I was chopping vegetables for a salad the other day and I was inspired by the green onions! Holding up the long, thin onion, it looked like a little person to me; the white bulbous end of the onion was the head, the spiky little roots looked like hair and the green scallion stems were the body! Sure, why not!? I got out my felting needles and went to work.
If green onions had a personality, I’m sure they’d be giggly and cheeky when you pulled them from the ground. I’ve been trying to create a series of natural toys for kids and my imagination snuck up on me and came up with these.
Happy green onion doll making!
Materials
Felting needles
Sponge for felting surface
Embroidery needle
Scissors
Thread for wrapping core wool or fiber fill to make base shape
Green embroidery thread, for the face and securing stems and yarn hair
Wool Needed
Dark green (body/stems) I prefer felting a coarse wool like shetland or New Zealand
Bright green for felting in the center area, visually connecting stems and the head
White (head)
Core wool or fiber-fill (base shape)
White curly yarn (hair)
Instructions
Bind the core wool into the shape of the white part of the onion (5.25″/14 cm long x 5″/13 cm wide at the widest point) with sewing thread.
Wrap the onion head with white wool, needle it on until it is firm.
Roll the onion head between damp palms to smooth it.
Tear off five pieces of dark green wool (about 15″/38 cm long). Each one is a stem. Fold a stem in half vertically, felt until firm, keep folding and felting till the stem is about (.5″/1.5 cm wide) and resembles a green onion stem. Do this for all five stems.
Roll the stems between damp palms to smooth the stems and make the ends pointy.
Make a cut in the non-rounded end of the onion head to insert the stems.
Stuff the five stems into the cut, sew with needle and thread to secure the stems. Cover the sewn area with more white wool, felt till smooth.
Place light green wool vertically in the center area of the onion (the area where the stems and white onion body meet). Felt until firm. Roll between your damp palms to smooth.
Cut five pieces of curly wool yarn for the root hair.
Cut a slit in the top of the onion head to insert the yarn hair.
Insert the five pieces of curly yarn into the cut in the top of the onion head. Sew the yarn into the head to secure.
With green embroidery thread, embroider a face on the onion doll. (Irreverent vegetable attitude optional!)
And there you have it. Surprisingly simple to make, these green onion dolls seem to make everyone smile.
Safety Note: The yarn hair and stems should be additionally secured into the doll by sewing them with a needle and thread. The yarn and stems can be a choking hazard for very small children.
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Laura Lee Burch is an artist and a mother. She comes from a Midwestern family of artists and craftspeople. She and her husband, along with their three daughters, moved to Israel from Chicago ten years ago and she began making toys, doll, costumes and clothes for her girls. She now makes handmade goods and offers them on her website. She enjoys sewing and needle-felting, using natural, healthy materials that children will delight in holding. She is the author of Sew Magical for Kids and Sew Magical for Babies, which are available through Amazon or at her blog.