IDEAS FOR FALL DOLLS

 

Fall dolls can be the most fun to make and you don’t have to run out and buy more patterns if you just think about what you can do with what you have.

 

Just dress a regular doll in fall colors! Too easy, right? Paint the doll’s face orange and sand it. Still not what you want?

 

The first things I think of when I think of fall dolls would be scarecrows. Any doll can be a scarecrow if you change the face a bit and instead of wool or yarn hair, shred raffia or use jute or sisal twine. You can also add patches to the clothing, and maybe even stitch raffia to the arms and legs so it covers the hands and feet. Raffia doesn’t take coffee stain very well so I use diluted craft stain to stain the raffia. (Actually, I buy semi-opaque latex or acrylic stains by the gallon in the hardware or paint store and mix it with small amounts with water just like I do my paint. I use a lot of paint and stain!)  Don’t forget to make a hat for your scarecrow. Lay the head pattern on a piece of paper and trace around it and draw a hat to fit the shape. It may take a few tries to get it to look the way you want, but it’s sort of like making a hat for a paper doll…most of us did that when we were little.

 

Crows are a very important part of fall. If you have trouble drawing your crow, lots of us have patterns for crows.

 

I like to make crow bags. I make a small pillowcase shape of canvas or osnaburg and fold the top toward the outside so there’s a 3” border at the top. Fasten rusty wire to each side of the top. If your wire isn’t strong enough to hang you bag, add 1 or 2 more wires by twisting them around the one you have. Stain your bag and add orange pips, greens, (faux greens work too), rusty star picks and your crow—or maybe 2 of them.

 

You can purchase plain grapevine wreaths and add greens, pips, dried wheat or oats, sweet annie, and a crow. You can sit your scarecrow in the wreath as if he were sitting on a swing. Schrock’s International carries rusty screen (you know, like old screen door screen) that’s about 3” wide and comes on a reel like ribbon. It makes an awesome bow for a fall wreath.

 

Most dolls can become witches. Dress the doll completely in black or grey with a pointy black hat and apron. Instead of the nose she was designed to have, stitch over a rusty nail or stick or even better, make a nose like a carrot nose and stitch it to her face for a long pointy nose. You can even stitch a wart near the end of her nose. She can carry a crow or simple broom. If you have a small cat pattern, she can carry a black cat.

 

Speaking of cats, make a witch’s hat for a black cat and give it a rusty wire tie with bells.

 

My favorite items for fall are pumpkins. The simplest would be to cut a circle of muslin and put a big wad of fiberfill in the center. Gather the raw edge and pull tight. If it needs more stuffing, add it and then fasten off the thread leaving a small opening. Stain it with your favorite stain. (I like ¼ C instant coffee, 1 TBSP vanilla and 1C hot water. Apply with a sponge) Let dry completely.

 

 

 Mix 1 part water and 1 part orange paint and paint the pumpkin. Let dry completely and sand with sandpaper.

 

 Find a nice short fat piece of a twig and dip one end into white glue and push it into the opening you left on the “pumpkin”. Next take a length of 2 ply jute, cotton twine, or heavy cord and wrap it tightly around the pumpkin with the stem up. Wrap it so you have at least 8 sections and tie the twine tightly on the top of the pumpkin. I tuck the ends of the twine under the cords and with needle and thread, sew over the cords so the short end is almost invisible.

 

 Simple jack o’lanterns can be made by primitively painting faces on the pumpkin. Better yet, paint a scrap of muslin with diluted black paint. Sand the scrap and cut out the facial features. Stitch them to the pumpkin with black thread and overcast stitching.

 

You can make a doll without a head and sew a small version of this to the shoulders to make a pumpkin head doll.

 

 Don’t be afraid to look at dolls made of paperclay, paper mache and resin for inspiration. I like looking at vintage Halloween décor at antique malls and shops for ideas.

 

Lucille Rox

www.lucyslazydayzprimitives.com