For one 2½ inch tall Pipe-cleaner doll you’ll need:
- 1 12-inch pipe cleaner (for one doll)
- Flesh-colored embroidery floss (I used DMC 3774), as well as other colors to match felt
- Felt for clothing
- Wooden bead for head (10mm-15mm)
- Acorn cap for hat
- Fuzzy yarn or wool roving for hair
- Scissors
- Ruler
- Glue
- Optional: Acrylic paint, colored pencils or permanent pen for face

(You may also wish to embroider the clothing, so for easy embroidery instructions click here.)

Here are some of the supplies to give you a visual. Make sure you have plenty of flesh-colored floss for the body!

First you will want bend the pipe cleaner following these measurements: for the neck, ¾”; for the arms 1″ both ways; 1¾” for the outside of the legs; and 1½” inside the legs. This should use up the whole pipe cleaner.

To begin wrapping, unbend one of the hands, hold the embroidery floss on the pipe cleaner…

…and wrap it around the pipe cleaner! It’s pretty easy. Just make sure you twist out the floss from time to time so it will fan a bit, creating better coverage. (Once you get going you’ll understand - it may start to twist back on itself.) (While working, I hold the pipe cleaner with my left hand, and wrap with my right.)

Once you have the tip of the hand wrapped, bend it back in place and wrap both sides together. Continue wrapping up the arm until you reach the body. Repeat this with the other arm as well.

The feet are wrapped the same way as the arms, though you may wish to use another color for shoes. When switching colors, don’t tie a knot - it’ll leave a bump. Rather, wrap the flesh color over the remains of the shoe color, and then continue wrapping towards the body.

Once you finish all the limbs, wrap the body and the neck like so.

Take your wooden bead and make sure it fits on the neck. Use the glue to attach the hair, then the cap on top. You may wish to pencil the face on at this point. (This step you may do before or after you sew the clothes on. Just don’t glue the head on yet.)

This is the pattern for the basic shirt. Make the sleeves as long or short as you wish. Fold it in half to cut the neck hole as well. A jumper or dress can be made in a similar manner, adjusting neck and skirt area as necessary.

Make a buttonhole stitch along the ends of the sleeve and bodice, tying it off on the inside. (If the shirt will be under a jumper, finishing the bodice won’t be needed.)

This is the first time I’ve ever added a collar to a shirt, and it was very easy. Embroider with the buttonhole stitch before attaching it to the shirt. Slip the shirt over the [headless] neck and body, then sew the sides together with the buttonhole stitch.

Here is what the jumper looks like underneath, while finishing the armholes. I usually like to decorate the front with simple embroidery.

Sewing up the sides…

…Making a simple hooded cape. After gluing on the head, painting on a face, and trimming the hair, you now have your very own pipe cleaner doll!

And here is Little Red Riding hood!

For another tutorial on a variation of the wee doll, click here.
Coming soon - wee pants tutorial!

It’s Week 4 of A Homemade Christmas at my sister Emily’s blog!

Christmas is getting closer and closer and I am honestly not prepared! Making homemade gifts definitely takes more time than just stopping by the mall, but it is so worth it when you are finished with the gift you’ve worked hard on. Atop the satisfaction of a job well done, you give a piece of your time and love to someone you care about.

And when it’s all said and done, we cannot forget about what we are really celebrating. It’s not how many gifts we’ve made, or how many pies we baked, but celebrating Him who gave us the creativity and strength to accomplish these things, and more than that - Celebrating the birth of the One who came to save His people from darkness.

The coming season is one to share the love and grace God has so freely given us. I’ll be the first to admit I’m a very selfish person, and I don’t automatically change just because it’s cold and wintry outside. But this is a year that God has especially been doing a lot in my life, and I hope that as I grow, that selflessness and generosity won’t come once a year.

So onto a project!

This is a small embroidered pillow (about 7″x4″) I started maybe two. . . well, probably three years ago! Notice the straight pins at the bottom. :–)

This isn’t considered a “useful” gift, but I think it’s pretty and will bring added depth to the over-arching aesthetic stimuli gracing every room of our abode by adorning any given respite-structure. (Translation: it’ll make the house cuter by sitting on a piece of furniture.)

I am determined to finish it this year, which won’t take but 5 minutes to spiffy up.

Oh, how I long for the long snowy days when we can just sit in the living room, listening to a book read aloud, with a hot mocha nearby, and a craft in my lap.

I’m ready to get busy!

I posted about my library trials a while back, but never got around to showing you what the finished painting looks like!

Once I got the thumbnail I wanted, I set to work on enlarging it to fill an 8″x10″ space. The process of drawing it just the way I could see it in my head took some extra time, but it was well worth the effort.

Here’s the real drawing on the real watercolor paper! ::insert feelings of excitement and tension:: Holding my breath!

~”Waterlilies” by Beatrix Potter~

I had to hold in my mind how I thought she would have painted. In “chunks” of color and little lively brushstrokes, she adds so much movement. In every piece of her work we see colors that ebb and flow, never sitting still without meaning. So I embraced a new technique that I’d never thought to use before, and jumped back in. Full steam ahead!

~Here I go!~

One of my favorite things! Bobbles of wet watercolor! Isn’t that gorgeous! Ahhhh…

Here I am transferring graphite lines (via rice paper) for accurate window panes.

And with that, I signed my name.

I am now officially selling 8″x10″ prints of “The Library”. If you would like a copy, check out my new Etsy shop here. They They are easy to frame and make great Christmas gifts!

This is Week 3 of A Homemade Christmas at my sister’s blog, Simply Vintagegirl!
Little Dolls continued . . .

One of the fun parts of making little dolls is that they need little accessories! Here is a picture of some staple books. The largest one is about 1′ tall. They are very basic, easy to make, and the wee folk really enjoy having something to read and write in. All you need is some pretty scrapbooking and printer paper, scissors, a stapler, and a little imagination!

Cut several pieces of printer paper into rectangles, all the same size; these will be the pages. Cut a piece of scrapbook paper sightly larger for the cover. Once you have them all stacked and layered (with the cover on top) carefully slip it into the stapler to bind them together. You can further decorate them with postage stamps, buttons, or even a ribbon to turn it into a secret diary.

Scarves - Your wee people may also enjoy a knitted or crocheted scarf. They especially appreciate it come winter. These can be the simplest things: you don’t even have to know how to knit or crochet! If you have a piece of flannel, felt, or fleece, just cut a long strip of the fabric in the width and length appropriate for your friend’s size. And voila! You have a little scarf!

Stationery - Another fun accessory to make is stationery! I made an itty bitty pattern based off of a regular-sized envelope.

1) To make your own pattern, unfold an envelope and draw a smaller version of the outline on a piece of paper.

2) Cut out and refold the smaller envelope. It may take several tries to get it perfectly lined out, but once you have the right size, cut out another piece of writing paper that, when folded, will fit inside the tiny envelope.

3) Once you have them both the the right size, lay them out on a piece of card stock and trace the outline. Your final template will create a quicker way to make more and more notes for the wee folk to send secret messages!

Have fun as you prepare for Christmas!

Emily - Today is your birthday and I’m so happy for you. You are my favorite sister, and I’ll always love you more than words can express.

From nap times and story times…

…to learning and playing…

To growing in the Lord,
You’ll always be my best sister-friend.
I can’t wait to see what the Lord continues to do in our lives. God bless you!

I Love you - Happy Birthday Emily Rose!