Please help me with doll stuffing

[littlest birds]

Anyone have experience with this?  I am seeking the cure for lumpiness?  I have sewn some nice dolls and I get the tummies and heads, and feet and hands areas firm pretty well.  When I do the arms and legs they seem lumpy, but if I stuff hard they seem overstuffed.  I think because those parts are narrow, I am having trouble creating a firmly connected shape.  I start out well with hands, but then realize I need more stuffing added but don't know how to make it smooth.  Do I take it out and make wrapped bundle that is bigger and then restuff?

I feel like my Weir fabric is a little weak and I am afraid I am being too hard on the seams although the seams still seem okay.  Am I too timid?  The dolls I have done are 12" and smaller, and the really little ones don't have lumps at all.  I'm using my own patterns and making adjustments as I go.  If I like the thickness of the arms, should I make the patten a little narrower so they stuff tightly without getting huge and just get over my worry?  Do I need better skin fabric?

Thanks for considering my questions and guesses.  I hope you can help me figure this out.

[StoriesInTheSoil]

Roll it tightly around a chopstick then pull the fabric over the rolled tube.

[littlest birds]

Thank you, that makes sense.  And I suppose if it looks too skinny I pull out and wrap a bit more, so it's all a single piece. 

[E.V. Lowi]

Originally Posted by littlest birds 

Thank you, that makes sense.  And I suppose if it looks too skinny I pull out and wrap a bit more, so it's all a single piece. 

If a limb is too thin, you can push some stuffing down the center where the chopstick was and this will fill it out a bit without causing lumps. I also needle felt the wool after it is rolled to get rid of lumps.

Edited by E.V. Lowi - 2/11/11 at 4:00pm

[littlest birds]

So to make it really fine, it's pre-sculpted.  Thanks so much.  That's really helpful.  I was doing that to my inner head ball, but it never occurred to me to shape any other part.

ETA Pre-sculpted sounds wrong--I think what you are meaning is tightened and smoothed a bit.  It probably doesn't matter but it just jumped out at me.

[E.V. Lowi]

It is like presculpting because the knit stretches and can't do the shape on it's own. It has to have "good bones"
 

Originally Posted by littlest birds 

So to make it really fine, it's pre-sculpted.  Thanks so much.  That's really helpful.  I was doing that to my inner head ball, but it never occurred to me to shape any other part.

ETA Pre-sculpted sounds wrong--I think what you are meaning is tightened and smoothed a bit.  It probably doesn't matter but it just jumped out at me.

[c'est moi]

same problem here.

when i had this problem, the woman at my local waldorf toy store said i should just stuff the stuffing in without any rolling and whatnot. i knew it sounded too good to be true. what will happen if i do it that way?

[E.V. Lowi]

Originally Posted by c'est moi 

same problem here.

when i had this problem, the woman at my local waldorf toy store said i should just stuff the stuffing in without any rolling and whatnot. i knew it sounded too good to be true. what will happen if i do it that way?

The cotton knit "skin" is stretchy, and doesn't provide the type of support that a woven fabric would, because of this. So when you try to stuff the knit in the conventional manner, it comes out lumpy. If you try to overstuff to compensate, then you have a very overweight, lumpy doll. Which is fine, if that is what you want. I'm overweight and lumpy, myself so who am I to talk. lol!