Camp Amberama: Make your own Ugly Doll

H loves to create things. She's constantly in our art loft making bookmarks, drawing pictures or creating various pieces of art in her little space. She loves the idea of taking "blank canvases" and making them into something interesting or creative. I have to admit, I love that about her. During a cloudy afternoon last week, we declared it Art Day and made our own Ugly Dolls.

If you don't know what Ugly Dolls are, they're these little fuzzy felt dolls that are, well... ugly. H has several of them and loves them. Given that neither of us has any real sewing skills, (I can hand stitch, but I'm clueless with a machine) I thought that we could make our own. The uglier, the better and cuter.... and our lack of ability could only be in our favor. They turned out pretty cute. I must say, I was very proud of H's sewing skills. I showed her the stitches to make, and she sewed them like a pro. Not bad work at all...especially for a 9 year old first timer!

The best part of these dolls is that they're made from pants legs. We repurposed old jeans from Goodwill into the body of these dolls. The two sturdy side seams helped with the construction. The pockets add extra decoration to the face. The only other things added were scraps of ribbon and extra buttons! We loved this project!

H with one of her "real" ugly dolls. The next pic shows the opposite side of it.

silly girl

Jeans from Goodwill. I like to think we did someone a service by making these jeans impossible to wear! Yikes!

Ribbon and Buttons

hard at work

the face of my doll is finally coming together

getting the hang of it

this is serious business

the finished product. H's is a dog and mine is a lion.

Horrible pic of me, but here's the final product of us and our dolls!