Materials Needed For Doll
Piece of white, natural, or pale coloured linen or cotton; I usually use a piece about 30x25 cm (12" x 10") but you can make it bigger or smaller, just use your best judgement on proportion.
Using scrap fabric with patterns is fine, if that's all you have; there are period examples of this, though the head would often be made of, or covered by a separate piece of plain cloth. Don't bother ironing unless the fabric is too badly wrinkled to measure easily as it will get wrinkled anyway. You will need to cut off a strip from one long edge, about 7 cm ( 2 3/4") wide, and set aside for arms; it will need to be about 25 cm (10") long.
Enough stuffing material to fill it: poly-fil, sewing scraps (cut small), weaving thrums, grass or moss (the stuffing original dolls had, but hard to come by most of the year as far north as I live!).
Ball/darning egg for stitching head, or small scrap piece of cloth, pale like body cloth if using thin fabric for the doll (there are two ways to make the head, one requires a scrap of fabric to roll the stuffing in before sewing the head around it, and it will remain inside the head when finished; it needs to be pale or it will show through the cloth of the doll's head).
Materials for Hair
Thin yarn/thick thread in whatever colour you choose (we will not be covering hair in this tutorial, because I've just been making it up as I go along so far- I will do one on hair later if requested).
Materials for Clothes
About 15x30 cm (6" x 12") for each garment, I usually use thinner and/or old worn cloth so the garment isn't too stiff looking (we will not be covering clothing in this tutorial-they're really just simplified versions of regular garb- I may do one if anyone is having trouble.
Note: You can paint or embroider a face if you like, this was done on some of the original dolls, but I mostly leave the face blank.
Tip
Because my dolls have always been given away as gifts (so I don't know who might end up with them) I try to avoid using wool in any part, including stuffing, and tend to stick to linen and cotton for easy washing.