Happy new year! I’ve been really busy so far this year and have fallen behind on my weekly posting. There were also a lot of projects not-quite-done, but I’ll try to get back on track now.

First up, some sewing for Tyler.

I stumbled across these in my search for sewing patterns for Tyler Wentworth. They were published in 1999, so they would have originally been printed patterns. They’re pretty tough to find in that format now.

This is a picture from the archive at Dreamcastle Dolls, a fantastic resource for identifying and dating Tonner Dolls, accessories etc. These patterns are shown as available accessories from 1999 and these are the three that you can find as digital downloads on Etsy.

Today, we’ll talk about TW 3522, the Weekend Wardrobe. This pattern includes a peacoat, pants, a turtleneck, skirt, tights, socks and a tote bag. In that way, it reminds me of those Vogue Wardrobe patterns, which I like a lot, the ones that give you enough pieces to make a little capsule wardrobe.

As usual, I printed it out at 100% and sewed a muslin of the coat and the trousers. They fit, so I was off to the races.

I made a few changes right away. This pattern has a 3/8″ seam allowance – usually doll patterns have 1/4″ seam allowances, so that left a lot of extra fabric, especially around the curves. Also, the cutting line is drawn thick, so if you cut on the outside of it, the seam allowance gets close to 1/2″. After a battle royale to get the sleeves inserted in the coat without tucks on the muslin, I decided to trim all seam allowances to 1/4″ on my pattern pieces.

There are a lot of nice touches in these patterns. The trousers have a faux slash pocket at the front. The jacket has welts for faux pockets (the doll can’t put her hand in the pocket like the drawn model…although that could be changed. Hmm.) and there are bands on the sleeve cuffs. (I think they’re drawn backward in the illustration and did mine the other way, so the tab goes over the sleeve.)

Here’s Tyler in the whole ensemble.

I cut the good version of the pants from a very thin pleather in mauve. This came from I Sew For Doll and is the thinnest fake leather I’ve ever found – there are thickness variations between colours and the black is the thinnest of all. Each piece is 30 x 45cm – I used just over half to cut these pants for Tyler. There’s enough left to make pants for Silkstone B and maybe a bit after that. This is #12 purple.

Pleather doesn’t fray since it’s a woven base with the leather surface fused to it, so there’s no need to finish the seam allowances. I used a slightly longer stitch length than I would have otherwise, as the pleather surface tends to drag on both the presser foot and the feed dog plate of the machine – if it drags too much, the fused surface separates from the woven base. (Ask me how I know.) I tried a lighter embroidery foot but it made no difference.

I top-stitched the outside leg seam to keep the seam allowances to one side and to give the pants the look of jeans. The pants have a back opening, which looks fine when the doll is standing, but gapes open when she sits—as I so often do, I added a tab to one trouser back for a little extra discretion. These went together really well and I’m pleased with them. The waistband looks loose, but the pleather doesn’t stretch so the doll can be posed better this way.

The turtleneck is sewn of knit fabric and the entire back opens, closing with snaps. While I understand the practicality of this, it’s not my favorite solution. The one shown here is the third attempt – the other two are in the trash. My concern was finishing the seam allowances as jersey will fray and run. I tried to serge the first version, which is what I would do for a human-sized top like this, but the curves were too tight. I’m just not that accurate on the serger, so that was a fail. I did, though, learn that having the back entirely open meant that the top gaped open below the waist – it’s a knit fabric, after all, so it pulled open over the hips. On subsequent versions, I sewed a partial back seam, from the hem almost to the waist.

Here’s Tyler doing some push-ups so you can see the back modification to the top.

For my second attempt, I used the overlock stitch on my machine, but wasn’t any happier with that result. It was just too bulky. Number three was the winner – I remembered that I fuse knit interfacing to the hems on my t-shirts to stabilize the seam allowance, so I cut fusible knit interfacing into 1/4″ wide strips. I fused it to the seam allowances all around the pieces of the top – not the sleeve cap or armscye, since they need to be stretched to fit – then assembled the top using straight stitches. I stitched a second row 1/8″ inside the sleeve seam, then trimmed it. All the other seam allowances could be trimmed down to 1/8″ because they were fused. This worked brilliantly, and I used clear snaps to close the back of the top.

I extended the top for a dress cut of a different knit fabric, which Sydney is wearing here. I made Sydney a little belt, too. The center back seam on the dress is sewn from hem to the widest point of the hips, but I’m thinking it could have been sewn almost to the waist. Because the fabric stretches, that would still have worked.

The one detail I don’t love is the thickness of the turtleneck, especially where it overlaps to fasten in the back, but I don’t see a way around that. There’s a lot of layered fabric in a small area with the seam allowances. I trimmed them right down, but it’s still bulky.

I cut the peacoat of a fabric that looks like chalk-stripe wool in scale. (It’s probably polyester.) The collar is cut on the bias, so I seamed it at the center back to make it symmetrical at the front, as one would do with a human-size coat. That gave the collar a bit more bulk at the center-back, so I cut the undercollar of lining instead of the main fabric. This coat is lined with Bemberg rayon, which I think is perfect for the girls.

I also added a half-belt at the back to draw in the coat a bit. This makes an interesting problem since doll buttons are usually sold in packs of ten – I had to use only six on the front of the coat instead of the eight specified, because there are two on the cuff and I added two to the belt.

The buttons are adorable, IMO. They’re 6mm buttons with little anchors ordered from I Sew for Doll.

The tote bag is like a big LL Bean tote. I cut this one of grey pleather and lined it with a coordinating cotton print. (The pattern doesn’t include a lining, but it’s simple to add.) I even thought about adding a zipper since I dislike open totes when travelling, but gave up that idea (for the moment). The handles are satin ribbon, which snags a bit, and there are four beads on the bottom for feet. I added a charm, just for fun.

Finally, I knit a coordinating scarf in Kidsilk Haze Stripe, and Tyler’s ready for her weekend away. I still need to make the skirt.

I really like this pattern and am sewing some different colour combinations for the other girls. Weekend trips are more fun with friends!