No, I haven’t taken up serial murder as my latest hobby.
Nor am I studying mutilation and dismemberment 101 at the local university.
We’re making paper dolls together this weekend, and the Kidz are loving it.
I suppose I could have also easily called this post “A paper doll to call my own”, but then people wouldn’t be able to find Kidzarama on Google with fun searches like serial murder body part, or university mutilation and dismemberment.
These things are important.
But back to the paper dolls.
Wren & Mr Bump were floating around while I was bloghopping today and spotted a picture of a paper doll somewhere.
Please can I have one of those?
What could I say? So of course I went looking for paper doll & clothing patterns for the rest of the afternoon.
The weirdest thing is that earlier today I actually impulse~bought some small gold brads. Not sure what I was going to use them for, but they came in real handy making these dolls.
Am I psychic, or what?
The best doll patterns I found were
- Victorian paper dolls,
- Liana’s paper doll blog with dolls & fashions
- Circa 1880 vintage paper doll & clothes,
- Connie Francis paper doll & lots of matching clothing.
I also loved this paper doll fairy at Wet Noodle Posse using Mirkwood Design’s doll pattern.
In case you didn’t look closely at the picture of Wren & Mr Bump’s dolls (Wren’s is on the left), do so now. They did all the cutting themselves, which means they really wanted these dolls.
But notice how the clothes don’t quite fit? Well, the Kidz wanted moving arms & legs and fashion. Don’t ask for much, do they?
So we dressed the vintage dolls in some of Liana’s doll clothing and have stuck the clothes onto each doll with blutak.
I kind of think that makes them even cuter than if they matched.
If you really enjoy this project, then you really should check out Hazelruthe’s post on paper dolls.
She has links to what may be every paper doll printable on the internet.
This is so much fun! I will have to check into the links … I remember having paper dolls when i was little, spending many hours cutting out clothes! Then making our own with magazines!
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Jane, your house looks like so much fun; when might I come and play? Seriously, with teenage boys, paper dolls aren’t happening for my kids but just like crayons and coloring books, I might have to do some for myself!
Happy to have you back; you were definitely missed!
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OMGosh! How sweet! I LOVED paper dolls as a little girl and so did my girls when they were younger. I really look forward to fun projects like this when Emma is a bit older. (sadly, my boys would only make these if they could hack them up and pretend they were, in fact, seriel murderers. UGH!)
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Oh great idea… I think my girls would love some of these as special Christmas stocking stuffers! I will stumble this so I don’t forget!
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I love paper dolls. I used to do play with these all the time at my grandma’s house when I was little. What great memories!
I should find some for my daughter!
What a fabulous idea. I can’t wait until the bugs are old enough to make these. Jay’s a little too old but I know that a few years ago he would have been more than happy to sit down and do a craft project like this with me.
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Oh they did such a good job! Sometimes the retro toys are the best, because you get to indulge your inner child. These are classics and I don’t see Bratz dolls being relevent 20 years from now.
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I think it would be pretty to decorate a Christmas tree entirely in paper dolls, but that would be a project to do over the years. If you wanted to get REALLY involved, you could make them represent your kid’s interest or important for the year (new bike, ballet, whatever).
Thanks for mentioning the Wet Noodle Posse. I wrote that article years ago, but I still have that fairy doll on my bulletin board. Since then, I’ve also bought rubber stamps that make dog and cat jointed dolls. They’ve been discontinued, so I feel lucky to have them.
Esri Rose (aka Kiki Clark)
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These are delightful - I loved paper dolls as a child. My sister and I used to draw our own and make outfits and such. Beautiful!
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How great! I *must* forward those links on to my friend - she has 2 little girls who’d LOVE paper dolls!
Oh, and just so your blog is picked up in all the right Google searches: arm pits, smelly feet & gorgonzola cheese.
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