Jean Kievlan puts together wooden blocks, balls, and spools to make her ingenious "Spoolie" dolls, whose outfits are personalized with embroidered messages. The style, color and texture of the clothing are a matter of preference.
Materials:
large wooden ball for head
rectangular wooden block or 2 square blocks for body
14 small wooden beads - 2 each for shoulders, elbows, hands, hips, knees, heels, and feet
10 wooden spools - 2 for each arm, 3 for each leg
4 screw hooks and eyes
fabric for underside of dress
muslin for top layer of dress
needle and thread
jute
wood glue
Steps:
- Glue large wooden ball onto wood block. If using two squares rather than one rectangle, glue squares together.
- Take a long piece of jute and fold the tip over. Glue the tip inside the "foot" bead and let dry. Do the same for other foot, using another piece of jute and another bead.
- Glue jute to "hand" beads as in Step 2.
- For the legs, thread jute as follows: spool-bead-spool-bead-spool-bead
- For the arms, thread jute as follows: spool-bead-spool-bead
- Attach the arms and legs to the body with screw hooks and eyes.
Steps For Dress:
- Cut arm holes in the fabric that will be used for the underside of the dress.
- Use heavy-duty craft thread to attach the muslin/top layer of the dress.
- Perform a simple in-and-out stitch along the top and pull tight to create ruffles.
- Follow the same procedure for the sleeves.
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