How to Make a Polish Clothespin Doll
Clothespin dolls serve as a simple yet educational craft for people of all ages. You can make clothespin doll holiday ornaments by gluing strings to the backs of finished dolls or create clothespin dolls that look like figures from history or people from different countries. This is especially true when studying traditional dress rather than modern dress. Polish traditional dress looks very different from modern-day dress and has a very distinct style. By creating Polish clothespin dolls, you and your children can explore Poland’s historical fashion and have fun at the same time.
Things You'll Need
- Wooden clothespins
- Fine-tipped felt pen
- Embroidery floss
- Scissors
- Glue
- Tempera paint
- Colorful cotton fabric remnants
- Muslin remnants
Instructions
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1
Draw a face on the top of the clothespin, near the pinching end. You can draw a simple smiley face or create detailed eyes and lips. Do not press too hard; the ink will spread in the wood and blur your details.
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2
Snip a bundle of yellow, brown or orange embroidery floss about four inches long and 1/2 inch wide. Tie a single thread of colored embroidery floss around your bundle 1 1/2 inches from each end.
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3
Braid the bundles from the colored floss to the ends and tie them off with more colored floss. Glue the unbraided center to your female clothespin doll’s head.
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4
Paint blond, brown or red hair on your male clothespin doll with tempera paint. The "hair" should be short and a little messy. Allow the paint to dry for several minutes.
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5
Cut two muslin rectangles about three inches long and one inch wide. Wrap one around the top of each of your dolls and glue them in place as shirts. Create arms by cutting 1/4-inch-wide, two-inch-long muslin pieces, folding them in half and gluing them on the sides of your doll’s bodies.
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6
Cut out a trapezoid of colorfully striped or blue and white printed fabric about four inches long, and three inches wide at the top and five inches wide at the bottom so that the sides slant. Wrap the piece around your female doll as a skirt and glue it in place.
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7
Cut a muslin rectangle about one inch wide and two inches long. Glue it to the front of your female doll’s skirt as an apron.
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8
Cut a two-inch-long, one-inch-wide rectangle of bright yellow, red or green fabric. Wrap it around your female doll as a vest, cutting slits in it to feed her arms through.
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9
Cut a muslin triangle about four inches wide at the bottom and three inches tall. Fold the bottom up about 1/2 inch to make a hat brim and glue it around the top of your female doll’s head. Fold the point down and glue it to the back of her head to create a traditional hat.
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10
Cut a rectangle of red striped, green or blue fabric about three inches wide and four inches long. Glue it around your male doll’s waist and cut a slit up the front and back. Tuck the edges of the slit around the clothespin’s prongs and glue them in place. Create a black, red or blue vest for your male doll as you did your female in step 8.
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References
- Photo Credit fabric image by DXfoto.com from Fotolia.com
