Make Fashion Dresses for Dolls with NO Sewing! (Tutorial by Grace)

Grace (almost 7) came up with this idea for making doll dresses after her frustration and disappointment with the time it took (and not always the end results) of sewing dresses for her dolls. It’s rather ingenious, I think, and very satisfying! Grace has a few “fashion dolls” (like Barbies- pronounced here as “Bawbees”- so cute!) and plastic fairy dolls which she used.

Needless to say, this only works on plastic dolls, not cloth!!

Grace used commercial Playdough, but this recipe here is a simple and handy one to make your own (I will be making more of this, thanks to the smallest girl sampling any creations she found!)

So, without further ado, over to Grace:

First I wanted to make a doll like [my mother] and decorate it and then I could put it up in my bedroom. But Playdough is easier to use than that hard paper stuff [paper mâché]

You need a knife, a rolling pin, some pastry cutters and shapers. And you also need some Barbies or dolls.

(Grace being besieged by small children from all sides)

First I think of an idea, like I was thinking of doing a dress with a four leaf clover. So then I got my playdough and made a dress with that.

I like doing this because it’s fun. You can cut out pieces and pat them onto the Barbies and they look really pretty.

(You can also draw onto the playdough afterwards with felt tip pen)

It’s easier than sewing.

One more thing! Don’t let your baby sisters get near them or they might eat the dresses!!

• doll clothes,
• dolls,
• playdough,
• tutorial