Doll Dressmaking Series: Base Patterns are ready

I have heard from a number of people that they are excited for this doll dressmaking series. I am too! I hope to teach both how to make patterns for a variety of dress styles from a base pattern and some techniques to help you sew small.

I know I said the base patterns would be done on Monday. I have been working hard both to learn Illustrator and trying to figure out how to post the patterns so everyone can download them easily. The good news is the base dress patterns are ready for Phoebe, American Girl Dolls and 16 inch Waldorf dolls. So yay! We can begin!

The second part of the news is there is no simple way through Squarespace (the people who host this website) to upload the patterns so you can download them. So here's how it will work: I have made a form at the end of this post, just email which ones you want and I will send the PDFs to you. 

I have started with these three sizes because I am assuming they are the most popular, but I am willing to add another size Waldorf or Toddler Phoebe if there is interest. But I will also be showing you how to adjust this pattern to fit a slightly different size doll. So no matter what, you win.

A series on designing and making doll dresses. 

Please fill out the form at the bottom and I will send you the PDF of the pattern, Once you have that you can begin.

The next blog post is the first lesson to start once you have your pattern pieces.

The base pattern

The base pattern is where we start. Next lesson, making sure it fits your doll!

Phoebe modeling the base pattern pieces.

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Beloved Handmade Doll Dress Contest

There were 7 very sweet entries into the Beloved Handmade Doll Dress Contest. I love every one of them and their stories. Thank you for to the people who submitted!

For those of you just jumping in click on the image below to bring you to the original contest. The rest of you just scroll down.

I have been delaying on posting the contest because I've been struggling with the mechanics of voting. Since there are only 7 dresses, I have reduced it to two categories, sweetest dress and sweetest story. There is a form at the end of this post for voting.  All of the info in the vote is confidential. I will just tally and report back.

So here are the beloved handmade doll dresses:

Handmade Doll Dress #1

The story to Handamde Doll Dress #1: This little pink lace overlay dress was made by my Mom for me for Christmas when I was about eight, along with a stunning handmade doll. Being eight, I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't the latest fad Barbie doll, but I quickly grew to really treasure the special doll that my mom had made for me, and played with her tons! Sadly, dolly has gone missing, but I am hopeful that she might turn up the next time Mim cleans her storage room!

Handmade Doll Dress#2 (photo from Instagram)

Handmade Doll Dress Story 2: Doll dress that was lovingly made by my grandma in the 1950s for her daughter. I played dress up with it on my dolls as a child and now my daughter does with her dolls.

Handmade Doll Dress #3 (also from Instagram)

Handmade Doll Dress #3: My mom made me a handmade doll with this dress when I was little. I remember thinking the dress with all its lacy goodness, was so beautiful. Now I keep it in my living room. It brings back so many happy childhood memories I can't bear to pack it in a box

Handmade Doll Dress #4

Handmade Doll Dress #4: I just love to see a doll dressed in a party dress. This dress uses some of my favorite party dress elements. Tulle, satin, organza and silk roses. There are also Czech glass beads and sequins.

Handmade Doll Dress #5: My mom made this set for my American Girl doll. We studied the catalog photos and tried to copy the real set exactly so my friends would think I got the real deal

Handmade Doll Dress #6

Handmade Doll Dress #6: The dress I am entering for this contest has some very special memories.  I made this for my daughter Sabrina for her dolly on her first birthday in 1991.  The doll it was made for was mine when I was a little girl, bought for me by my dad at a yardsale for 25 cents when I was 5 years old.  I also made a matching dress for Sabrina as well

Handmade Doll Dress #7

Handmade Doll Dress #7: I made this handmade doll dress for a dearly beloved doll who is a sweet Princess. This dress and it's soft color palette captures that innocence and sweetness of the doll.

The two winners will receive a package of fabric and trims for doll clothing.

Thanks so much for participating!

Back and very busy: Here's a sneak peek

I've been back from a vacation for a week and I've been extremely busy with a few custom orders, designing new things for the shop, and a very cool charity project. Here's a sneak peek at the a few new dolls and clothes, but I'm not quite ready to reveal the charity project just yet. 

Also stay tuned for voting on the Beloved Handmade Doll Dress Contest and of course, the doll dressmaking class I will be starting.

Doll Dressmaking: Useful Tools

Later this week I will be uploading a basic doll dress base for us to start the lessons with. I will use this base to teach some sewing techniques and some basic pattern drafting.

To even begin, you will most likely need to make some very rudimentary adjustments to ensure the pattern base fits your doll. So before altering this base pattern, I thought I'd show you my favorite pattern making and altering tools. 

The most basic tool: a measuring tape. You will need to know lengths and circumferences of various parts of your doll before you make adjustments.

