Doll Dressmaking Tutorial: Creating a Cute Bodice with Elastic

There a number of ways to alter the basic peasant/raglan dress pattern to give it a different look. One is by adding an elastic cinching to the bodice. It makes the dress more fitted and can be used for both creating a modern or a retro look (this was big in the early 70s).

To make this dress you will need to use both the instructions here and some of the instructions in the original raglan blouse tutorial, which is here. 

When you cut out the pieces, you will want to somehow mark where you will place the casing for the bodice elastic. I make small snips where the elastic will hit on the side seams. Pencil makrks within the seam allowance will also work.

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cut and mark bodice casing placement. click to enlarge

Next follow the instructions in the peasant/raglan blouse tutorial: sew the sleeves to the bodice pieces and make the sleeve and neck casings. 

next add the elastic to the sleeve bottoms. DO NOT add elastic to the neck yet. 

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Click to enlarge

Next sew up one side seam.

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side seam

The next few steps involve creating and attaching the casing for the bodice elastic.

1. Cut a strip of fabric 1.25 inches wide and at least the length of the dress.

2. Make narrow machine hems along the long edges of this strip.

3. Pin strip to bodice using your markings.

4. Sew the casing down by stitching along the top and the bottom.

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Creating the bodice casing. Click to enlarge

Next insert elastic and pull to desired length and secure end with machine stitching. For final length I recommend 1 inch longer than your dolls chest measurement. However, your initial piece of elastic can be several inches longer than that.

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Inserting elastic in the bodice casing. Click to enlarge.

Next insert elastic in the neck casing and follow the remaining raglan blouse instructions to complete.

Alison's Purl Soho dresses

A little over a month ago I received six beautiful packets of fabrics and trims from Purl Soho. They knew I donated dolls with clothing sets to children in need. I decided to send the packets to six of my blog readers with my doll dress patterns to see what they came up with.

I put a request in my blog and received over 60 requests from talented and generous readers all willing to take on this sewing challenge. Again, thank you.

 A bunny from Alison's Etsy Shop

Yesterday, I received the first set of doll dresses back and I was blown away. They are gorgeous and so sweet. 

This set was from Alison Castaldo of Windsor New York. Alison is also an Etsy shop owner. She sells adorable stuffed bunnies and stuffed bunny patterns here.

Alison told me a bit about herself, where her artistic eye comes from and how she approached the dress challenge.

"I have BFA in illustration from Moore College of Art & Design. I worked as a freelance illustrator before my current job (technical artist for a denim company.) I really enjoy cute and vintage things, and am a bit obsessed with cats and bunnies (which I'm allergic too, haha). I collect vintage stuffed animal/doll sewing books."

Alison's love of vintage shines through in her dress designs.

"When I first got the packet, I was a little perplexed at the trims included. They weren't trims that I would have thought to use for doll clothes (webbing, rayon hem tape, bias tape, and twill tape) So I approached this like a 'Project Runway' challenge. When it came to sewing the dresses, I decided I wanted to do 4 different ones.

"I cut out all the pieces at the same time. This helps me from waffling my decisions and overthinking my choices. I went a little off road with one pattern  divided the single pleat skirt into multiple small pleats. I was a little nervous when sewing since I normally sew a larger seam allowance and can try things on as I go.

"Overall, I feel that the clothes were quick and easy to sew up. Next time, I'll try sketching out the designs since it's what took the most time!

"The project was a great confidence booster."

I am sending Alison's dresses with a doll to a 4 year old girl in the Family promise Program. I have already told them about the dresses and they wrote that this particular girl will be over the moon about this.

Thank you so much Alison!

Introducing "My First Phoebe"

For a while I've been thinking about creating a Phoebe doll for younger children. A lighter weight doll with simpler hair and clothing, but with the same playful essence. I have been working on this for awhile and those who follow me on Instagram have seen the previews.

Today, I am excited to introduce "My First Phoebe".  She's ready and in my shop and looking forward to finding a new home.

She is made of linen and stuffed with a natural fiber made from corn. She comes with a muslin carrying tote, two dresses, one reversible. An organic cotton knit tank and shorts that can be underwear or pajamas and a great attitude about being kid handled. 

Her clothing closes with velcro to make it easy for little hands. her shoes and undershorts are sewn on so they are never lost.

And best of all, her clothing fits regular Phoebe for when your child is eventually old enough for a big kid doll. 

This one is now listed in my Etsy shop.

My First Phoebe comes with two dresses, one reversible.

My First Phoebe in her reversible dress.

