I asked one of the ladies' I work with what she would use (she makes soft body dolls- she actually molds the faces, arms, legs, etc. out of clay, then paints them, and everything else... They're awesome!!! I sew the bodies for her, & she does the rest). She uses micro beads & poly-fil to stuff the dolls. I use a very short stitch legnth (a serged looking strewtch stitch) when sewing the bodies so the beads don't come out between the stitches. The weight of the resulting dolls is good. Her latest one is sitting in a mini-rocking chair unassisted.