Make Paper Dolls From Recycled Materials

My daughter and I had a blast this weekend making paper dolls from scratch. It was wonderful for so many reasons; unleashed creativity, fine motor skill development, hours of focused attention, while continuing to establish the concept of beauty as a truly flexible and personally defined art.

A bit of a fashionista, my daughter reveled in the decoration of new outfits. When I say “fashionista“, it’s not a Hollywood thing; Jasmine just loves the artistry of personal adornment. In making our own dolls, we were completely freed from images of conventional beauty I see on T-Shirts and television shows for young girls. We followed our fancy with our patterns, color choices, faces, and hairstyles. Jasmine painted her own paper doll face, glued a wooly cloud of hair around her crown, and decorated the undergarments. Once she’d learned how to create the clothing with me, she struck out on her own and began to create her own designs. Hours of fun.

Here’s how you can do it:

1) Flatten a cereal box with blank insides.
2) Draw the pattern of your doll with a pencil. I just drew our pattern free-hand, but you can download patterns online. For younger children, the simpler the shapes the better.
3) Cut out your doll.
4) Decorate. We used dyed wool for the hair, but you could use felt or yarn.
4) To create clothing:
Using a tiny amount of tape, tape your doll to the outside of a window, or just hold it up to a window. Hold a piece of white paper (can be used typing paper from an office) over the doll and trace the contours of the doll in the shape of the clothing you’d like to create.
Tracing doll
5) Cut out the clothing, including several tabs evenly spaced around the clothing to hold it in place.
6) Decorate with oil pastels or pens for vibrant colors.
7) Fold the tabs over the doll to hold in place. For Jasmine, we had enough trouble that we added a bit of sticker velcro to the doll’s back. On each tab, we placed a tiny piece of velcro – not so much it would create pressure to rip the paper, but just enough that the outfits would stick on the body more easily. It allowed us to have a bit more flexibility with the styling of our clothing if we didn’t need to worry about the perfect fit.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Teresa W.

3:36AM PDT on Aug 6, 2011

I used to make paper dolls as a child, but later I grew out of that.

send a green star

10:45PM PST on Jan 7, 2010

My granddaughter’s teacher is reading the Little House books to her class and you’ve given me a great idea for a gift (for my granddaughter, not the teacher). Thank you!
32gb compact flash

Joyce S.

8:42AM PDT on Aug 16, 2009

Thanks for the information on paper doll sites.

Lee H.

8:01AM PDT on Aug 16, 2009

I spent many hours making paper dolls as a child and had a huge collection of celebrity paper dolls. I've added this craft as a Paper Doll resource at Squidoo.com:

http://www.squidoo.com/paper-doll-collections-books-printables

Barbara F.

3:54PM PDT on Aug 14, 2009

Paper Dolls were my favorite pastime as a child. I remember spreading them all over my bedroom floor. Scale didn't matter; they all interacted with other. I'm so glad you are resurrecting the art with your child.

Marie R.

4:52PM PDT on Aug 10, 2009

I'm passing this on to my daughter in law for my granddaughter, In the 50's I filled a department store coat box, which was huge, with paper dolls and clothes that I made for them, Friends would always want me to bring the box when I came for a visit and it's one of my fondest memories.

1:03PM PDT on Aug 10, 2009

Yes, I remember Katy Keene comic books and paper dolls. Do you remember Tillie the Toiler and Eve Arden. They were in the comic section of the newspaper in the 1930s and 1940s. Every Saturday night we got to go into town with a nickel and if we didn't go to the show we bought a paper doll book. Usually of one of the movie starlets. We spents hours playing with these dolls up through the early 1950s. I now have a collection of them. Mostly reproductions, but a few originals.

Mariah O.

12:47PM PDT on Aug 10, 2009

What great memories of my mother showing me how to make paperdolls & clothes from catalogs & magazine fashion pages – even added bits of fabric, lace, yarn to fancy up the outfits. Was a great way to spend a hot summer afternoon in the 40's before air conditioning.
Does anyone remember a Katy Keene comic books? There was usually a paperdoll page in each issue-clothes designed by readers.

Jeannette G.

7:40AM PDT on Aug 10, 2009

Beautiful - your daughter is fortunate to have a mother like you - and she sounds very creative - the next Coco Chanel?!?