"Pumpkin Dude" Doll

That's Clever! : Episode HCLVR-141 -- More Projects »
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Project by Alyson Sprague from Sewickley, Pa.
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Artist and art teacher Alyson Sprague grew up with artistic influences from both her mother and grandmother. She never considered doing anything else with her life. Her first craft of choice was quilting which she avidly pursued after her first son was born. She then dabbled in sculpture and found she loved that, too! But since she could never find the time to do both she set out to find a way to combine them. After taking a doll making class she knew she'd found her niche. Now she combines the best techniques of quilting and sculpting to create her fun and funky dolls.

Materials:

1/2 yard hand-dyed orange cotton fabric for head, hands and legs
Halloween print fabrics were used for clothing
1/8 yard of fabric for body (color of shirt)
1/4 yard of fabric for sleeves, jacket and jacket pockets
1/8 yard of fabric for jacket lining
1/8 yard of fabric for pants
scrap of green fabric for leaf
scrap of brown fabric for stem
scrap of leather, felt or ultra suede for shoes
polyfill
quilt batting
5 pipe cleaners
green floral tape
2, 4mm black beads
fabric glue
darner needles
7-1/2" doll needle
basic sewing supplies
sewing machine
scissors
hemostat
quilting thread: green, orange, brown and black
black permanent marker

Dyeing Fabric Materials:

dust mask
safety glasses
rubber gloves
measuring cups and spoons
1 or 2 cup glass measuring cup
mixing spoons
old towels, rags or paper towels
bucket or plastic container
2 one-gallon plastic milk jugs
two squeeze bottle containers
2 Tbs. each color dye powder: red, orange
6 Tbs. urea
6 Tbs. soda ash
1/2 yard of 100 percent cotton fabric

Steps: (Mixing the dye concentrates)

1. Fill one of the plastic gallon jugs with warm water.

2. Put on the dust mask, safety glasses and rubber gloves.

3. In each of the two squeeze bottle containers pour in one cup of warm water and three tablespoons of urea.

4. Stir these until the urea is mostly dissolved.

5. Add two tablespoons of each color dye powder to each container.

6. Combine six tablespoons of soda ash into one gallon of warm water and store in the second plastic gallon jug.

Dyeing fabric

7. Wet the cotton fabric. Squeeze the water out and, keeping it wrinkled, place it in the bottom of a bucket or plastic container.

8. Squeeze the red dye over the fabric. Then squeeze the orange dye over the fabric. All areas of the fabric need not touch the dye. Wait five minutes.

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9. Pour the soda ash mixture over the fabric and swish the fabric around with your hands (figure A). The soda ash will set the dye. Let it set for one hour.

10. Run the fabric under warm water until the water runs pretty clear. Wash the fabric in a wash cycle in warm water and dry on high.

Also in this Episode
That's Clever! : Episode HCLVR-141
•Papier-Mache Television
•"Starfish" Nail Letter Opener
•"Pumpkin Dude" Doll
•Ceramic Keepsake Box