"Silly Mini People..."

That's Tessie's opinion of today's tutorial. When I clean, I run across all kinds of old supplies that I had forgotten about.

Remember back in the 80s when country style was all the rage? I used to make clothes pin dolls and sell them at mini shows. I sold as many to non miniaturists as I did to mini people. They were just something fun to do. I guess that you might call them 3/4" scale. If you really wanted a scale...


I had to see if I remembered how to do it, or should I just pass the clothespins on to someone else?

After making these two, I am of the opinion that someone else can have the clothespins. I am not sure which garage sale I picked them up at.

I used to use real ones. These are made for crafts and I definitely don't like them as well.

Anyway, let's do it. I had already painted faces on these. They are basically a simple eye nose mouth combination, done with a extra fine Sharpie. Then colored in with colored pencils.

The hair is simply pearl cotton. For the bangs, I cut pieces about 1/2" long and laid six over glue on the forehead. Then I laid long strands across her head, until I filled it all in. The other one just has short pieces laid across the head and glued down.

The arms are done one of two ways. I prefer drilling a hole through the shoulder of the clothes pin. If you don't have a drill you can use the wrap and glue method shown on the left.

Here's a side view of the long hair. It was divided in half, braided and tied at the ends.

The curls are done around toothpicks and sprayed with hairspray.

I had to dress the one with curls before I could add them.

I made the hands with some natural colored leather, but you could do it with fabric if you don't have leather.

The sleeves are simply rectangles long enough to cover the arms and a little added for the glued hem. I wrapped them around the arm and glued the top edge to the clothespin. Overlapping the front over the back.

The skirt is a rectangle as long as you want it to be plus hem. It's 5 or 6 inches wide. On the blue one, I sewed the back seam. The pink one is totally glued. Even the gathers at the top were simply pleated with glue.

The bodice is a rectangle with hems on all four sides and a slit cut up the back, with a hole for the head.

After you get the dress constructed, simply decorate it the way you want to. Then you can finish the curls by cutting them in about 1/2" lengths and glue them around the head vertically.

Tessie wandered in about the time I finished making them. She named them Nancy and Jane....Then proceeded to box their ears for not talking to her. For some reason, she seems to think that, if it's shaped like a person, it should act like a person.

I am now cleaning up and getting ready for an invasion of witches.

See you tomorrow.