How to Make Cloth Doll Armatures

Measure the height of the doll and add 6 inches. According to Mimi's HandBook for Dollmakers, "Measure out about 3½ feet of wire or twice the height of the doll plus 6 inches. Cut off the measured piece of wire."

Form a U-shape with the wire by aligning the two ends of the wire and squeezing the top portion.

Hold the rounded end of the U-shaped wire in the needle nose pliers and twist until the twisted section is about 5-inches long. Leave the small loop at the top where the pliers were.

Measure from the top of the twisted wire down about 2 to 3 inches. Mark a dot at this spot with a permanent marker. The wire will be inserted here.

Measure 24 inches of wire and cut it with the wire cutters. Gently fold the wire in half to determine the center and mark a dot at this point with a permanent marker.

Insert the wire through the small loop at the top of the twisted wire, threading the wire through the loop until the marker dot indicating the center of the wire is reached. Twist the wire around the loop so both ends of the wire form a triple twist at the top. Pull the arm wire ends out horizontally, as if the doll were spreading her arms wide.

Use the pliers to pull out the remaining two ends of the twisted U into another U- or V-shape.

Insert the armature into the cloth doll body through an open slot in the doll's back or through the open crown of the head. Work the leg wires into the empty doll legs and the arm wires into the empty doll arms.

Use an unsharpened pencil to poke the stuffing down into the feet of the doll, and around the leg armatures, fill the body, and stuff the arms around the armatures. Continue stuffing and completing the cloth doll.