How to Make a Bottle Doll

A bottle doll can be a cute addition to a little girl's room or a quaint doorstop to greet guests in a home with country-style decorations. The hidden body of the doll is a 2-liter bottle filled with kitty litter. It is a great way to recycle and turn your trash into treasure. Transforming the bottle into a doll is easy enough for a novice crafter and would be a wonderful item for craft shows any time of the year.

Things You'll Need

• Empty 2-liter bottle with cap
• Funnel
• Measuring cup
• Kitty litter
• Newspaper
• Compass
• Scissors
• Scraps of muslin
• Straight pins
• Sewing machine
• Stuffing
• Hot-glue gun
• Blush
• Wooden skewer
• Black acrylic paint
• Fine-tip black permanent marker
• White acrylic paint
• Curly craft hair
• 1/2 yard fabric
• Measuring tape
• Hand-sewing needle and thread
• 6-inch round doily
• 1/4-inch wide ribbon, 12 inches

Instructions

1. Remove the cap from the bottle and place the funnel in the bottle's neck. Pour in four cups of kitty litter to weigh the bottle down. Replace the cap.

2. Draw a 4-inch circle on newspaper using a compass and cut out the circle. This is the pattern for the bottle doll's head. Stack two scrap pieces of muslin, pin the pattern through both layers and cut it out. Remove the pattern and pin the two head pieces together. Sew a seam with a 1/4-inch allowance around the head, leaving a 2-inch opening. To eliminate bulk, trim the seam to 1/8 inch. Turn the head right-side out and fill it firmly with stuffing.

3. Run a ring of hot glue around the sides of the bottle cap. Insert the neck of the bottle into the opening on the head and push the head down over the glue. Hold until the glue cools.

4. Apply blush to one side of the head for the doll's cheeks. Dip the blunt end of the wooden skewer into black acrylic paint and dot a nose in the center of the face and two eyes slightly above the nose. Draw a smile from one cheek to the other with the fine-tip marker. Dip the pointed tip of the skewer in white acrylic paint and dot a highlight on each blushed cheek and each eye. Apply hot glue to the top, sides and back of the head and attach a palm-size mass of curly craft hair.

5. Cut a piece of fabric 11 1/2 inches wide by 45 inches long. Fold the fabric in half with the right sides together, matching the short ends. Pin the short ends together and sew a seam with a 1/4-inch allowance along the pinned edge to form the dress body. Turn the dress body right-side out. Use the needle and thread to sew a running stitch around one raw edge of the dress tube, a 1/4-inch from the edge. This is the neck edge of the doll's dress. Place the dress on the bottle and gather the stitches around the neck of the bottle. Knot the thread and cut it off. Shift the dress seam to the back of the doll.

6. Cut a piece of fabric 6 inches wide by 15 inches long for the doll's arms. Fold the fabric in half with the right sides together, matching the long edges. Pin the long edges and sew a seam with a 1/4-inch allowance, creating a tube. Turn the tube right-side out. Tie a knot in the center of the tube to form the doll's hands. Lightly fill both ends of the tube with stuffing to create the arms. Position the hands in front of the doll and wrap the ends of the arms to the back. Overlap the arms by a 1/2-inch and hot glue them to the top of the dress's back seam.

7. Fold the round doily in half and then in half again to form a triangle shape. Measure a 1/2-inch from the center tip and cut off the tip. Open the doily. You will have a small hole in the center of the doily. Cut a slit from the edge of the doily to the center hole. Place the hole around the doll's neck with the doily slit in the back. Hot glue the slit together to close.

8. Tie the 1/4-inch-wide ribbon in a bow. Apply hot glue to the back of the knot and attach it to the top front of the doily collar.