Felt Paper Dolls Tutorial

I found this pattern on pinterest. I loved paper dolls as a little girl and so this just called to me!

I had to make this for my granddaughter because, I mean, just look at it! Jennifer, from the Craft Patch, does a brilliant job of taking you through her tutorial. Here is the link for the dolls and this is for the clothes patterns. 

I made two dolls, one for my granddaughter and one for her best friend. My granddaughter is pretty dark complected with dark hair and her best friend is light with blonde hair. I couldn't find a good representation of her skin tone so I took the wool felt and dyed it with dark brewed coffee and hung it up to dry. It worked great!

So I made the dresses and overalls with the shirts underneath, which is what that pattern is for, along with the cute little collars.

I started making clothes for the girls and started to improvise and added a few extra things. I took the dress pattern and cut it in half to make skirts. I added shirts to that and made this ensemble. It's still one piece so that worked well.

I cut the overalls at the waist to make pants and added the shirt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also combined the pants and shirt to make one-piece pajamas out of flannel. A whole wardrobe!

At the end of her tutorial, she shows a suitcase that has been fixed up like a little room. So I took that same concept and made a little book with handles and snaps that holds the dolls and all the clothes. 

I started out by making the inside. I chose some fabric and started assembling and making a quilt for a bed and a pillowcase. 

I wanted the bed large enough where they could have sleepovers.

I then used the other side to make a dresser, lamp and picture on the wall. The dresser is open on the top so that the clothes all fit into the pocket.

 

Once I finished the inside, it was time to think about the outside of this little house. This was done on another piece of fabric, the same size as the inside so that I could attach them.  I decided I wanted the outside to have a front door, windows and flowers.

I started by adding a door, windows and flower pots. 

I started stitching all the pieces down and adding fun little details. I love heatnbond, since you can iron it on whatever fabric you want to cut out and then peel the second side off and iron it on your project. Works perfectly! I also stitched some little leaves and vines and then just ironed the flowers on top of them. 

Once that was finished, I made handles, attached them to both sides of the "book" and then added snaps to the inside piece. I stitched the front and back together with batting between them. I then turned it right side and top stitched it. The added snaps around the inside edges helps to keep all the dolls and clothes inside.

This was a bit more detailed and took more time but the end result was very fun and I was extremely happy with it! As was my granddaughter and her friend! Which is the best reward.