Santos China Doll Tutorial

Do you love Santos dolls as much as I do?  Every since scoring my first reproduction Santos doll a few years ago (see her transformation here), I've been on the hunt for more.  But they are expensive - even many of the reproductions.  Not long ago, I happened across an upper body of a china doll on Ebay.  The wheels started turning...and I got the idea to use her for a homemade Santos cage doll.  I wanted it to be an easy project and it was!  (of course, after some missteps which I learned from along the way)
Here is my finished doll....and a tutorial for you!!!

Crown creation by talented Amy

This is the vintage china doll piece I found on Ebay:

She was a curious find - someone had sewn her upper body to a circle of cardboard.  Perhaps this person originally had a similar project in mind?
I got the idea to attach this cardboard base to a 'cage' in order to create my own Santos cage doll.
I decided to mimic the base that is on the Santos cage doll I already owned, formed of simple hollow circles.  What better choice to use for this than wood embroidery hoops?  I bought two sets of hoops large enough to hold my doll.  The top hoop is 5" diameter and the bottom hoop is 8" diameter.  I also bought a 7" diameter flat wood circle.  These all came from AC Moore craft store.
As you can see in the following photo, I chose to remove the outer circle (with the tightening screw) from the large hoop.  I left the outer circle on the smaller embroidery hoop for added stability on the top (plus I knew the screw wouldn't be seen in the back).

First I glued the flat wood circle evenly onto the smaller embroidery hoop (sorry, didn't take a photo of that).  You can choose to do this now, or wait until after you've attached your slats to the hoops.

Next I needed wood slats for the 'cage'.  I bought three 24" x 1/2" wood slats, also at the craft store.  I sawed each in half to be lengths of 12".  (You may find these in lengths of 12" at the store.  I bought them longer, not knowing how tall I wanted my cage just yet).  Sand the sawed edges for smoothness.

Here's where I made my first 'misstep'.  I attempted to glue these slats to each embroidery hoop, evenly spacing them around both the large and small hoops.  The glue didn't hold well and the structure was a bit wonky.  So....brads to the rescue!  These are 5/8" long brads I found at the scrapbooking section of the craft store:

I drilled 6 small holes evenly spaced around each embroidery hoop, and the top and bottom of each wood slat.  Then I fastened each brad through both the wood slat and the hoop.  Here is the finished wood structure, which is much more stable:

Next I painted the whole wood structure a creamy white (except the top of the circle, which I knew would be covered).
Here is a closeup of the china doll as she was attached to the cardboard.  Since I found my doll this way, I didn't have to do anything here.  But if you find or already have a china doll (or parts), you can have fun with re-structuring her.  This would be a great way to recycle an old doll whose legs have detached.  Simply sew on the cloth body to a sturdy cardboard circle.

I trimmed my doll's cardboard circle to exactly fit my flat wood circle on the top of the cage structure.  Next, I wrapped a circle of muslin fabric around the cardboard.  I simply placed the doll on top of the fabric and gathered it up around her bodice, gluing it in place.  Then I glued the bottom of the doll to my wood circle on the cage:

So here she is, assembled and in her simple state.  I placed her against my dining room wall with a stenciled crown above, giving her an aura of royalty:

Okay friends, here comes the fun part - fancying her up!  I wanted her to have the option of wearing a gathered white tulle skirt when she feels like it (she'll let me know).  I gathered up soft crushed tulle on my sewing machine, measuring the height of the cage and about 2-3 times the length of her waistline:

I simply set the skirt around her waist:

This china doll needed a bit of 'fancy' up top, so I decided to add ruffles to her neck and elbows (where the fabric seam met the porcelain arms).  I had some white crepe paper lying around, which I stained with tea and crinkled up to look aged:

I measured out various lengths of the crepe paper - two pieces at 3 times the length around her elbow and one piece 3 times the length around her neck.  I folded each piece in half lengthwise:

Next I gathered up a loose seam down the center of each piece on the sewing machine:

I carefully gathered the crepe paper by pulling gently on the threads at each end.  The resulting gathered piece is shown:

I gently tied each of these gathered crepe paper pieces around the elbows and neck of my doll, using the loose threads to tie with.  You could also hot-glue these pieces in place, but I know this may be a seasonal look for my doll (she'll demand a change of outfits in the future, I'm sure):

Voila!  She's done (for now).  Here's my Santos china doll, wearing a regal crown made by the talented Amy of Vintage Marketplace.

And here she is again, with a simpler look sans skirt:

I do hope this tutorial inspired you to go out and make one for yourself.
Be creative - we're never too old to play with dolls.  I'm already dreaming up ideas for her Christmas attire - miniature bells, a banner for her hands to hold, some sparkle...such fun!

If I find more of these dolls, I'll be sure to make some for my Etsy shop!

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