Monday Makery - Kate & Wills Peg Dolls & Union Jack Flag

In the spirit of the Kate & Wills wedding excitement that is gripping most of the nation, of course we had to do a Royal Monday Makery.

Carla made some lovely Peg Dolls a while back.  Following this original Peg Dolls 'How to' I couldn't resist making a Wedding Day Kate & Will.  My 3 year old boy wasn't very interested in the Peg Doll making apart from being my glue dabber, so I set him up with an easier little project of his own - a Mosaic Union Jack flag made with lots of cut pieces of coloured paper.

Carla has a fantastic long kitchen table which is perfect for craft sessions and it kept us very busy on Easter Sunday (in between nibbling chocolate!)

Here's what you'll need for the Wedding Couple Peg Dolls:

• good old fashioned clothes pegs
• scraps of fabric, paper and napkins - kitchen roll was used to make the dress!
• wool
• PVA glue
• felt tipped pens
• scissors

Making a Kate Middleton Peg Doll:

1. Starting with the bare peg doll draw on the face with pens or pencils. 
2. For the bodice of the wedding dress use a piece of cotton fabric or paper glued around the top of the peg doll.
3. For Kate's dress I used a humble piece of kitchen towel but a paper doilly or other fabric would be lovely.  Make a circle and cut a line through to the centre. Make a wide cone by twisting the circle and sticking the 2 cut sides together.  If you snip the pointed end of the cone you then get a hole in which to put the peg doll through and glue at the 'waist' - hey presto the dress!
4. For the hair wool is ideal.  Cut long lengths of wool and glue across the head. The wool hair can then be snipped and styled.  With extra glue dabbed on top you can pile up the hair on top into a loose bun style - not sure how Kate will be wearing her hair on the day!
5. Extra things to add:  a white piece of wool for a hairband, a pink paper flower and a piece of lace at the waist.  

Now she'll need a Prince...a future King no less!

Making a Prince William Peg Doll

1. Start in the same way, drawing on eyes, nose, mouth and ears. Hair can also be done with colouring pens or pencils which works well for men with less hair!
2. The RAF uniform was made of blue paper.  Cut 2 rectangles to make 2 tubes that make the trousers - to be glued around each prong of the peg.  Cut another rectangular piece of paper for the jacket - wrap around the body and glue in place.  The detail of the uniform - pockets, collar and tie - can be added by pen.
3. For the sash a piece of ribbon is ideal.

Here they are - what a romantic pair!

Mosaic Union Jack Flag

Flag making is a simple craft that involves paper, scissors and glue.  To make it a bit more interesting I cut up the red and blue paper into lots of pieces to make the flag in a mosaic style.

The only tricky bit was remembering how the flag is structured but google helped and we were able to read about the history of the flag too.

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This is part of our Monday Makery series of blog posts where we bring you craft ideas and recipes.

If you have any inspiring ideas for a guest blog post please do contact us

Monday Makery - Peg Dolls

Peg dolls are a wonderful traditional part of childhood creativity. People have been making them for such a long time. Not only are they great fun to make but children will play for hours with them afterwards. I remember making these peg dolls when I was young and I think its one of those creative pleasures that will always be enjoyed.
You don't need much to get started and there are endless possibilities in the way of fashion, hairstyles and faces. You can add fairy wings using felt or card sprinkled with glitter , pirates in paper hats, make woolen pompoms for colourful tutu's, add moustaches and glasses simply with felt tip pens. Children will love being able to appoint different characters to the pegs using scraps of fabric and imagination. You can add arms. though I've always preferred the simple lines with no awkard looking pipe-cleaner limbs. If your children are too young to be able to co-ordinate wrapping wool, fixing with glue and cutting fabric then let them paint or colour them with pens instead. Its great to use lots of different materials and you'll be surprised how easily the pegs become characters with colour.

Here's what you'll need:

• good old fashioned clothes pegs
• scraps of fabric
• wool
• PVA glue
• felt tipped pens
• scissors

Here's how to get started:

Making a female peg doll.

1. Starting with the bare body draw on faces to the bobbly head. If you'd like to draw on shoes add them to the end of the prongs.
2. Take a piece of fabric and cut a 3in x 8 in (8cm x 20cm) rectangle. Using a little glue half way down the peg wrap the fabric around the middle of the peg gathering it to make a skirt.
3. Take a length of wool and tie it around the top of the skirt to hold it in place and tie a knot.
4. Keep wrapping the wool around the upper body of the peg towards the head and fix it in place with a dab of glue. You may need to hold it in place until the glue is dry but impatience often lends itself to a heavy book leaning on top!
5. Now she's dressed its time to make her hair. To make curly locks wrap loops of wool around your fingers, tie in the middle with a short piece of wool and cut the ends. Make your loops longer or shorter depending on the hairstyle desired. 
6. Secure the hair in place with a little glue and hey presto your first peg doll!

Now she'll need a friend

Making a male peg doll:

1. Start in the same way, drawing on eyes, nose, mouth and a moustache or beard if it tickles your fancy!
2. Starting from the centre of the peg wrap the wool around the peg moving towards the feet, again securing the begining of the wool with a little PVA glue. Continue wrapping the wool down one 'leg' to make a trouser leg. Cut the wool at the end and glue the end in place. Continue wrapping the woolen trousers down the other prong gluing the begining and the end of the wool in place each time.
3. Finally this gentleman needs hair! Make curls using the same technique as before or cut short pieces of wool and glue to the top of his handsome head. Alternatively you could give him a rather dashing gelled look by using felt tipped pens to create his hair. 
4. If you'd like your little man attire to be a little smarter a piece of wool tied around his neck fastened in a bow looks very fine or a bright fabric cumberband adds a dashing splash of colour!

Now they're ready to play. A shoe box house is the perfect place for them to turn into a home and they make great characters for puppet shows too. If you have a go yourself why not use them as place names, making each doll look like the expected guest. They'll look fabulous pegged onto the lip of a glass on a table or a paper cup at childrens parties.

Have a go and do send us your pictures.