Dolly DIY - Foam Sueding

Next year I am aiming to be much more crafty than I have been this year, and I hope to be doing posts on here to show you simple things to make for your dolls.

I am starting off with something that I have actually done for quite a few of my dolls now and its not really for them as such, but it may help make them more manageable and playable for you ;)

I have been having trouble with one of my BJD dolls lately. She is a 26cm Momocolor Michelle and I have been having difficulty with her posing and stability since I got her. It might not be a problem for some people, but I am notoriously fussy when it comes to my BJD's. I need them stable and their posing has to be good. I've been too spoilt by Fairyland unfortunately. I have had a lot of dolls from different companies, and indeed, I still have some non-fairyland dolls, but the majority of dolls that pass through my door from other companies do not end up staying very long because I can't get on with their posing etc.



However, I have been persevering with Hush (my momocolor girl) because she is impossibly beautiful, she is YOSD size, and she has tan skin (all major plus points!). Until Fairyland release tan Littlefee, I have been forced to go elsewhere for a tan yosd! When she first arrived her posing wasn't too bad, but she's loosened up a bit now and I'm finding her tricky, especially to stand her up, so rather than re-string her or hot glue suede her (which are both things I don't really want to try), I have foam sueded her legs instead. Its easy, and cheap, and works fairly well.

Foam sueding? What's that, you ask? Well. This is something I did a lot when I had Pullip and Dal dolls on obitsu bodies, but on their torsos. I applied the same concept for Hush but for her legs. Basically, you cut a circle of foam, put it in the leg sockets on her torso, and hey presto, your dolly stands better than she did before.

Here is a little picture guide to show you how its done =)

Step 1: You will need your doll (duh!), scissors, and some thing craft foam (the kind kids use for making pictures etc.). The good thing about craft foam is its really cheap, and you can get it in different colours. I got mine in a pack from Poundland.

Step 2: Cut out a square (ish, lol), and then cut out a circle from the square that looks like approximately the right size to fit in your dolls leg sockets. No need to be neat! I wasn't, as you can see! And you don't have to cut out a square and then a circle. You can go straight to the circle if you want, I just find it easier to cut the circle out from a smaller piece of foam ;)

Step 3: Now you need to cut a slit from the edge of your circle to the middle and cut a small hole in the centre, so you end up with something like this. Again, no need to be neat!

Step 4: Pull your doll's leg out a bit, and slip the foam circle into the socket around the string (so the string is through the hole in the middle of the circle and the circle is sort of wrapped around it).

Step 5: Do the same steps for the other leg, stand your dolly up and your done! The foam just stops the legs sliding around in the sockets so easily and makes standing a lot easier. Its not perfect, but it does the job! The same process could be used in arm sockets etc. but it seems to work best on the legs.

Step 6: If you are bothered by that sort of thing, you might want to trim your circles so they don't show like one of mine is here, but I don't really care about that as it will be covered up by clothing most of the time.

Now this may not work on all dolls, but it has worked nicely for Hush. All you can do is try it and see what happens. Its not going to be en expensive experiment so worth a try in my opinion ;)