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"How-To"
Last year, I began making sock dolls. I was inspired by the book Stray Sock Sewing.
Here’s how I made my sock dolls for the Wild Art Dolls swap in July 2010.
Supplies
You will need one sock, some batting or stuffing, Fray-Check, and your basic sewing supplies. [...]
A sock doll swap is an exchange of dolls made from socks.
In this Wild Art Dolls exchange, the dolls had to be made from socks and three of them had to fit inside a flat-rate Priority Mail envelope.
Three of us participated. Here are some of the dolls:
[...]
The first rule of cloth doll making is: BREAK THE RULES!
Nobody said the skin fabric has to be pink. Or muslin. Or brown. Or whatever.
Your doll’s skin can be purple. Or green. Or paisley. Or white lace over silver lame that you’ve fused to muslin.
Nobody said that your dolls’ legs and arms [...]
Not sure how to choose the right cloth doll stuffing?
Here’s the punch line: Buy the best doll stuffing (ex: fiberfill, polyfill, batting, cotton wool) that you can afford.
The cheap stuff may look the same in the bag. It may even feel the same if you squeeze it.
You may think, “I’ll bet this [...]
Should you preshrink fabrics (or prewash them) before making a cloth doll?
Yes… and no. It depends upon what’s important to you.
Why not to prewash or preshrink fabrics
Fabrics, especially cottons, never look quite so “fresh” after prewashing.
The sizing* and surface finish wash off, so the fabric doesn’t look as smooth. In [...]
Some swaps say, “Documentation will be provided,” or something like that.
Here’s what that means: The person organizing the swap will provide a list of everyone who participated in the swap, mailart call, or whatever.
In some cases, that list may be just people’s names. In others, it’s each person’s name and address. (If you [...]
When organizing an art swap of any kind, postage can be a Very Big Headache. Here are some tips to keep the postage problems to a minimum.
Different people send items that are varying sizes and — more importantly — different weights.
Even in a cloth doll swap, you never know who’ll embellish their dolls [...]
When you’re participating in a doll swap through an online group or community, the numbers may confuse you. Here are some tips to help you understand how doll swaps work.
Aisling’s note: I posted this explanation at the WildArtDolls group at Yahoo Groups, where people regularly swap dolls.
EQUAL-FOR-EQUAL
When a swap is 3-for-3 or [...]
Homemade dolls’ faces are easy to make, even with little or no sculpting skills. Whether you want to make a doll’s face, a doll’s head, or a mask for a doll, you can make it yourself in under an hour.
Sculpting skills are not necessary. Here’s what you need:
An existing doll that’s the right [...]
Note: This article was written many years ago. There may be new, better products available now.
I have a great, vintage Barbie® doll in a red swimsuit and her original box, complete with stand. However, Barbie had green spots–stains in (not just on) the plastic–where her earrings used to be. It was [...]