Basic

You will need to alter pattern pieces. This is best done by tracing with a pencil and tracing paper. Lots of erasing. More tracing. And sometimes getting a bit more accurate with graph paper. And when you think all is good, drawing a clean final version with a medium tipped black marker.

kind of basic

Although you can use tracing paper for your pattern pieces, I prefer freezer paper. You can trace onto it. And then you can iron the pieces onto your fabric for accurate and easy cutting. You can even copy onto it. Amazon sells sheets that go through your copier, which allows for easy replicating, enlarging and reducing. You can also just get a roll at the grocery store for a lot less money.

luxury items

Coming in the next few days...the base dress pattern pieces for a variety of dolls. Adobe illustrator and I are becoming friends (sort of) as I try to create these.

A Basic Course in Doll Dress-Making

Thinking about starting to sew doll clothes?

Already sew doll clothes but would like to learn a few techniques?

Have a few doll clothes patterns but would like to have more?

Have a doll you'd like to sew for but do not have a pattern?

Through a series of blog posts, I am going show you how to make a few doll dress patterns and walk you through a number of doll clothing sewing techniques that I use.

We will start with making a base pattern to work off of.  I will provide a base pattern for the following dolls:

Phoebe (of course)

Toddler Phoebe (of course again)

American Girl Doll

A Standard 16" Waldorf Doll

A Sasha Doll

I will then help you resize to fit your doll.

And then once we all have base dresses, I will teach you how to use that base to create a lot of other dress patterns. Along the way, as we sew the dresses, I will show you a few basic doll dress making techniques. Nothing fancy, but enough so you can make a number of kinds of dresses.

Are you ready? By the end of the week, I should have the base patterns ready to go. I'm still an Adobe Illustrator novice, but I'm getting better at the pattern tracing.

Some questions about upcycling

For the past few years, I’ve noticed a growing trend among doll-makers and other crafters to claim that their finished product is made from upcycled materials. It’s one of those terms that make consumers feel good about what they are buying. Sellers get to feel good and sell more, because consumers want products that they believe are good for the environment. Organic, recycled or upcycled are all terms that connotate environmental good.

But I started to wonder about the trend and the word, when I was confronted with an “upcycling” opportunity myself. Our family, like a lot of families, has a “Good Will” pile that we bring to a station in our town and the clothes are given to the Salvation Army (despite the name of our pile). For the past few weeks, three of my old J Crew merino cardigans have sat atop of the pile, sort of taunting me. 

They could easily be washed, felted and made into upcycled doll clothing.

Three Sweaters, what should they be? A question about upcycling

The first step would have been throwing them in the washing machine to felt. The second step would be to cut them into doll clothing components. Both very easy steps, but both were irreversible. The sweaters could no longer be a sweater for someone else who was a little less fussy than me, possibly someone who could really use a free sweater.

I could not bring myself to take that next irreversible step, which led me to research the term upcycling. What exactly is it?

According to Wikipedia, upcycling "is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value.”

I would not be doing that.

In fact I would be doing the opposite. I would be making a useful object, slightly less useful. Although there are many upcycled crafts that are making useful objects out of what people normally toss, this wasn’t one of them.

Maybe I could consider this recycling. I looked up that definition too (I have a Masters in Environmental Policy, you’d think I’d know these things):

Recycling is a process to change (waste) materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution (from incineration) and water pollution (from landfilling) by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse gas emissions (Wikipedia again).

Although I would be using used fabric instead of new, I would not be preventing the waste of the original product, since its destiny was not the waste stream. So I could rightfully not claim recycled either.

I do not want to judge other crafters, I have no idea what their original materials were before they were "upcycled", but I could not convert my sweaters into doll clothing, I realize that I am using new fabric, which is not exactly an environmental choice either, but using the sweaters would not qualify as upcycling. Repurposed yes, upcycled not so much.

But for now, I am keeping the sweaters in our “Good Will” pile, which should soon be packed up and donated.

But that actually wasn't why I wrote this post. I mostly have an issue of accuracy in labeling if you are going to sell your product as having environmental benefits.

Making New Doll Clothes

Been busy with a few custom dolls and some new doll clothes. Here's a sneak peek:

Buying Fabric for Doll Clothes Online: My Resources

I do not live near any good fabric stores. The nearest JoAnn"s is half an hour away and for me JoAnn's is hit or miss. Great for thread and sometimes a great find. I can't count on it. So I buy a lot of my fabrics online. Here's what I buy and a few great resources for where you can find it. 

For sewing doll clothes I use a lot of quilting cottons, some natural knits, including bamboo and cotton and occasionally wool. Since it is the fabric that often inspires me, I love choosing it out. 

