Painted Fabric Dolls

July 22, 2012
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21 comments

I finally tried painting fabric and made some simple little dolls. Last night I laid out a few scraps of muslin and the non-toxic acrylic paints I always use for kids stuff. (See my favorite tools page if you’d like.) I kept the paint pretty watered down so it soaked into the fabric. It was fun experimenting with different designs. At the end, I decided to make a tiny worm shape, because baby E likes small things. (You can barely see it gripped in her little hand in the photo.) Then this morning I cut some fabric for the backs of the dolls and sewed them together and stuffed them. It was super fast.

It might be cool to make a big sofa pillow this way. Or even paint a t-shirt. I’ll have to see how it washes over time. I remember some of you having good tips on fabric painting. Feel free to comment if you have ideas!

You can buy supplies for this project below! (Made by Joel Shop is powered by The Saturday Market Project)

21 Responses
  1. Sally

    Cute! I’ve been meaning to make some similar dolls for my girls but just never seem to have the time. I’m going to get my five year to paint/draw the dolls onto fabric (calico or something similar) and then I’ll stitch them up. The cushion idea is also on my (very long!) list of this to make one day :) I like using Pentel Fabric Fun Pastel Dye Sticks as my daughter can draw with them easily on fabric and the colour stays really well after many washes. We made t-shirts with my daughter’s drawings over a year ago and the colour still looks just as bright as the day we made them. You can see her t-shirts here: http://littlehiccups.blogspot.com/2011/05/colour-me-in.html

  2. Pete

    These guys are super rad. I love the one in the middle with the rothkoesque ( is that a word) belly. My wife has done some cool fabric painting using stencils we made out of freezer paper. Will have to dig out some photos and post back.
    Very cool man. Thanks

  9. Tanja

    Great dolls!
    My aunt made me a gorgeous doll when I was little – she mixed paint with a little bit of clay to paint the face and the hands and feet.