It’s been a long time since I swapped on Swap-bot but this month I joined an art doll swap for twins and made these brother and sister acrobats.

There was a lot involved in their making but I sloshed together a video to summarize as much as I could. (The tools and supplies list is further down in this blog post.)

They were a bit challenging to make but are fun to pose. I hope my swap partner enjoys them.

Tools and Materials used in this project:

Fabrics Used – all fabrics are from thrift store garments: Face fabric – made from a linen skirt Hand fabric – nude stretchy tank top Body fabric – made from silk shirts in pink and aqua Striped tights – from a striped knit skirt

Doll hair – mohair yarn from Acorns & Twigs (color = Sandy blonde)

ruffled elastic and velvet trims – Hobby Lobby & Micheal’s craft stores

head body and leg wire – .13″ armature wire from Micheal’s arm wires – .07″ armature wire from Micheal’s finger wire – beige pipe cleaners from Hobby Lobby

Stabilizers – I’m using machine embroidery stabilizers as my interfacings or inside linings for the dolls. I used cut-away embroidery stabilizer from Thread Art when I made these dolls but these days I prefer this thinner Mesh stabilizer because it’s strong and thinner which makes the turning process much easier. The hands and wig seam used this Tearaway stabilizer from Thread Art {amazon links}

Tools: sewing machine, hemostats, scissors, etc Check out my list of favorite dollmaking tools on Amazon

stuffing – polyfil or old pillows can be used for stuffing. Make sure you wash in hot water and run through the dryer before using old pillows.

thread – most of my thread is multi-purpose in the sewing machine but for hand sewing dolls I prefer a heavier thread like a button/craft thread or even upholstery thread.

Face design – Created from one of my machine embroidery designs that I digitized from faces I drew by hand. One day I might make those embroidery files available if there is interest but for now they’re part of my private stash of doll faces. Eye color was added with a light blue Copic alcohol marker.