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Dolls can be made from almost any item, even clothes pins! Clothes pins and the stands in which to place your clothes pin, to make your little doll stand up, are available in most craft shops, or department stores with craft sections.
When I am speaking of clothes pins, I am not talking of the spring type clothes pins that we now use to hang up our laundry. I am referring to the “old fashioned” type clothes pins that our mothers and grandmothers used. Completely made from wood, with two “legs” and a head”. You can make a wide variety of clothes pin dolls, from actual “people” type dolls to animals. This is just a sampling of what you can do with an ordinary clothes pin.
Of course for each of these projects you will need a “doll pin”, this is what a clothespin is called in crafting terms, and also the little wooden stand in which the doll pin is placed. This is just a round wooden part, with a hole in the middle in which to place your pin. The first “doll” that I am going to instruct you to make will be an Amish Doll.
AMISH DOLL
For this Amish Doll, you will need, besides your doll pin and stand:
three pieces of plain colored fabric suitable for Amish clothing - one - 3 3/4 x 4 1/4 inches, and two - 2 x 1 ½ inches
two pieces of plain black fabric - one - 2 x 2 1/4 inches, and one - 1 x 2 inches
black 1/4 inch ribbon - 9 inches
thread
glue
pink chenille stem
miniature basket
Fold under all of the raw edges of the fabric pieces 1/8 inch, and glue in place.
For the dress, using the 3 3/4 x 4 1/4 inch piece of fabric, baste 1/4 inch from one long edge. Place the fabric on the clothespin directly under the “head”, and pull your threads tight, gathering the fabric. Knot and trim the ends of the thread.
For the arms, cut 2, 1 3/4 inch pieces from the chenille stem. Place one chenille stem along one long edge of a 2 x 1 ½ inch fabric. With one end of the chenille extending 1/4 inch beyond the fabric, to form the “hand”, roll the fabric around the chenille stem. Glue in place. Repeat with the second “arm”. With the tops of the sleeves even with the top of the dress, and with the seams under the arms, glue the tops of the sleeves to the sides of the dress. Bend your doll’s arms at the elbows.
For the apron, cut a 6 ½ inch length from the ribbon. Center one short edge of the 2 x 2 ½ inch piece of black fabric on the ribbon. Glue. Place the remaining piece of ribbon around the neck with the ends crossing in the front of the doll. Glue.
Tie your apron onto the “waist” of your doll.
For the hat, center and glue the 1 x 2 inch piece of black fabric on the top of the head with one long edge facing the front of the head, glue the corners of the hat to the dress.
Place the miniature basket over the arm of your doll.
CLOTHESPIN SNOWMAN
This is a quick simple snowman, made from the doll pin and stand, you will also need a 3/8 x ½ inch mini spool, a 3/4 inch diameter wooden button, a tiny miniature broom and a small scrap of jute, as well as a bit of paint in ivory or white, black and orange.
Paint the stand and the doll pin either white or ivory, depending on your tastes. Glue the spool to the back side of the button to form the snowman’s hat, then paint this black. You may want to antique your snowman slightly by dry brushing a bit of brown paint onto the area around his “legs”. Turn the snowman so that his “legs” are facing front and draw on his face. You will need to make two small dots for his eyes, a small “carrot” nose, which you can paint on with the orange paint, then later outline with a black permanent marker, and a smile for his mouth. Slightly blush his cheeks.
Also make three dots down the front of his body for buttons, again using the black marker. Glue his body into the doll stand and glue his hat onto the top of his head. Tie a scrap of fabric to the stove pipe part of his hat, and knot, you may want to secure this with a bit of glue.
From the jute cut a 4 inch length. Tie the center of this jute into a knot around the top of the broom handle; tie the loose ends together into a knot. With the broom in front of your snowman, glue his knotted “arms” to the center back of his neck.
Lastly tie a fabric scrap scarf around his neck. Adjust the scarf so the knot is off to one side. That is all there is to making a clothespin Snowman.
A BASE CLOTHESPIN DOLL
These dolls can be made into many different dolls from an angel or a fairy, to a bunny or a teacher doll. Just by changing a few items, you too can make many different dolls using the same basic pattern.
What you will need for the basic doll: again your doll pin and stand, 1 - 1 1/4 inch bead, 1- 2 inch tall book and 1 - 1 ½ inch wide heart that is ½ inch thick, 1/8 yard of fabric, some doll hair and other decorative items.
To make the basic doll, you will need to take the book, this will be the base for your entire doll. On top of the book glue your ½ inch thick heart. On top of this goes the doll stand, now insert your pin into the hole in the stand, then the 1 1/4 inch bead. Now look at what you have, the book is the stand, the heart and doll stand are now her shoes. The pin is her legs and body, and the bead her head.
If you so choose, the legs, body and head can be painted a flesh or light pink color. Your dolls, shoes and stand can be painted in any color that will coordinate with your doll. You can add buttons or ties to your shoes, along with socks with just a bit of paint.
You will also need to paint a face on your doll. You can do most of this with a permanent fine pointed marker. Just paint eyes, nose and a mouth. Add a bit of red to the mouth if you would like, you can even add a few freckles across the bridge of her nose. Blush her cheeks with a bit of pink paint. After everything is dry add a few white highlight dots on the eyes and the cheeks.
To make a dress for your doll cut a piece of your fabric that is 20 x 3 inches, and a piece 7 x 3 inches. Using a hand running stitch, gather the long side of one of the 20 inch piece. Pull this up to gather and glue this gathered piece at the neckline of the doll to form her dress. To make the sleeves, fold the 7 x 3 inch piece of fabric in half lengthwise. Sew a 1/4 inch seam along the long raw edge. Turn this piece right side out and wrap the center of this tube tightly with a piece of thread, knotting the thread. Stuff each side of the sleeve slightly with stuffing. Wrap another piece of thread around each sleeve ½ inch from the end of each sleeve, knot to secure. Glue the center of the sleeve to the back of her neck.
Now it is time to decorate your doll. If you would like to make an angel, add a set of wings made from a lace doily. Simply gather the doily in the center and secure. Glue this to the back of your doll.
To make a bunny, glue a pair of handcrafted ears to a straw hat. Simply glue that hat to the bead head. Any type of hair can be added to your doll. Pre-made doll hair can be purchased in a variety of colors and styles and simply glued onto the bead head.
A bit of hand gathered lace can be added to the neckline of the doll, also a narrow ribbon can be tied and glued to the neckline, as a bow.
Be on the lookout for miniature items to add as a theme to your doll. Add a small apple for a teacher doll, along with a small wooden rectangle that has been painted black, add some white lettering to make a black board.
A bit of lettering on the book base can also add you the theme of your doll. If your doll happens to be a teacher, write ABC on the book base, on the Angel doll's base, you can write I BELIEVE IN ANGELS, this is just a sample of what you can do.
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