Sewing For Dolls

[Ann]

@Fabric Lover, I love this doll. Her name is Kit and she is from the 1930's. Her short hair and freckles were what attracted me to her about 5 years ago. I got her this past December.

I do like this dress on her also.

[Ann]

I finished a doll's coat and tam. It is another test pattern by a lady who lives in Nova Scotia. I do love her patterns. The era is 1927.

I spent 4 days on this outfit. The coat if fully lined and I used a light weight wool. Lots of hand basting on to make sure it went together properly.

Nellie is happy to model it as our weather is cold and windy. I finished knitting  a cream colored scarf for it late last night. Now to knit the mitts.

[Acorn]

I really want to be one of your dolls!

[Sara-S]

I’d wear that coat if it came in my size. Nice work!

[Kenora]

Beautiful work! 

[WendyW]

Beautiful coat! But how on earth does one knit doll size mittens??

[Ann]

@Acorn, @Sara-S, @Kenora, and @WendyW, thank you for the kind words on the coat. I'd love a coat like it also.

@WendyW, knitting mittens for a doll is fiddly as they are so tiny. I use fine yarn and 2 mm needles. I'll probably start them next week as I'm knitting a sweater for the dolls right now. I'm using up left over yarn from other projects (mittens included).

[Ann]

The mittens haven't been knit yet. I got two patterns to test so they became the priority.

I did make a dress for the dolls during sewing time. I was going to test the pattern but it got published before I had a chance to cut it out. Here it is.

And the surprise is a bow in the back.

[Ann]

I finished another doll's pattern (tested it). It was a fun and cute pattern to do. Kit is wearing it as it is from the 1930's and her era.

I did buttonholes in the back. I am going to do more of these as I have figured out how to do them nicely using tear away stabilizer. I have scraps of it in the sewing room.

I didn't use the bow that was in the pattern but used organza ribbon instead.

[Ann]

And the Bib Front Regency dress is done. It was a lot of work but I took it one step at a time.

The fabric frayed a lot so I had to handle it carefully. But I do love the pattern.

[sewingj]

I never thought I'd be interested in clothes for dolls until I saw your work Ann!  How on earth did you do those buttonholes?

[Tamnymore]

Lovely and lovely dolls too.

[Ann]

Thank you @sewingj  and @Tamnymore for the kind words on the doll clothes.

The buttonhole saga began when I wanted to do more of them on doll clothes. I interfaced the buttonhole area and did 6 practice buttonholes. They were okay. I then decided to try tear away stabilizer as I have a lot of scraps as I do machine embroidery. I put it on the back of the fabric and the next few trials were perfect. You could use coffee filters instead of tear away stabilizer. I always do a few practice buttonholes before I do the actual ones. That way I get the right size buttonhole for the buttons.

Next up is invisible zippers in doll dresses. That won't happen until the fabric stores reopen. I have very few zippers on hand. If the stores don't reopen by April 1, I'm going to have to break down and order online.

[Ann]

I made this cute dress once again using up scraps left over from the last reading pillow I made in early March. I printed the pattern at 95% so it would fit the Gotz dolls I own. The skirt length is the same as for the 18" dolls but I added a strip of fabric to the bottom, turned it up leaving a tiny piece showing for an element of surprise.

The back has the bow on it and it finishes off the dress.

There is no fabric left as the tiny bits went into the trash can.

[Ann]

I had fun sewing this Mary Laura dress. I started May 1 and finished it yesterday. I did a lot of research, viewing pictures, and thinking of how this dress would have been sewn in 1879. When I finished it, I was impressed that Ma made not one but two dresses for her girls.

The dress is not historically true as Laura and Mary's dresses did not have a gathered flounce on them. They were flat. The pocket is historically correct as you can see it in the pictures I found.

And I am assuming the back was closed with buttons that may have come off an old dress. I'm sure nothing was ever wasted.

And the photo of Laura and Mary wearing their dresses.

I have the pattern for Carrie's dress and am hoping to make it later this month. I need to find the fabric in the stash.