Many people are familiar with Yarny from the video game Unravel. Today I am going to show how to make the Yarny doll very simply.

Step 1: Start the Wire Skeleton

The first part you build is the wire skeleton. Make the legs/body, the arms and the head in three separate parts. Start with the legs/body. Cut a piece of wire long enough to reach from foot to foot and back again, and bend it to shape. Make little loops for the feet. Twist the wire to make the skeleton stronger, that’s why it has to be double length.

Step 2: Make the Arms

You make the arms in the same way as the first skeleton piece. Measure up a double length of wire, make little loops for the hands, and twist the wire to make it stronger. Then attach the arms to the body by just wrapping them in some more wire. It’s easier to wrap the wire if you make it pretty long. You can cut off the loose ends afterwards.

Step 3: Build the Head

To make the head, cut out some more wire. Try to make the shape roughly match the silhouette you want to end up with, but don’t make it too huge. It will get bigger once you start wrapping it in yarn. It’s okay to make the ears a little bit longer. Make the ends of the head wire pretty long, and then wrap them around the body wire to attach the head to the body.

Step 4: Stabilize the Body

Take another piece of wire and use it to stabilize the body so your Yarny will not be too squishy. You can actually wrap a bit more wire around the hips because it makes the legs a bit easier to pose.

Step 5: Stabilize the Head

Repeat the same process to stabilize the head. Use the stabilizing wire to give the head a bit of shape too, that makes the wrapping process easier.

Step 6: Start Wrapping the Legs in Yarn

When the skeleton is done, it is time to start wrapping it all in yarn! Start at the feet and just wrap. To attach the yarn, just hold it in place, then wrap a couple of loops of yarn around it. The toes of the wire skeleton are a bit difficult to wrap but there is a way to do it. Just bunch some of the yarn up so it covers the wire, hold it there, then wrap yarn around it to hold it in place. Also, can you cut the string, then wrap it around the toe. Give the legs some shape by wrapping more yarn around the thighs and the feet, while keeping the knees pretty skinny.

Step 7: Wrap the Body in Yarn

When you are done with the legs, it’s time to start wrapping the body. Give the body some shape: narrow chest and shoulders, a bit wider across the hips. Make the “shirt” a little bit longer than the actual hips of the wire skeleton – it looks nicer that way – but wrap the yarn pretty loosely, so you can still pose the legs. Don’t wrap too neatly, it will look better if the yarn will crisscross a bit. If the shape is too bulky somewhere, you can always unwrap and try again, or you could wrap some yarn really hard around that area to tighten it up.

Step 8: Wrap the Arms in Yarn

The same process goes here – give them some shape by wrapping more yarn around shoulders and hands, and keep the elbows pretty skinny. Wrap them thin, but thick enough to hide the shape of the wire underneath. Just like the toes, the hands are a bit tricky to wrap, but you can use the same tricks here to cover the wire.

Step 9: Wrap the Head in Yarn

Now we can start wrapping the head, which maybe the trickiest part. Or maybe not, if you were more generous with the wire when you made the skeleton. The trick to make the head look nice is to wrap the yarn quite randomly, instead of just going round and round symmetrically. You want the head to be a kind of soft crescent shape, with ears as pointy as you’re able to make them. You don’t always have to wrap the yarn all the way around the head.

Step 10: Tie Up Loose Ends

When you’re happy with the shape of your Yarny, use the paperclip as a needle to sew up the loose yarn end. It doesn’t have to be attached super firmly, just hidden away.

Step 11: Make the Eyes

Almost done with Yarny! All that remains is the eyes. To do them, use the paperclip again, and sew them in place. You can be pretty chaotic, the eyes look less stitched that way. You want the eye to be a nice almond(ish) shape. When you’re done with the eyes, use the same process to tuck the loose of the yarn like you did with the red yarn.