Personalized "Paper" Dress-Up Doll

Show of hands- who played with paper dolls when they were younger?  I loved paper dolls.  As I have grown, my love for them hasn't quite disappeared and I use any opportunity I can to make or play with them again.  When I worked as a traveling social worker, I purchased a set of magnetic dress up dolls (at the dollar store!) for my 'kids' to play with in the car.  You might also remember a post from 2014 where I created felt dress up dolls for a little girl I know who was going through cancer treatments.

See the details and get the tutorial for the felt dress up doll HERE.


I had almost forgotten about another dress up doll I made until my 2 year old son found it and has been obsessed every since.  It's seriously his new favorite thing to play and I think it makes it extra fun for him that the "doll" is actually his mommy!

I made this Velcro "paper" (photo) doll back in 2006 for my Consumer Clothing notebook as part of one of my 4-H projects.  I wanted to demonstrate the different ways my consumer clothing outfit could be worn with other articles of clothing that I owned.  This idea was very popular in the project in our county and state level and apparently has also won over the heart of my toddler.

What makes this project so special is that your child (or students, or whoever!) can dress up mommy or daddy, grandma, friends or even themselves!  It is also very inexpensive to make and would make for an awesome personalized gift that they are sure to treasure.


Here's how you make it:

Step 1: Pick out several outfits that include a shirt, pants/skirts and shoes.  Include some dresses, hats or other accessories for extra fun!

Step 2: Set up a timed camera or have someone else take photos of you in each outfit.  Make sure you are standing in the exact same spot and position for each photo.  It doesn't matter that your pieces match in the photos because you will be cutting them apart anyways.

Step 3: Take 1 photo of yourself in a swimsuit.  I mean, you could take one nude but I'm not sure you want that floating around as your kid plays with it!  haha This will serve as the "bare model" that can be dressed in different outfits.  You could also use other pieces of clothing as long as it wouldn't "stick out" past any of the outfits that are being dressed on top of it.

{I must really love sharing my crafts with you or I would never post this photo on the world wide web! Eek!}

Step 4: Print your photos and carefully cut around each piece of clothing. [My favorite places to print photos are Shutterfly.com or if you need them quickly, your local CVS.]

*Feel free to check out a list of my favorite crafting resources here*

Step 5 (Optional): Glue the doll to a scrapbook paper, board or whatever you want as your background piece.  If you wish to keep the doll loose that should be fine too.


Step 6: Attach sticky Velcro dots to the back of each article of clothing (you may have to cut them down for the shoes or other small accessories) and to the front of your doll.  If you are using a board/paper background, include Velcro pieces to hold all the items of clothing. Make sure you use the different "sides" of Velcro so that the clothing sticks to the doll/background.

{You can see how I used the Velcro dots behind the shoes.  Ignore the missing white flip flop and pen marks.  That's what happens when you give it to a toddler!}

{He loves it!}

That's it!  
Get as creative as you want with the board design and with how many outfit options you have.  I think it would be fun to even have other scenery like your pet, or household items that can be used to "decorate" the room/back board.  Go crazy and get creative!