make the correction. I will put it on my 'to do' list. Please check back in a few weeks!

You're also very, very welcome to make your own tag. It should take you less than an hour!