Felt, Duck Tape, Staples, and Style!

Tomorrow we are having a Style A Doll Art Camp at The Big Red Barn. We aren't a big "American Girl Family" here, but my daughter does have two Our Generation Dolls from Target and a couple of outfits for each. She likes them, but doesn't play with them very much. I have a feeling that when she sees this project, it will change the game completely. 

I searched and searched for different ideas to include in our camp. I wanted the girls to be able to make and take at least two outfits, plus a couple of accessories for their dolls and some matching things that they could wear to match. I saw Duck Tape dresses, but they just didn't look right. I wanted to do something that would combine the texture of cloth and also take advantage of the convenience and trendiness of Duck Tape. I absolutely love the variety of printed felt that is available at Hobby Lobby and Michaels- and at 50 cents per piece, you can't go wrong! There is also a ton of printed Duck Tape, which you could use for this project with solid or coordinating felt. The sky is the limit! 

I filled up a shopping cart with a variety of patterned felt and grabbed some Duck Tape that would match most of the prints I selected. I'm buying for a dozen girls, so I need to think about feasibility and simplicity. If you are doing this with your child, have them pick what they like best and go from there. 

Here's what you need to get started:

2 Matching Pieces 9" x 12" Felt 

Stapler

Duck Tape to Match (as many colors as you like)

Scissors

Embellishments

Marker or Pencil

Constructing The Skirt

First, trim 2" off the widest side of your felt. This will give you a piece that is approx 12" x 7". If you want a really short skirt, you can trim a little more. Do this for both pieces.  

Next, create gathers/pleats be pinching fabric together, folding to one side, and stapling. Staple close to the top edge, as we don't want to see the staples later on. Make sure that you aren't gathering the fabric too much by checking the width of the skirt against your doll. The top edge should ultimately reach from her left side to her right side. Note: gather the front of the skirt evenly across the waist, but only gather the sides of the back of the skirt (see photo). Later, you will cut the back portion of the skirt down the center and you don't want staples to be in the way. The back portion should be a little wider than the front portion to allow for an overlap later on.

Now, it's time to attach the front of the skirt to the back of the skirt. You could do this with a sewing machine or a needle and thread, but for our purposes, we're going to "sew" it with Duck Tape! Put the front and back portions of the skirt "pretty side to pretty side." Measure a piece of Duck Tape to fit from the waist to the hem and put it on with half of the tape on the felt and the other half over-lapping off of the side. Turn the skirt over, and fold the overlap over to attach to the other side. This should make the front and back pieces connect. Repeat on the other side.

Turn the skirt right-side-out, and you will notice that there is probably a little sliver of Duck Tape showing where the side seam is. You have a few options here, but we are going to use Duck Tape to cover it up and make some side stripes. You can use an entire width of Duck Tape or tear the Duck Tape in half, lengthwise. It's up to you! You can keep it simple and just put the stripes on the side, or you can create a striped skirt and put stripes of tape all around the skirt. It's up to you!

 By now, you should have a skirt that stands up all by itself, as shown above. But, we need to be able to get the dress on and off of our doll, and we need to construct the bodice. Take your scissors and cut down the center of the back of the skirt. You can measure it or eyeball it. Try to cut as straight as you can.

Once you cut the back of the skirt, measure it around your doll to make sure that it will fit. You may need to take out a couple of the gathers in the back (I did!). Your goal is to have the felt go comfortably around the doll and overlap a little bit. 

 Constructing the Bodice

Open up the skirt with the right side up. Measure a length of Duck Tape to span the top edge of the skirt, all the way across (feel free to overlap, just in case- you can always trim it off later). Tape the edge of the Duck Tape over the top edge of the hem, taking care to cover up the staples.

 Leave a portion of the sticky tape showing (as shown in the photo above). Measure another piece of tape the same length, and place it, sticky side to sticky side, on top of the other piece in the same manner. You should now have the felt sandwiched between the two pieces of Duck Tape.

Add another row of Duck Tape to make the bodice.  2 rows should do it. If you don't think it will cover up enough of your doll, measure it against her to make sure. Add as needed.

Style the bodice... I wanted this neckline to be a sweetheart one, so I laid the dress on my doll to get a good idea of proportion and placement of the straps. I placed the straps where I wanted them, but DID NOT tape them on. I marked the sides of the straps and sketched out what I wanted the neckline to look like. The front of the dress is the most important part, so I wanted to make sure that my doll had enough coverage. The sides of the straps showed me where I could begin my "armhole" cut, which I improvised. It's hard to describe, so I'm hoping that the pictures will tell the story. 

This part is important: if you are eyeballing the armhole portion (which in this case isn't really an armhole; it's more of a bodice cut that makes room for the arms and then wraps around the back of the dress) use the piece that you cut from the first side as a pattern for the other side. This will make them even and result in a nicer looking final product.

After I cut my neck and "armholes" I had a little bit of black marker showing. I needed to figure out how to cover it up, so I tore tiny pieces of Duck Tape and overlapped them to give the bodice a sort of "lacy trim" look. I did it on the neckline and down the sides, as shown. I still didn't put the straps on- that's coming next.

 In a none-too-fancy way, I simply took a length of matching felt and laid it inside the dress bodice. I tore off two pieces of Duck Tape to secure it, making sure that it was taped along the edges. The picture shows the inside of the dress. It's okay if it doesn't look perfect... When you look at the outside, it looks like this:

I didn't put the "lacy" trim on the edge of the strap before attaching them, but I suppose you could if you wanted to. I added it afterwards, making sure to do it as neatly as possible. It's okay for it to overlap the felt strap a little bit to help secure the strap. Just use your best judgement and do what looks good to you. 

Finish It Up!

You're almost there! Just lay the dress on your doll and wrap it around her back. Hold the two back pieces together and tape them together with matching Duck Tape. Your dress will easily slide on and off your doll. The felt will overlap, so you don't have to worry about sewing the back together, adding special closures, or anything like that. 

Now, tie the straps and you're all done... Wait, not yet!

Grab some cute stickers, cloth flowers, ribbon, embellishments, contrasting Duck Tape, and add to your creation. I did a simple yellow flower for this one. The girls in camp will also get to make a matching doll barrette and  headband for themselves.

So, there you have it! I hope this project inspires you to create! Feel free to share what you make with me by emailing me at bigredbarn4kids@gmail.com. If you want to do a party featuring this idea and you live near Ponchatoula, LA, visit our website at bigredbarn4kids.com for party information. Thanks!