Custom ExtraSmall Phoebe Dolls

It's been a little over two months since I introduced ExtraSmall Phoebe. She's ben so much fun to sew for and so many ExtraSmall Phoebes are now living all over the world. 

A few weeks ago I quietly introduced the ability to create a custom ExtraSmall Phoebe and I have received some wonderful custom requests. These requests help expand my vision of the Phoebe&Egg line. So thank you!

I just wanted to make sure everyone knew about the custom option. At the moment, customs are the same price as the regular dolls, but I will be raising the custom prices. 

I have also made a custom PDF workbook for designing your custom ExtraSmall. If you would like a copy of the book to start playing with designing your ExtraSmall let me know with this contact form:

Below are both a few of the customs I have recently made. 

Thank you so much!!!

About two weeks ago I received packets of fabric and trim from Purl Soho. I asked followers if anyone was interested in sewing for children in need. I did not expect such a sweet and amazing response. You are incredible!

Thank you so much! I have such amazing readers! I received approximately 70 responses from talented sewists generously donating their time to making doll dresses for children in need. Just reading all of the offers was amazing. I feel sad that i don't have enough Purl Soho packets for all of you.

I have selected six and will be photographing their dresses and maybe writing a few sentences on each as their dresses get shipped back.

I am in touch with the six and will be mailing them their Purl Soho packets within the next few days.

And I hope to do something like this again.

Thank you. I am truly touched.

ExtraSmall Phoebe Gets Her Own Dress Patterns

About a year ago, I started including a pattern with the purchase of a Phoebe doll. And from what I've been hearing ExtraSmall Phoebe would also like her own better set.

Introducing ExtraSmall Phoebe Gets Dressed. The pattern will be included with the purchase of each ExtraSmall doll.

The existing tutorials can be used for sewing these extra cute little clothes. But I will also do a few posts about sewing small, which can be tricky. 

The good news, all of those tiny pieces of fabric that you thought might not even be big enough to sew a doll dress are actually great for ExtraSmall doll dresses!

ExtraSmall Phoebe can be found right here.

This ExtraSmall Phoebe has quite the life!

When Phoebe&Egg dolls go out into the world, I am always happy to hear snippets about their new life. But this past month, two Phoebes got their own Instagram accounts. So I get regular peeks into their new lives.

One of them is an ExtraSmall Phoebe, whose has quite a big life for a little doll. Over the last few weeks, I've watched as she's acquired her own bedroom, books, teeny tiny doll, closet full of new clothes and some art lessons. And apparently there is a lot more in store for her.

A few scenes from Scout's Instagram feed

ExtraSmall Phoebe is called Scout the Phoebe or Scout for short. I am going to assume she was named after Scout in To Kill a Mocking Bird, since early on I saw her reading her one tiny one inch copy of the book.

Scout belongs to 14 year old Elena. Elena is very involved in all sorts of creative arts, drawing, painting, theater and making tiny bedrooms, furniture and books for Scout. And Elena's best friend Maggie, who is also involved in all aspects of the arts (that's how they met) is Scout's seamstress. She made Scout's amazing wardrobe. 

Elena

"I’ve always enjoyed sewing. I made a few (very tiny and very simple) rag dolls here and there, and then small stuff like pillows as presents for people. I also went to a camp where we would make larger rag dolls. I didn’t sew doll clothes or anything until I met Maggie."

"One day we decided to make two little matching dolls. They’re 6 inches tall! They were so much fun to make and I learned a lot along the way. Maggie has taught me almost everything I know about sewing, and I think that’s really cool.

"Now that I have Scout, we’re working on building her a huge wardrobe! Sometimes it’s fun to pour all your attention into one doll. 

"Maggie surprised me with THREE dresses for my birthday, and they’re all so perfect and adorable!

I planned Scout’s room long before I even ordered her, and making the bed, the lamp, the corkboard, and the wardrobe was so fun! I’m hoping to make the lower floor of her “apartment” into an art studio - Scout loves to craft! We’re planning on making miniature art supplies for her."

Maggie

I started sewing when I was about seven; I made a hand-sewn rag doll at camp. I got my machine when I was nine. I’m self taught (unfortunately, nobody else in my family loves to craft) and mostly sew dolls, stuffed animals, and doll clothes.

When I was younger, I would make up patterns whatever I wanted to make, so I made a lot of two-dimensional animals and doll skirts. After a couple of years I started using real patterns and got really into sewing for my dolls. I make them a lot of dresses and pajamas.( I want to make t-shirts, but I find knit fabric difficult to work with.) It’s really fun to make something that your dolls can then use afterwards.

