Use your sense of style and a few spare craft supplies to whip up a collection of these colorfully clothed dolls.
| Prep Time: About 2 to 3 hours | |
| What you need: | |
| Pipe cleaners in 6-inch and 5-inch lengths
Embroidery floss Wooden beads (3/4-inch plus smaller sizes) Felt Markers | |
| Seasons: Year round | |
| Materials: felt, pipe cleaners | |
| Instructions: | |
| 1. |  For the basic doll, bend a 6-inch pipe cleaner in half
around the middle of 20 pieces of embroidery floss, as shown.
(The strands should be of equal length and twice as long as you'd
like your doll's hair to be; ours ranged from about 4 to 8
inches.) Slide a 3/4-inch wooden bead onto the pipe cleaner and
up to the fold so that the floss pokes out the top like
hair. |
| 2. |  Wrap a 5-inch pipe cleaner just below the bead for arms.
For legs, bend up the ends of the first pipe cleaner, as shown,
then wrap them completely around a folded 5-inch pipe
cleaner. |
| 3. |  Now you can explore different clothing options for your
doll.
Pants: Cut out a 6- by 1 1/2-inch felt rectangle. Mark and
cut a 4-inch line down the middle, 2 centered legholes, and a
waist hole on one end, as shown. Fold the pants in half and
thread the doll's legs first through the waist hole, then through
the 2 legholes. Secure the pants in place by wrapping a 3-inch
pipe cleaner around the waist and folding a 2-inch pipe cleaner
around each of the doll's knees. |
| 4. | Shirt: Cut a 2-inch felt square. Mark and cut 2 small holes 1/2 inch apart and 1/4 inch from the edge, as shown. Slip the doll's arms through the holes, then cinch the shirt closed with a 3-inch pipe cleaner belt. |
| 5. | 
Dress: Follow the shirt directions above using a 2 1/2- by
3-inch felt rectangle, then secure the dress with a 3-inch pipe
cleaner belt. |
| 6. | Once your doll is dressed, use markers to draw on a face, and attach small wooden beads to the ends of the pipe cleaners for hands and feet. |
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