Snugglebug University: Mother Goose Tutorial

This little Mother Goose is Cora's best friend. When Cora reads books, they always take her on some sort of amazing adventure. The characters never stay on the books' pages, just like this lovely Mother Goose. Would you like to make this little goose to go with your Bookworm cloth doll?

Let's start with how I start all of these cloth doll clothes pattern tutorials:

All of Cora's clothes and accessories templates are going to be available in the same PDF file, which you can find in my pattern store. Don't worry, it's free!!! So go ahead and download it now, and you'll be able to make all of the great outfits for Cora Jean. You'll have to wait each week for the how-to though. These will just be tutorials, not patterns with lots of details, but I hope that they will be complete enough for you to figure out how to make the clothes. If something isn't clear or you think I made a mistake, please let me know! It is a lot of work to put together all of these templates online along with tutorials, and I've had to just write up a little bit each night, so let me know if something isn't clear.

Keep reading below for the complete tutorial.

1. Cut out pieces of felt. I cut outside of the black line, such that there is very little white around the edges. The pieces were designed for felt, and thus no seam allowance is required.

2. Using 3 strands of embroidery floss, whip stitch the two nose pieces together, and attach to the head piece. The nose will not receive any stuffing. Back stitch between all 4 layers of felt at junction of the head/beak, and then continue whip stitching around the rest of the beak. I like to hide my knots in the inside of the goose so that you won't see them on the finished goose.

3. Make a simple French knot on each side of the goose for her eye. The location isn't really that important, but do make sure that it won't be covered by the hat.

4. Whip stitch around the goose to attach the front and the back of the goose together, beginning at the base of the beak. Use 3 strands of white embroidery floss.

When you reach where you would like to attach the legs, back stitch between all 4 layers at the junction.

5. Continue whip stitching the front to the back. When you reach where the wings should be attached, incorporate them into your whip stitching. Tie a knot and stop when you reach the place where the wing does not follow the neck line of the goose.

6. Use three strands of orange embroidery floss to attach the goose's feet front to the feet back.

7. Now, beginning at the goose's bottom, use a running stitch to embellish the wing bottom.

8. When you reach the end of the bottom of the wing, begin to incorporate just the TOP layer of the goose into your running stitch. This will help tack down the wing. Repeat with the goose's other wing.

9. Begin sewing up the goose's head with a whip stich as you have done before. Whip stich using 3 strands of white embroidery floss to finish the goose. When a small hole exists in the back. Now it is time to stuff the goose through this opening. If it helps, you can use a small stick to push the polyfil gently in place.

10. Now you can back stitch through all four layers (goose front and back and both wings) to fill up the hole.

11. Sew the outer edge of the hat using a whip stich.

12. Then place the hat on the goose's head, and sew the hat to the goose by sewing and catching just the outer layer of felt. You will continue all around the goose's head, until the entire hat is sewn on.