Maggie's large rag dolls

"Right now, Elena and I are also in the midst of sewing larger rag dolls. We’re really excited for them; we thought hard about how we wanted them to look and picked out the perfect skin, hair, and eye colors. It will fun to sew clothes for them and give them personalities! Some of the most special dolls we’ve made, though, are Pippa and Peridot, two tiny rag dolls that we made together two summers ago." 

Talking to Ally of Ally Sews

I've said it a few times, I love Instagram. It's where I find incredible and inspiring makers. Like Alexandra Yount of Ally Sews.

Alexandra, who goes by Ally, sews gorgeous vibrant doll clothes. She currently sews and sells a lot of American Girl dresses, but she only recently added the American Girl line. 

How sweet are those little tote bags?

Ally opened her store two years ago and began by making and selling Waldorf doll clothes. 

"I opened my store at the very end of 2014 when I was 16, I didn't have that much fabric, just a few different prints, I liked cutting up clearance clothing from stores and using them for fabrics. I had shopped on Etsy for a while and researched selling handmade on there, I wanted to try opening a shop because I didn't have a job yet, I struggled finding one because I left school earlier than most.

"I made 20 or so Waldorf doll outfits to start and sat down one day and listed them all, I was so excited. I waited 2 months for my first sale which was a long time for me, then I started making Barbie clothes and that's when it all went crazy.

"Two months with no sales and then 12 months with over 700.

Ally now sells both on Etsy and on her website.

"Earlier this year I started making American girl doll clothes and that was a whole new craziness because there's such a huge fandom around that doll. It's been so fun, sewing and designing is my life now.

"I started out sewing for Waldorf and Barbie dolls, but I've made clothes for American Girl, Skipper, Chelsea, Stacie, Lammily, Lalaloopsy, Gotz dolls and a few others. The smaller the doll, the more difficult it is but I think the difficulty is just how fiddly it gets when you're trying to maneuver something so tiny around the sewing machine! 

"I read and follow a lot of children's/baby clothing blogs and I love the styles little girl's clothes are made in, its so hard to find patterns that are like that so I started trying to make the patterns that I loved in doll size. It took quite a few tries but it gets easier, it helps to have a model right next to you to measure and make adjustments with :)

My favorite things to sew are dresses! I love dresses. My least favorite is anything made out of knit fabric, I prefer working with non-stretchy materials....too bad, I love t-shirts, so I have to cope.

Three tips for sewing doll clothes. Can be for beginners. My top 3 tips would be:

1. Use pinking shears to clip curves, it saves time rather than snipping little triangles out by hand. I use them for trimming Peter Pan collar seams! 

2. Buy a mini iron for ironing hard to reach places, especially for Barbie clothes. My normal sized iron is so much bigger than the things I make so it's hard to only iron part of it without squashing it. 

3. Get a serger that has a narrow over locking stitch for finishing seam edges, it'll save so much time! 

You can find Ally her doll clothes:

On Instagram

On Etsy

And at allysews.com

Zamora Moon Update

Last week Zamora Moon traveled with her family to Bristol, England to undergo CED treatment for her brain tumor. My earlier post about her journey and her doll is here.

Today I received an update from her mother, Marisa. Zamora has braved the eleven hour surgery that inserted the catheter directly into her tumor, so that her chemotherapy can bypass the blood brain barrier. You can read more about the treatment here. She will have her first infusion in a couple of days.

For more information on DIPG brain tumors or to donate to continued and increased research, you can visit the Defeat DIPG website.

Also Zamora's fund raising site is here.

And in addition, please keep Zamora and her family in your thoughts.

Looking for Five People to Sew

As most of you know, for every doll sold I make and donate a doll to a child in need. So far it has been either a child in foster care or in the Family Promise program. Above are the dolls I make for girls ages 3-10. 

Last week I received an amazing donation from Purl Soho. They sent me six packets of fabrics and trims to be used in sewing for the foster children. Of course, the packets are amazing!

Packets from Purl Soho

I actually don't need any fabric (a bit of an understatement), but I'd love to give the packets to Phoebe&Egg friends who would love to sew for these dolls and children.

I was sent six packets, but one is spoken for. For five interested people who sew, I'll send a packet, my pattern and an envelope to send the dresses back. You can keep the pattern and the remaining fabric and trim, but must send the dresses you make to me to be donated with a doll.

I will take photos of the dolls with the dresses.

Packets from Purl Soho

If you are interested I'd love to hear from you.