Tag Archives: sewing for dolls

A New Year for the Girls

Posted on by
Reply

As mentioned yesterday, I have a lot of unfinished projects on my sewing table, and many of them are for the girls. It seems that I fiddle endlessly with the cheap pattern downloads from Etsy – the ones that are scans of older commercial patterns – getting the printed size right, then messing with the fit. They really aren’t that good of a deal in the end, considering the time involved. The plan is to just stop with them.

To that end, I found some new resources. First of all, the big four commercial pattern companies have introduced more patterns for 11/12″ dolls, and they’re selling digital downloads of them. This is a very cool development, since they always print out perfectly at 100%. Here’s a new one, McCalls 8544, which includes versions of three familiar vintage Barbie ensembles. The pink dress is Enchanted Evening, the checkered coat and dress is Poodle Parade, and the blue poof dress is Gay Parisienne.

McCalls 8544
McCalls 8544
Simplicity 9869
Simplicity 9869

Simplicity 9869 is one of the patterns that features a decade of fashion. This one is for the 1970’s. I wish they’d make the others available, too, having spent a chunk of time in December fiddling with a scanned version of the 1960’s one. I’ll show you that next.

Here’s the page with the PDF patterns for doll clothes. It’s a mix of patterns for American Girl and Barbie, but there are more fashion doll patterns than has been the case for a while. There are often sales on this site, so keep a look-out. I got the digital downloads of the patterns I bought for just $3 each in December.

If you’re a fan of the vintage Barbie outfits and would like to reproduce them yourself, I found another site for you. This designer has patterns for many of the vintage outfits, available as PDF downloads. I haven’t tried any of them, but it looks like a great resource. His site is called Tailored Doll Patterns and there are patterns for Barbie and other dolls. Here’s his site.

Here’s his pattern for Enchanted Evening, for example.

Stylebook of Doll's Dress for Barbie by Katie Mitsubachi

I’m still searching for the perfect suit for the girls, so I’ve gone back to my Japanese pattern books by Katie Mitsubashi. I’m making a test version of one from this book now and will show it to you when it’s done.

Advance 4750 View A – a Balenciaga Gown for Barbie

Posted on by
2

I’ve also been sewing Paris couture fashion for the girls. Today, we’ll talk about the first dress.

This is the downloadable pattern I bought on Etsy a few years ago. That vendor is gone, but this vendor has it. It might be the same scan. (?) Mine was the best pdf I’ve bought for the girls – the pattern is clear, and when I printed View A at 100% and sewed a muslin, it fit the girls well.

Advance 4750 pattern - In Paris for Barbie

What’s really fun is that the instructions attribute the designs. View A, which is that turquoise one at the bottom left, is a “Balenciaga lace sheath. Original – cream colored lace over gold mousseline evening gown with fuschia silk sash, train and bow.” I had a look and found these two contenders for inspiration from Balenciaga’s collection in 1950:

Balenciaga evening gown, 1950
Balenciaga evening gown, 1950

The left one has the big bow but not the wrapped bodice, while the right one has the wrapped bodice but not the big bow. Neither appear to be cream lace over gold, so there must be a closer match out there. Aren’t they lovely, though?

McCalls Craft 3845 sewing pattern for Tyler Wentworth

Another interesting detail is that the evening gown on McCalls 3845 for Tyler Wentworth dolls appears to be inspired by the same Balenciaga dress. it’s hard to see but it has a wrapped bodice, as well as the bow and train.

This is the pattern, though, that is challenging to print at the right size though. (Remember the suit?) I’ll take on this one next, now that I’ve got the 11.5″ size right. (This also explains why the bodice on the Tyler dress was so low. The shorter dress is made without the chiffon wrap across the bust, and in the dress for Barbie, the fabric is cut low but the chiffon adds some modesty.)

I decided to try the lace overlay technique on the first one I made after the muslin test. The instructions specify that you should stitch down rows of narrow lace to create the lace layer. I had this piece of black that was about 2″ wide with a pattern that seemed to be in scale. I trimmed off the top edge to avoid having a heavy dark line and sewed down the scalloped edge onto a heavy pink satin. Black and pink is the classic Barbie palette. 🙂

lace placement for Advance 4790 for Barbie

The finished dress has a wow factor, for sure. The netting is a black one with sparkles (yes, I have sparkles everywhere now) and I narrow hemmed it with a scallop stitch. The bow is a very shiny pink and black metallic fabric. The dress is lined in black Bemberg.

Balenciaga inspired dress for Barbie Advance 4790

The difficulty I had with this one came from the weight of that satin, which was really thick. It also shed, but overall, I’m pleased with the resulting dress.

Balenciaga inspired dress for Barbie Advance 4790

I have two more versions of this cut out for B, then will try the variation for Tyler.

Summer Dresses for the Girls

Posted on by
5

I’ve been sewing for my Tyler Wentworth dolls again. This is the halter dress from Fashion Doll Clothing by Rosemarie Ionker. It’s fully lined and I’ve made three. Here are the first two:

Halter dresses for 16" dolls from Fashion Doll Clothing by Rosemarie Ionker, sewn by Deborah Cooke

The first is a quilting cotton floral in pink with a pink cotton voile lining. The second is a green quilting cotton with a green cotton voile lining.

Here are the backs:

Halter dresses for 16" dolls from Fashion Doll Clothing by Rosemarie Ionker, sewn by Deborah Cooke

They have a pair of snaps at the center back, then buttons just for show. You can see the difference in body types – Tyler on the left is the original SA body type (2002 Opera Gala Raven), while Tyler on the right is the BW body type, with more joints and pose-ability (2006 Look of the Season with a different wig). It’s interesting to me that one seems to suit more classic clothes and colours, while the other seems a little bolder. (Her raincoat isn’t quite done, but it’s faux-leather, which will give her a kind of Matrix look.)

These dolls looked like this in their original outfits:

2002 – Opera Gala Raven
2006 – Look of the Season

The third halter dress is made of a black floral rayon print and has a cotton voile lining in pink. It’s modelled here by another Tyler – 2001 Masquerade.

Halter dresses for 16" dolls from Fashion Doll Clothing by Rosemarie Ionker, sewn by Deborah Cooke
DBD brimmed hat pattern for 16" dolls

As you can see, a sundress requires a hat, so I bought this pattern from DBD for Brimmed Hat. (The link here and on the image will take you to their Etsy store.) I was really happy with their raincoat pattern, so went back for more.

The pattern calls for linen and I made this first one in black. I mucked up the directions a bit so the edging is a bit wider than it should be but it came out pretty well despite that. I also didn’t cut back the brim as instructed because a wanted a big glamorous hat.

Here’s the floral decoration on that first one.

Brimmed hat from DBD designs, sewn by Deborah Cooke in black linen and black silk.
2001 – Masquerade

And here’s Masquerade in her original dress. I thought it was red, but when she arrived, the dress proved to be coral.

I have another black hat and a white one cut out, as the girls seem to like them. I’m also going to try one in a light canvas, just to see. And I suspect we’ll need some tote bags, or everyone will be fighting over that red purse. 🙂