Doctor Who: Soft Crafts

Fans of Doctor Who get crafty with soft textiles.

As the old saying goes, “A stitch in time saves nine.” A Stitch in Time is also the name of an antique clock shop in the Torchwood episode, ‘End of Days,’ as well as a Third Doctor comic story. Never mind those, though, because we are here to talk about a very specific sort of fan made crafts — those made from things such as cloth, threads, and yarn. As you will see, these things are not just used for cosplaying. (There are some lovely dresses included in my article ‘Doctor Who on Etsy.’)

Radio Times posted an article yesterday titled ‘Doctor Who cross stitch is officially a thing.’ While I am not sure what makes it “official” now as opposed to before, it is pretty neat, nonetheless. They shared an adorable framed cross stitch, done by the wife of reddit user UncleAngry. The style looks like an 8-bit video game with Doctors Nine through Twelve as playable characters.

Here it is below:

Doctor Who cross stitch – credit: https://www.reddit.com/user/UncleAngry

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• Jodie Whittaker didn’t pick up on any of the hate for her version of the Doctor

The love of Doctor Who also shows up in the world of quilting. The Doctor Who Stitch Along compiles whimsical patterns for quilting squares by various artists. You can download the patterns for free to make quilts of your own. Below is a sample of some finished examples of squares.

Doctor Who

quilt squares – credit: fandominstitches.com

The Doctor is fond of knitting, as evidenced by the below episode still from ‘The Wedding of River Song’ of the Eleventh Doctor reading a book titled Knitting for Girls. And why should he not be? Knitting is certainly not only for girls.

Eleventh Doctor reading a knitting book in ‘The Wedding of River Song’ – credit: film.com

And knitting for Whovians is not limited to the Fourth Doctor’s scarf. Doctor Who knitting has become so very popular that BBC America has even started an official Doctor Who Knitting Circle. As I was skimming Google, one repeated pattern that particularly caught my eye is based on the Paper Dolls sweater by Kate Davies. Here are some examples below:

NarcissaM’s Paper Daleks sweater – credit: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/NarcissaM/paper-dolls

EditrixEmma’s The Daleks in the TARDIS sweater – credit: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/EditrixEmma/paper-dolls/

killerlashes’s Paper Police Boxes sweater – credit: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/killerlashes/paper-dolls

Pezqueen’s Wibbly Wobbly sweater – credit: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Pezqueen/paper-dolls

As you can see from the first of these sweater images, folks also make Doctor Who plushies. A term for the process of knitting or crocheting these is amigurumi. Some of the most fantastic ones are crocheted by Allison Hoffman of Crafty is Cool. I mean, just look at this one of Captain Jack Harkness and try not to fall in love:

Captain Jack Harkness Amigurumi by Allison Hoffman – credit: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/captain-jack-harkness-doctor-who-amigurumi

Doctor Who dolls are often also made of cloth. Some of the chibiest are the ones made by Nite Owl Workshop.

Doctor Who Plushies by Nite Owl Workshop – credit: https://www.etsy.com/shop/NiteOwlWorkshop

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Next: Second Wave Doctor Who Funko Pop! Vinyl Figures to be Released in February 2016

Do you make any Doctor Who soft crafts? Let us know in the comments. [Edit: Also, join the Doctor Who – The Celestial Craftmakers group on Facebook.]