Quilting cotton is a great weight for sewing small, it is not bulky, irons easily, can be used for a large variety of clothes. I am even experimenting with making a few dolls out of tea-dyed cotton (that's for a later blog post). Although small scale prints are easy to find, it can be fun to play with scale and use a larger scale on a small dress. I have several favorite online quilting cotton stores:

Hawthorne Threads: Large variety, often ship the same day as your order. They also group collections together. My only complaint. I like to see some sort of measurement on the photo of the fabric to determine scale and they don't do this.

Fabric Worm: Great collection of cottons, especially with playful children's themes. Large selection of organic cottons.

Cia's Palette: Do not add to their collection as often as others but also have discontinued fabrics.

Farmhouse Fabrics: Have a great selection of quality small scale plaids

I like to use soft squishy knits for tee shirts, leggings and pajamas. I prefer my knits to be from natural materials, this makes them feel good, but to have lycra or spandex, because this gives them 4 way stretch. Four-way stretch helps small hands get doll's clothing on easier. Here's where I find good knits:

Harts Fabrics; Great Selection of Bamboo Knits

Fabric Worm: Great selection of organic cotton knits

Hawthorne Threads: A good place to get the Riley Blake knits, which are super basics

Once and a while I need good wool. Usually for winter coats, winter doll boots or maybe a skirt. I have found only one good source of wool online:

Mood fabrics: The online store is as overwhelming as the real thing in NYC.

Happy sewing small!

More stash

Handmade Toy Makers: Minnie and the Monster

Over the last few years, as handmade has become more discovered and discoverable through the Internet, a whole new range of cool dolls is popping up. As a doll-maker I’ve been in awe of how other doll-makers have thought outside of the box. The result for parents is that in a digital age where parents are worried that their children’s imaginations could be languishing, there is now a range of toys and dolls that will spark imaginative play.

Ginger and the Wild Horses

The dolls from Minnie and the Monster are a very different type of doll. Like the company’s name, they are creative and extra sweet. The Minnie folk are carved out of sustainable wood. The dolls are then sanded, woodburned and then handpainted with nontoxic watercolors that are colored with lovely things like beetroot, wild mustard and black elderberry. They are then coated with an organic mix of lavender, beeswax and jojoba oil.

Minnie Folk coming into their own

Jennifer Browning is the creator of the Minnie Folk. Although the Minnies are small, the name of her company is not from the word “mini”. Minnie was a childhood friend of Jennifer’s grandmother, who Jennifer enjoyed hearing stories about.

“Minnie’s family came to America from Italy and opened a pasta shop. And while Minnie didn't have much in the way of material possessions, some of what she did have found its way into my grandmother's treasure drawer. And that's how I knew her. I never saw Minnie's picture, but I could imagine her wearing the beautiful blouse my grandmother kept folded and wrapped with a note that read, "Belonged to Minnie." So Minnie and the Monster is a humble tribute to Minnie, to her loyal and lovely spirit, and to my indomitable grandmother whom I loved. “

A custom family of Minnie Folk

Jennifer lives in Bend, Oregon with her husband and three children. The whole family has some role in her company. The idea for adding the “monster to the name came from her husband. “ My husband is an ultra runner, specializing in 100-mile mountain races. He's often referred to as a beast for his epic endeavors. He also happens to be the grand cutter of all my pieces, so I wanted to include him in my shop name. Minnie and the Beast didn't sound quite right.”

Her husband also assists with the cutting of the dolls and her children help inspire ideas for characters.

The dolls are small sturdy and are often sold in sets. The sets are often families or characters from popular stories or books, such as Little House on the Prairie or Goldilocks and the three bears or a Nativity scene. Or there are custom sets, like Ginger and the Wild Horses,  was a custom request for a little red-headed lover of horses. Individual historical stars like Shakespeare, Amelia Earhart and Frida Kahlo also have become Minnies.

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Minnies have backs!

I imagine hours of playing and creating stories and scenes with Minnie characters since they can be perched on all sorts of landscapes throughout the house and yard. I can also imagine if my children were younger, collecting a few sets and expanding into a Minnie village.

Each character is drawn by hand, so no two are alike, so not only are Minnies adorable, they are works of art.

Minnie Folk can be found on Etsy.

And the Minnie and the Monster can be followed on Instagram.

The Shakespeares and their goose

Frida

A discount for your thoughts

I've been open for business just a little over six months. I have thoughts about what is working , what I should add, and all sorts of other fun ideas. But what's more important are your thoughts.

I really want to know what matters to you.

Clicking the image below takes you to a survey. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. You will receive a 15% discount in my Etsy store for sharing them.