Our Homemade Paper Dolls - tutorial

Last week was the beginning of some changes in our home, at least for a short time while we are waiting to relocate.
With our dear Daddy away I really wanted to have a stricter routine of meals and clean up as well as bedtime routines for the children (and me) so I reverted to a policy that we have had before in our home of NO DVDs (which is our only TV viewing) during the week at all.

We have had this policy before and it gradually erodes as we start to watch a little here and there and then find we are watching it a little each day.

I admit that especially with Stephen away it can be a temptation for a ' five minutes piece' to send children to watch the TV.

However I do know that our children are far more creative in their play as well as what they do with their time when we eliminate or reduce the screen time.

In an effort to encourage this I decided it was time to get out the 'old tested and tried paper dolls' that we have had for over 12 years in a manila folder. These tend to come and go with the seasons and we have not had them out since last year.

When I got them out again though I was quite disappointed that my original templates had been lost, these were hand drawn by me years ago.

So before I could do anything with he children I had to hand draw them again so we could start to cut them out. This is the link to the actual document for the patterns

What do you need for this project?
I always use manila folders for the body of the doll
You also need some cardboard in various colours. You can use folder dividers or large coloured cardboard sheets.
Standard $1 wrapping paper from the cheap shop
coloured paper
Gel pens
crayons
Scissors
Glue

Then we started to trace and cut out the paper dolls.
It is best if you cut out all your pattern pieces first then you can then use the pieces for the coloured paper you want.
First you need to cut out the body and a hair pattern.
Then you glue the hair on to the back of the head

Give your doll a face with gel pens, our favourite and colour in the fringe with crayon or pencil, we used crayon.

Our dolls preferred to have some drawn on underwear for modesty, but you could and I have in the past given them paper underwear.

This is the best part according to Myffwyn. Choosing the dresses for the doll.
Measure the length of the dress you wan ton your doll form the shoulder an then double over using the folded part as your shoulder seam.
Then cut a small hole for the head to slip through..
Cut curves or other patterns for the dress as well as a waist line

The tricky part is getting the dress over the head. You actually need to slightly bend the head (vertically) without creasing it in half to slip the dress over it.

Then add your accessories to the doll  an you have completed your first doll  to play with.

Myffwyn was very patient as I made the first doll around a very tired little baby who refused to have a nap.

Rogan is one of our crafty children who loves to try new things and was very keen to get started on one too.

Myffy choose to draw her shoes on the doll and really had fun making this one.

Rogan was not happy with his first doll but will get the hang of it as we do more and more this week.

I hope you have enjoyed  this little arty, crafty tutorial. We are planning on having quite a few paper craft sessions over the next week.

Blessings to you and your homes,