How to craft a mop and bucket for your 18" dolls...

This pet dog above is watching his mistress mop up his muddy paw prints on the
kitchen tile floors!

 

       To make this mop and bucket set you will need the following supplies: cardboard tube, grey and  yellow paints, white school glue, scrap cardboard, natural looking yarn, green embroidery floss, a dowel rod, hot glue gun and glue stick.

• See the utility supplies in Barbie's utility cabinet here

Left, the yarn is wrapped around a 3" length of scrap cardboard until it is very thick. Center,
Use an embroidery needle and floss to sew the lengths together across the top of the card
before you ever remove the mop head from it. (I used a blanket stitch for this.) Right,
sew a second seam using a straight stitch across the yarn top approximately
 1/4 inch below the top seam.

Step-by-Step Instructions for The Mop:

1. Decide in advance how long you will need your doll's mop to be and cut this length from a dowel rod. 
2. The finished mop head will be approximately three additional inches in length. However, that means that these lengths are actually double that length because the mop head is wrapped around a piece of cardboard. (see photo above.)
3. Don't remove the yarn loops from the cardboard until these are sewn together across the top using an embroidery needle and floss. Then remove the card.
4. Sew a second seam in a straight stitch 1/4" below the top stitch if you wish. (optional step)
5. Take your scissors and cut the loops across the bottom.
6. Now you will need to apply hot glue to the end of the dowel and roll the mop head around it's tip. 
7. You may also need to squeeze extra hot glue into the interior of some of the mop head to secure it more to the stick. If your yarn is thick like mine, you won't even see this extra glue.
8. Paint the dowel yellow. (optional)
9. Braid an additional loop as a handle for holding and hot glue this to the top of the mop stick. 
10. Wrap and glue a thinner piece of embroidery floss around the loop's ends to finish the mop neatly.

The finished mop for an 18" doll measures 11 1/4 inches.

I recycled a tube and cap from  Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls with Icing dough pack to make this large
 mop bucket for the dolls to use along with the mop. As you can see, I glued a faux water paper
inside the tube and the bottom as well. I also painted the outside of the bucket grey and twisted
a wire into each side of the bucket so that a doll could carry it.