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The best fabric for making dolls is 100% cotton.
What you have to look for in a fabric is good quality, softness to the touch, and that it doesn't deform when stuffed.
For special details that require tightness and form, such as little scarves, cloth rings, rims or miniature crew socks, you can use a cotton-polyester blend (I prefer rip-stop).
My stuffing material of choice is synthetic fleece. Natural fleece does exist, but the synthetic one is antiallergenic.
Besides, it has to be washable; when wet, a natural fleece would clump and rot.
For hanging ornaments and quilts, and in general for crafts that need surface support rather than stuffing, there are sheets of padded polyester called "guata".
It is basically the same as fleece, but stretched and padded like a fabric and sold in rolls.
I would normally use it for support at the back of my quilts; it gives them resistance and makes them more attractive.
Acrylic paints will give a glossy, durable look to your doll's features and details. The other good thing about acrylic paints, is that they are water-based (which allows you to better mix them and to some degree to wash out mistakes), but they won't fade once dry.
I like one brand in particular, "Americana Deco Art", because of they huge variety of colors. Acrylic paints also mix well; for example, unlike other types of paint, if you mix amounts of blue and yellow you are reasonably expected to obtain a green. As obvious as it might seem, this doesn't happen with all kinds of paint, and this is good news because you don't have to buy a whole lot of tones to start with.
They come in so many kinds, shapes and sizes that they are impossible to enumerate.
My personal favorites are wooden buttons and clothespins, especially in the shape of ladybugs, butterflies and leaves.
A personal advice: nowadays they come so cheap and in such a variety that it is difficult to resist the temptation of over-accesorizing. Try to use them in the proper measure only, never overload a doll with accessories. Regardless how well each accessory look individually, too many of them would end up giving a cheap, needle-pad look to your doll.
You can also make your own wooden accessories, or buy wooden cutouts and paint them yourself. If you want to cut your own, first draw the outline in paper, then on a thin wooden plank. If the design is not too intricate (not too many curves and hard-to-reach corners) you can cut them out yourself with a coping saw. If the plank is too large or you don't feel comfortable handling a saw, get your local carpenter to cut the pieces off using a scroll saw, and sandpaper the edges. If the cutouts were not made of plywood, but of birch or some grainy, good-looking wood you can even leave the piece unpainted.
Try always to use embroidery thread (as opposed to sewing thread).
I personally prefer "pearl cotton" threads Embroidery threads are glossier and more resistant: you wouldn't be able to cut an embroidery thread using your hands, for example, but you can do it easily with a sewing thread.
Raffia in its natural form was originally a palm fiber. It can be spun and threaded, but I prefer to buy it its unworked, unspun form (they look like flat little stripes). Raffia is my material of choice for the doll's hair.
Raffia will normally give the doll a shaggy, rustic appearance. If you want to spend a little more money, or prefer to give the dolls a tidier look, buy natural, curled raffia.
These, I use for witches or whenever the character has a broom or brush. Randomly attached to an ornament's background, straw will give it a rustic, old-fashioned look.
Actual brooms are made of sorghum straw or a similar plant called broomcorn. You can definitely use it for your little witch's broom. However, if the doll is too small the fibers will look disproportionately big.
When making a miniature broom, my favorite kind of straw is New Zealand flax, also known as "formio". Its threads are thinner and malleable, and they have a greenish look that makes the brooms look even more natural and rustic.
It can also be used as hair.
If you want to create a doll with flaxen hair colors, experiment with jute, New Zealand flax or even sisal thread.
New Zealand flax looks more like real hair because it is thinner and more malleable, but sometimes it will acquire a greenish hue that looks somewhat unnatural for hair. Jute and sisal thread look coarser but their colors are more realistic.
For red, dark or more eccentric hair colors, use wool dyed in vibrant colors, preferably a thick, curly wool because it doesn't fray easily.
For attaching hair or small parts that can't be sewn, I recommend using a ColdHeat-like glue gun.
Contact cement is less expensive and allows you to correct errors, but over time it might acquire an ugly color, stain the fabric and even come off completely.
My husband, who is kind of a handyman, suggested me to use a caulking gun (he says the caulking sealant is basically silicone, so once dried it should stay put forever). Frankly, I haven't tried that one yet.