This week, Roy decided he would like to make a toy. He has recently made lots of new friends, who have just started school, and they are very interested in toys, especially old fashioned toys. So, Roy thought it would be nice to show these new friends how to make an old fashioned toy. He had lots of grand ideas, but I suggested trying something simpler, like a dolly peg doll. Dolly peg dolls were a popular toy in the 1900s, made from a clothes peg and scraps of material. They were cheap and could be made with materials which were readily available, and as clothes were often homemade, often already lying around the house. Roy loved this idea and immediately went to examine the peg dolls I made when I was little. He really liked the clothing on two dolls in particular and decided he would like to show his friends how to recreate it. So this week, Roy Creates Dolly Peg Dolls.
- Wooden clothes pegs (dolly pegs). These are available from craft shops
- Stiff cardboard
- Paint and paintbrushes or coloured pens
- Off cuts of material or felt. Roy likes using felt because it doesn't fray.
- Glue
- Pipe cleaners
- Scissors
- Wool
- Buttons, sequins and ribbon to decorate
Method:
- Start by making a few stands for your dollys. You can use these to hold your dolls while they dry. To make these stands, fold a stiff piece of cardboard in half and then fold the two loose ends upwards. Flatten these ends out and you should have a stand which looks like the one above. You can put the pegs over the middle section which stands up.
- Using material or felt, make your dolly peg some clothes.
To make a girl: Trace a circle onto one piece of felt and a rectangle onto the other. Cut both shapes out. Now, cut a small hole in the centre of the circular piece. Slip this circle onto the peg as a skirt and glue it in place. Now, wrap the rectangular piece around the 'torso' of the peg, overlapping the ends, as in the photo above. Glue this in place.
To make a boy: Trace two rectangles onto the felt, one narrower than the other. Cut both out. Wrap the wider one around and between the dolly peg 'legs' (a flat bladed knife may be useful to push the felt between the 'legs') to make a pair of pants and glue into place. Wrap the narrower one around the 'torso' of the peg to make a top. Glue this into place.
- Put your dolls onto the stands and allow the clothing to dry.
- Wrap a pipe cleaner around the dolly peg's 'neck' and shape the ends into arms and hands, as in the photos below.
- Now, use the wool to make some hair. Style it as you like and glue it in place. Alternately, use pens or paint.
- Put your dolls back onto the stands and allow the hair to dry.
- Glue buttons or sequins onto the clothes if you would like to decorate them.
- Again, allow the glue to dry.
- Now, use paint or pens to add a face and shoes to your dolly
- Leave the dolls to completely dry.
- Enjoy. You can make a whole family or anything you like - let your imagination run wild!