Pages

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Clothespin Dolls- Guest Blogger Post

I am so thankful to have had a week of fun guest bloggers while I’m vacationing with my family over Spring break!

This darling tutorial is by the very creative Hope Meeks of Going Sew Crazy. I found her blog and dolls while surfing Flickr. I had just found a bag of craft clothespins in some of my old sewing stuff out in our barn and I was looking around for inspiration. And, WOW, did I find it! Please visit her blog and Flickr photos for even more sweet inspiration and be sure to say “hi!”

Enjoy this tutorial and just imagine the possibilities! Thank you Hope!


CLOTHESPIN DOLLS

Supplies Needed:
-wooden clothespins
-wooden doll pin stands
-wooden dowel cap with 5/8" hole
-6 in. square of fabric
-small ribbon
-acrylic paint
-paintbrushes
-glue gun
-gloss varnish
-pencil
-small piece of flesh colored pipe cleaner

DSC_0001 copy

Steps:
-Draw face shape onto face with pencil.
-Paint face and top of pin in your choice of flesh color. Let dry. Repeat.

DSC_0004copy

-Paint pin stand and pin "legs". Let dry. Repeat.
-Paint hair onto dowel cap. Let dry. Repeat.
-Gloss varnish all parts. Let dry.

DSC_0009 copy

-Cut a 5" circle out of fabric. Cut a small hole in the middle and 2 small slits for the arms a bit down from the middle hole.

DSC_0014 copy

-Cut a small piece of flesh colored pipe cleaner and gluse to center back of clothespin.

DSC_0015copy

-Slip fabric over the "neck" of the pin. Slip "arms" into slits.
-Tie a small piece of ribbon around the waist and tie in a bow in the center back.

DSC_0024copy

-Glue head on doll and tilt to give it a sweet look.
-Glue doll pin into doll stand.

DSC_0037 copy

Some tips and tricks:
-Use tape or paper reinforcements on "legs" to make stripes or polka dots.
-You can leave the arms free or twist them together and glue something into the doll's hand. I used a mushroom in the pic above.
-You can also buy wooden spools and paint them and attach just the heads for fun trim and ribbon holders.

26 comments:

Pink Princess said...

Oh My Gosh, these are SO sweet!! Thank you for posting and I am going to visit the website you mentioned.

People Who Know Me Would Say: said...

Cuuuuuuuuuuuute! Wonderful post! Have pointed others in its direction. :)

La Table De Nana said...

The possibilities seem endlessy cute..Thanks!

Shell in your Pocket said...

My girls would fall in love with these...they are darling~
sandy toe

Mrs. Jones said...

Those are adorable! Thanks for the tutorial.

~Heather

Mademoiselle Julie said...

Cute idea! Might consider making some for my three year old niece to play with... Thanks for sharing! Cheers, Julie

SueLovesCherries said...

They are just darling!!! And so pretty in their Spring frocks!

LindaSonia said...

If you want to see some pin dolls extraordinaire, check out the etsy shop called 'dollproject'. I guarantee you've never seen anything like it. Jessica also has a blog called 'anotherdayanotherdoll.blogspot.com'. (sorry don't know how to create a link-maybe someone could do a tutorial on that - lol)
LindaSonia

Junie Moon said...

This is an adorable project. I like the one with the doll heads sitting on the spools, too.

Desires of the Heart said...

Thanks for sharing such a cute idea!! This is something that would be fun to do with my grands or girl friends. I love all you ideas. Have a wonderful weekend, Linda

Bette's Bags said...

Oh Dear Lordy these are just the sweetest things I have ever seen!

karlee said...

I love these!!

Rednoserunpet said...

what a wonderfull idee.. i love it

Tanya said...

I just love these. I mentioned your site at my blog :)

Learning Spanish at 41 said...

For a holiday tree these would be too cute!!

TidyMom said...

Oh now if those aren't just TOO SWEET!! I love this post!!

~TidyMom

Lisa Kettell said...

I love love love these dolls, I now have to make some, thank you for sharing this!

Drop on by the blog and enter the mermaid giveaway as well!

Have a wonderful weekend!
Lisa!

Anonymous said...

These are just the cutest! Found you over at Sunday Baker and can't wait to explore!

LittleLovables said...

This is soooo wonderful!

madfolly said...

I'm dropping out of lurker status (really like your site) as I think you'd be interested in TV Turnoff Week. Unplug Your Kids (www.unplugyourkids.com) has issued a blog challenge, and I've linked to it on my blogs, too.

Kel said...

Oh how SWEET

PussDaddy said...

Those are just too adorable!

PussDaddy

Jen @ By Jen ❤️ said...

Those are crazy cute!!!

Goat Gal said...

Ok those are really really cute!

Greek Goddess said...

Thanks! My daughter and I just finished making our first set. We had a lot of fun.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the tutorial! By the way, where did you find the darling mushroom? I'm wondering where I can find other little things like that to add to mine. Thanks in advance!