When I first started this blog, I wanted to make sure I gave plenty of ‘air time’ to some of those people out there doing some really creative and fun things (and there are so many of you!).

Ballerinas In A Line

This post features the work of Regina Hamilton a.k.a Woolycat Designs. For those of you don’t know me personally, Regina is my mom, so I grew up with her creativity. She even showed me how to make my first mini doll quilt when I was 5 years old. In fact, I think she recently found it when my daughter was playing over at her house.

Poseable Ballerina Doll

In addition to her beautiful quilts and felted knit handbags, Regina has recently begun making a line of the sweetest little ballerina dolls. These are original designs and each doll is a little bit different. Some have flowers on their toes, others have flower necklaces, some have bangs, some have poseable arms and legs, but they are all charming!

When asked why she decided to try her hand at doll-making, Regina said that she always enjoyed playing with dolls as a child, and by making them, she can continue to enjoy them as an adult. Her favorite parts of the creative process are matching fabrics, trying to decide on hairdos, and embroidering different expressions for faces. For her, its like playing, and she loves that, every doll comes out a little different.

Pretty In Pink

She also enjoys making things for her 3 grandchildren. “It is most rewarding when I make something for one of my grandchildren, because no matter how it comes out they always love it, and it is always made with love.”

I also couldn’t resist including this lovely little doll family in my article. Take a look at the dolls and then look at the family below. (yep, my family!). My mom even used some of our old clothes to make their outfits. Talk about cool customization!

If you like these dolls, check out Regina’s other items at her shop, WoolyCatDesigns on Etsy. Her dolls aren’t yet listed for sale, but if you like them, please convo her!

"The Stockdills" Doll Family

"The Stockdills" The Real Thing

Before I say anything, I need to credit my husband Jon with this recycling idea.  He had a vision, whereas, I had my eye on the trash can.

Teddy and Zelda

Anyway, about a week ago, Jon presented me with a pair of old twill pants with frayed cuffs and rips across the knees.  They were too far gone for even the best mending efforts.  As he tossed them to me, he said “maybe you can use them for some type of craft with the kids; I don’t know, maybe you can make a teddy bear and use the pocket buttons for eyes or something”.  The pants sat on my desk for a few days, and then I suggested to the kids that we try to make a teddy bear for my son out of Daddy’s old pants.  My daughter was the benefactress of my last project, so I thought it would be nice to make something for my son this time.  Well, he was fairly indifferent to the idea, but my daughter thought it would be really cool to make a doll.  So, off we went to create a cute rag doll out of an old, ripped pair of pants.

We used most of the usable fabric on the doll pictured above, but we did have just enough material left to make her cute little teddy bear companion.

More Teddy and Zelda

And, yes, we used the pocket button for Teddy’s eyes and nose.  I didn’t use a pattern for this doll.   I drew the pieces freehand directly onto the pant legs.  The dolls head and torso are one section, and each arm and leg are a separate piece so that her limbs have some movement.  Zelda, as I named her, is wearing a dress that I made using leftover cotton fabric from a baby quilt I made a few years ago.  Her hair is just basic craft felt.   I wanted to use acrylic paints to give her a more vibrant face, but my daughter insisted that we didn’t have that kind of time — dolly needs a face NOW, so I used a tube of purple puffy fabric paint to draw on a quick face (and belly button!).  Teddy’s scarf is made from scraps of a felted sweater blanket.

For those of you do a lot of sewing, I think making a rag doll without a pattern is a really fun way to go, especially when working with a very finite amount of fabric.  However, if you would like to try it with a pattern, here are some site with cute rag doll patterns from Make Cute Baby Stuff, Fluffy Land, Martha Stewart’s Bunny, and Martha Stewart’s Dolls, and  I also found the twill pant material was pretty easy to work with and lent itself well to a rag doll project.  Teddy probably would have liked a softer material to help give more curve to his ears.  They seemed to come out a little jagged.   My biggest piece of advice for you — if you decide to make your doll without a pattern, cut your pieces much wider than you want the finished item to be. For example, the unsewn arms and legs were almost twice as wide as they appear on the finished doll.  Between the seam allowance, turning, and stuffing, it is amazing how much the pieces ’shrink up’.

Hanging Out

All Together

I really like how these upcycled toys came out and love having another fun use for old clothes!  I will definitely stash away any old pants that we have for our next rag doll project.

These cute toys are fun to make, fun to play with and require a minimal amount of skill.

Felt Paper Dolls

Basically, the dolls are cardboard cutouts covered with felt. The best part is that since felt tends to stick to itself, you don’t need tape, tabs or glue to make the clothes stay on, so its easy for the kids to change outfits on their dolls.

To make them, you will need the following materials:

1. Cardboard (we used a recycled diaper box)

2. Different colored felt

3. Glue

4. Scissors

5. Googly eyes (optional)

6. Marker

Start by drawing a body shaped outline on your cardboard.  I did mine freehand, but you can also use a gingerbread man cookie cutter for a pattern.  Choose a piece of felt for your skin tone.  Trace and cut out the body shape from the skin tone felt.

Felt Doll Body

Felt Doll Template

Let the kids glue the “skin” onto the cardboard template.

Cut out hair for your doll.  Let the kids glue on the hair, googly eyes and draw a mouth on their doll.  Finally, cut out clothes out of different colored felts.  The kids can use markers to add details to the clothing.

Its super easy to accessorize these dolls.  We made hair bows, belts, shoes and jewelry.  The clothes should stay on the felt body kind of like velcro.  Cute, aren’t they?