Making a Felt Skirt and Top for a Tiny Polymer Clay Doll

Today I am going to create a doll skirt and top out of felt for my tiny polymer clay doll. If you have been following my blog, you will have seen that I made this doll from a press mold that I bought from my local art supply store.  I wanted to see how easy it would be to create a little doll without having to sculpt the doll from scratch. I found that this is a great option for those who want to make a cute doll, but do not want to spend a lot of time learning to sculpt.  

I feel that she did turn out to be a very cute doll, but I did have to re-sculpt her legs.  I also made her hands larger than the way they came out of the mold.  Adding an armature created its own problems.  In my honest opinion, I truly enjoy creating a doll from my own hands without the use of a store bought mold.  

I think that a doll made from this mold would be easier to make if I had not added an armature for strength.  She could be un-molded and placed into a position and then baked.  This might prevent the need for re-sculpting her body parts separately.  Since I did not actually try that, I cannot be sure it will work without any problems.  

That said, I do believe this is a great way for someone to begin making dolls.  This particular doll mold is very small, but it does show important anatomical parts of a doll that a sculptor needs to learn in order to create a life like doll.  She can also be painted and given cute clothes, which makes her very sweet.  I believe she would be a nice size doll for a tradtional doll house, although I am not sure if she is made in a 1:12 scale.  

If you look closely at the pictures below, you can see that I have a wire armature that creates a loop at the top of her head.  I am going to use this to hang her instead of trying to make her stand.  

I hope you have enjoyed my experiment using a commercial press mold.  If you have any questions, please feel free to leave comments below.  And don't forget to scroll down to see the pictures I took of my doll's new clothes.  

In this picture, I started by cutting a square in a piece of fucia felt.  I free handed this square, but I did measure it against her lower body to find the size which fit around her waist and was long enough to cover most of her legs.  She is a fairy, so I wanted her clothing to be loose and asymmetrical as if she lived in the forest. 

After wrapping the square around her hips, I placed Aleene's tacky glue onto the point where the front and back of the skirt meet.

I then placed a large pin through the area to keep the skirt together as the glue dries.

In this next series of pictures, I placed a white triangular piece of felt around her upper torso that I cut to make her top. I fiddled with the size until I had a shape that wrapped around her body and connected right at her breasts.  Once again, I wanted the top to be asymmetrical.

Once again, I glued the piece together and placed a pin thrugh it to keep the front and back together as it dries.  Isn't she a doll!