My mom made a Bridget doll for our Imbolc celebrations, and I think she turned out great! My mom started by reading a book on making rag dolls, then drew her own patterns and colored in Bridget’s face with colored pencils.
The patterns were traced onto the top layer of a folded piece of fabric:
The top side of Bridget’s face needed to be on the inside before sewing so it would be right-side out when the head was turned seam-side in:
My mom stitched around the patterns twice, once just inside and once just outside the lines. (She left openings for stuffing the doll.)
She trimmed the fabric close to the outer stitching lines:
My mom then turned the body and head right-side out and stuffed them:
Then, she attached the head to the body and added yarn hair:
The wooden rack we found at the thrift shop for a bed is slanted (my mom thinks it might be a book shelf), so she covered a piece of cardboard with fabric to make a flat surface for the mattress and pillow she made:
We had found plaid fabric napkins at the thrift store as well, and one of them made a nice blanket for the bed:
My mom also drew a pattern and sewed a dress for Bridget:
We placed the bed in front of our electric fireplace:
Bridget would sleep all night in front of the fire and we asked her blessing on our seeds that we would plant the next day:
I think my mom did a wonderful job, and we will keep our Bridget doll and bed for all of our future Imbolc celebrations!