Creating Stencil Outfits

I'm hoping to get this post up before the storms hit & potentially knock out the power....!!

Today we're going over how to make outfits to go with the stencil doll we made in the last lesson.  The outfits utilize the same technique as the doll, so we won't go into details that we've already covered.

Materials list:
- Doll from previous lesson
- Pencil and eraser
- Cardstock in any light color OR outfit templates printed on cardstock
- Glue, glue sticks, or double stick tape
- Lots of pretty papers

You can use either the doll template or the final doll from the previous lesson for this step.  Take you doll and trace it out on light colored cardstock.  These will become stencils to use on the fancy papers.  Alternately, you could use outfit templates and print them out on cardstock.  Either will work.

If you choose to print out templates, you can skip ahead.  If you're drawing on cardstock, take the previous traced images and draw clothing.  I made a shirt template, a skirt template, and a pants template.  Remember to draw tabs!

Cut out your stencils.  On the reverse side of the paper, place your stencil and trace it.  Make sure your template is flipped over so that when you cut the outfit out it's correct.

This image shows the paper cut out.  I cut two of the skirt in order to make a pleated skirt.

To make a pleated skirt, cut out two of the skirt template.  One is solid with no tabs and the other has had skinny triangles cut out.

Take the cut skirt and glue it on top of the solid skirt template.  And there's a pleated skirt!

Here's a skirt and pants.  I used a rough blue paper to simulate jeans.  And the top looks belted because of the patterned paper.

Here's the top & skirt.  Templates like these are very flexible.  Just changing the type of paper can give a simple template a very different look.  Cutting and layering can also add a lot of interest.  You could also paint or draw details.  Even sew thread through the paper!  Glue ribbons, sequins, etc.

This would be a really fun project for a Girl Scout troop or rainy Sunday.  I'd love to see the dolls people come up with!

Next week we'll take a look at acrylic paints.  I grabbed a great set at Hobby Lobby this week at a great price so watch for that.

And another doll on Friday!