St. Clare of Assisi "Rag Doll"

St. Clare of Assisi "Rag Doll" Craft

August 11 is the feast day of Saint Clare of Assisi. Saint Clare founded the “Order of Poor Ladies”, now called the “Poor Clares”. The Poor Clares are dedicated to a life of strict abstinence, silence, and poverty. When Clare left home to found her order, she met with Saint Francis of Assisi, who cut her hair, dressed her in a scratchy brown habit, and tied a simple cord around her waist.

A Saint Clare rag doll is a fun and appropriate craft for celebrating the life of Saint Clare and the 20,000 Poor Clare Sisters that work diligently to live a life of prayer, community, and joy. This project is appropriate for little girls or boys and can be completed with the help of mom.

First, gather your supplies. Most of the items can be found at your local Dollar store or discount store for $1 or less.

St. Clare of Assisi Rag Doll Template

Gather your supplies

After you have printed your template, cut items out of appropriate materials.

To get started, lay your tan dishrag on a flat surface slanted like a diamond. Liberally cover the back of your cardboard oval with fabric glue and glue to your ball of cotton batting, trying to keep the batting closely within the oval.

Lay the oval, batting side down, on top of the brown dishrag, about two to three inches from one corner.

Apply glue to the back of the cardboard oval and first pull the corner onto the oval.

Next, apply glue to the back of the dishrag and pull first one side over, then apply glue once more and pull the other side over.

Using a small piece of twine, wrap the twine under the oval and tie in a knot to form the head.

Flip the doll over and fold the sides in towards the center of the doll body.

Tie another piece of twine a few inches below the head to form the arms.

Now we are going to create her habit. Using the brown dishrag, fold one corner about three inches from the top.

Apply glue to the dishrag from about two inches from the left corner all the way around to about two inches from the right corner. This will be how we will attach the habit to the doll.