2018 #10 Paper Dolls: Lets play Dress Up! with JoFY {by Jo Firth-Young}

2018 Topic 10: Paper Dolls

Always one to think outside the box, this time our own Jo has opened a box from a bygone era and created a lovely new JoFY world....take a look! Jo clearly could be a clothing and stamp designer! And now I know why she sent her Dad into the loft to find her Cindy doll's wardrobe! ~ Leandra 

 

Hi everyone, it's Jo Firth-Young with you today with you my project for the 'Paper Dolls' topic.

For me 'paper dolls' brings to mind the paper dolls printed onto card (or heavyweight paper) that you would cut out and assemble along with their clothes to dress them up, and that's what has inspired this fun project... and as soon as I first heard 'paper dolls' I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to make:  a doll dressed up in clothes made using JOFY stamps.  The hardest part of the project was narrowing down which stamps to use! 

First things first - I needed a body to dress up and wanted it to have adjustable body parts so I searched on the internet and found a suitable one on Pinterest. The one I chose is by Kimberly Crick (www.TheEnchantedGallery.com) and she allows her design to be used for craft projects (its always best to check that).  I amended that doll on the computer so that only her arms were adjustable, and resized her to suit my requirements.

To keep the doll lightweight but quite sturdy I mounted her onto 2 layers of cardboard - a repurposed cereal box was ideal.

I wanted to make a variety of outfits for my doll - or Maddy the Mannequin as I started to call her - and this was relatively easy because she is flat and has a simple shape.  I wanted to create clothes using my stamps - either as the shape (template) or as embellishments for the clothes.

The first set of clothes I made for Maddy was created using the vase from JOFY23.  Previously I had seen someone online use the vase as a dress on a card (!!) (sorry, I can't remember where I saw this) and it this inspired me.... but Maddy is bigger than the vase so alterations needed to be made.

I stamped the dress form onto green paper several times and cut both top to bottom so I could piece them together to make a wider dress. 

I added a patterned panel too for interest and to match her hat which I created from the flower on JOFY31.

I thought the finished look was quite 1920s flapper girl! lol especially with the feathers/leaves running around the hem of the skirt!

Next I wanted to design bespoke pieces.  I found the easiest was to create clothes for Maddy was to use HER as the pattern for her clothes. I did this by laying her onto the papers I was using and drawing shapes around her.

I wanted to create a long skirt (the photo above shows me sketching the shape) with flowers around the bottom...

I chose the leaves from JOFY33 because I thought they'd look lovely growing UP from the hemline of the skirt.

I added a 'stitched' scallop border along the bottom edge (JOFY31) & coloured the pattern with pencils.

I drew around Maddy's torso to create a bustier top to go with the skirt - and this photo illustrates perfectly what I mentioned earlier about the body 'needing' adjustable/position-able arms!

Maddy is purely a body to show off the clothes I was making so I haven't given her a proper face, but I felt I should protect her modesty, lol, so I sketched on underwear - really easy to do by again following the lines of her body... (and this made it easier for me to visualise where clothes would sit on the body)

Here is the finished outfit - I call this the 'Fairytale Princess' outfit!  

Even though Maddy is just a body it was hard not to give her a personality! I began to imagine why she needed the clothes I was making! 

Here she is in her bedroom choosing what to wear next.  The trousers and top are separates (I think a 1950's circular or pencil skirt would look nice with this top but I'll save that for another time.)

The top and trousers are the first items I made patterns for and I'm glad I did as it means I can use them again to create similar items. 

You can see the stamp I used for the 'fabric' on the trousers (JM57)

I created this by stamping the image repeatedly on a plain piece of scrapbook paper and laying the trouser pattern on top - just as you would with a dressmaking pattern. I cut out a spare flower to use as a corsage.

I think this is my favourite ensemble - I'm calling it an 'ensemble' because its more than just an outfit/ a dress! It's a capsule wardrobe all in one - something for any social occasion! lol (also if I saw the dress below on a rack in a clothes shop I would definitely buy it! lol)

It has several elements and they all mix and match - and that's the nice part about creating your own items - you can have whatever you want and they be multipurpose - such as the removable corsage can also be worn as a fascinator... (created with two flowers cut from JM57)

Its a lovely basic dress which can be dressed up with a hat and worn to a wedding, or Ladies day at the Races:

The hat is created with a flower stem from JOFY35...

If the occasion required it.. perhaps a cruise where cocktail and evening dresses are required - then this dress has the answer: an additional peplum skirt which wraps around to a tiered train at the back!!

The train was created by stamping many flower heads (JOFY35) onto pink paper, cutting them out and gluing them to a skirt base which was the same shape as the dress.  

The peplum skirt is created on a band that wraps around Maddy's waist and secures at the back. 

The original paper dolls had clothes which were held in place by paper tabs - I remember having one of these dolls and never found the tabs very successful so this time I chose something a bit more adaptable/versatile - bluetac!

I placed a small amount of blutac on Maddy's body and tiny pieces on each of the items of clothing.  This means that they are easy to swap and change, and more importantly are secure.

The final set of clothes I made was an appliqued skirt and matching strappy top.

I drew a template for the skirt with two length options as to start with I wasn't sure which I would choose... and when I'd made my decision I cut it out and cut it again from pink scrapbook paper.

The top was adapted from the black top I'd previously made and had a template for. That garment fitted Maddy and so it makes sense that this would too.

I wanted the skirt to have BIG applique flowers, so stamped the flower on JM59...

... onto the background and on to patterned papers from my stash (I chose a 6x6in paper pad to keep the patters small and to scale as much as possible).

The flowers were cut out and paper-pieced on to the skirt (after I had stamped spots (from the same mini stamp set) on to the skirt) and finished off with white gel pen and self adhesive gems.  I also added 2 layers of tissue paper to resemble netting underskirts.

Oh my goodness!  I had so much fun creating the clothes for this project - it was hard to stop - I still have lots of ideas running around my head!

I hope its inspired you to download a bodyform and give it a go - Maddy and all her clothes are just made out of paper and card so there's nothing to lose!
Of course its not just JOFY stamps you could use to create the clothes and 'fabrics' PaperArtsy has lots of lovely texture stamps to choose from.

Go on, give it a go!

Jo
x

blog: www.jofy.co.uk
Twitter: @jofyjo
Instagram: @jofyjo
Pinterest: @jofyjo

I'll be teaching here in the next few months:

09.June.2018  Keep on Crafting, Bury St Edmunds  Loving Life Canvas Workshop
30.June.2018  Birds in the Barn/Studio 36  Card Making workshops - AM & PM 
07.July.2018  Loobi Crafts, Leighton Buzzard  Loving Life Canvas Workshop

We always hope that you  learn something interesting from our blog. 

Our creative team love to read your comments so much, so please take time to let them know you've been inspired!  

You must complete step 1 AND 2 to be entered into the draw. 

To join our challenge:
1. Leave a comment on the Topic Introduction Post and go in the draw to win a PaperArtsy Apron. 
2. Make something arty relevant to the topic, and link your creation from any social URL (eg. Instagram, Pinterest, Blog Post etc) sharing your original make to this challenge page 

The current topic link Topic 10: Paper Dolls will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, June 17th 2018, and the winner will be announced 1 hour later at 18:00, because we have some new product announcements starting at 19:00.