More doll clothes from books

This is the second part for the video in the last post. It's about the best of the three books, which has patterns in three different sizes for Tonner and Madame Alexander dolls.

Barbie clothes

I have shown some of the doll clothes in the video in an earlier post, but in the video, you can also see pictures from the book, showing the original outfits. 

Green velvet dress

The next dress made with patterns from a book is a long dress made of green velvet. The book is Rosemarie Ionker's "Fashion Doll Clothing," and the pattern is on pages 97-98. The pattern is for Madame Alexander's Alex, but I was making the dress for the CED doll Colin. That meant more resizing.

I started by resizing the pattern to the best of my abilities. I took the necessary measurements and added length and width as required.

However, I didn't trust my patterns, so I made a prototype of the bodice. I suspected the front might be too wide, which turned out to be the case. As I hadn't sewn the front middle seam, it was easy to pin it to get the bodice to the right size. All I had to do then was to adjust the patterns accordingly.

The lower part of the pattern was easier to resize as it only required adding some length. Thinking of this afterwards, the fabric wasn't the best choice for this design due to the number of panels, but I didn't think of that when I started.

After sewing all the pieces together, the dress was fitting surprisingly well. The patterns I made weren't perfect, but good for a first attempt. Maybe I'll make another dress using more suitable material now that I know what still needs fixing.

I sewed a zipper on the back, because it's the easiest closing mechanism for a dress like this. Here you can see some of the problems I had with the fabric. Fortunately, it's all in the back and out of sight most of the time.

Here's the finished dress after making the sleeves and finishing all the edges. I think it's looks nice enough, and what it especially does is give Colin a more normal body shape. I'm not quite sure what's wrong with her measurements, but she doesn't look very good in narrow skirts.

Here's a closeup of the shoes. I made these over 10 years ago, I think. The color is maybe a bit too light to go with the dress, but at least they're green.

Different collars

This has been a remote learning week, so I've been doing some exercises at home. Monday and Tuesday were all theory as I was learning about textile materials and making a Power Point presentation about them. I was also examining 10 items of clothing from my wardrobe to see what material they were made of and describe the reasons why I had chosen those clothes. 

The latter was interesting and also very revealing. I hadn't really thought about the issue, but it turns out that the price is the number one criterion for my clothes purchases. Of course I buy clothes I like, but I'm always seeking discounts by buying stuff at the "wrong" time of the year. That's the benefit of not caring about fashion, you can happily purchase clothes at the end of the season sales without worrying that they'll be out of fashion the next time the weather is right for using them.

On Wednesday, I was drawing patterns for collars. The teacher provided us with videos showing how it's done and also printouts of the finished drawings. All we had to do was to recreate the drawings with the help of the videos. That wasn't too difficult, but things started to get a bit more complicated when I read the instructions on how to make the collars. Fortunately we didn't need to make them, just draw the patterns.

I ended up making two of the simplest ones in 1/4 scale for dolls as I used the doll measurements for making the patterns. I used the leather armor prototype for the simplest collar, because the fabric is non-fraying and it was quick and easy to get a nice result.

For the other collar, I used a jacket prototype I made for Miss Piggy some time ago. I'm not sure if I'm going to finish the jacket, but it was perfect for trying the collar.

Yesterday, I was making pockets for the vest that is my next project. I've got an existing vest as a model, and it's got quite complicated pockets, which I'm recreating for my new vest. I made one prototype pocket at school before the spring break, so all the problems got sorted out then. Now I'm just making two more pockets and writing the instructions for them and drawing the diagrams for the different seams. I'm also taking a lot pictures, so I'll probably write a post about the pockets later.

Arts in the Afternoon, part 2

I did some more resizing with the Arts in the Afternoon pattern. I really like the red/gold fabric I used for Cissy's top, but unfortunately there wasn't enough of it for a skirt, so I had to use different fabric for that. It's a pity, because the outfit looks so much better when both parts are made of the same fabric.

I used velcro closing for everything else, but Cissy skirt has a proper zipper. I had a 4 cm zipper, which I sewed in place in the same way as we did in one of the exercises a couple of weeks ago.

I also made a dress for Miss Piggy. In this one, I used a pattern from Rosemary Ionker's book "Fashion Doll Clothing." The pattern is the skirt on page 85. I resized it to fit Piggy and then made the bodice pattern myself. In the book, the doll has a skirt and jacket, but I wanted this to be a dress, and it wasn't that hard to make a bodice of this type. The necklace is a cheap bracelet that's long enough to fit Piggy. The other 14"-16" dolls have so much smaller neck that using their jewelry on Piggy just isn't possible.

Leather armor, part 1

Ever since I got this Eowyn's helmet and found out it fits Tyler dolls, I've been thinking of making an entire outfit for the doll to go with the helmet.

The plan has been on hold for a long time, but today I started planning some leather armor. First I made a paper pattern by wrapping paper around the doll and forming the required shape, then cutting that into patterns.

The next step was to make a prototype. I started with fabric. I had to add seam allowances to the patterns for this. The actual patterns won't have them as the edges of the leather will go side by side, not overlapping any.

This bodice turned out to be too big. Fine for a dress, not so for armor. I'll probably make a dress using this at some point, but now I'm interested in making armor.

I reduced the patterns a bit and also got rid of most of the curves in favor of straight lines. I made the second prototype out of thick felt as I wanted material that would be approximately the same stiffness as the leather I'm going to use. Below are the parts of the bodice. I decided to cut the back piece into two separate pieces as there needs to be slight curve there.

This is the felt bodice and it's the correct size considering that there will be some clothes under it. The lower part of the armor will be strips of leather sewn to the lower edge of the bodice. I'm also planning on adding some shoulder and upper arm pieces, but those can be planned later. First I'm going to make the basic piece and additional parts will be easier to plan when I've got that.

I now have working patterns for the bodice, so the next step will be to make it out of leather. I remember doing some leather decorating as a kid, so I'll need to look into that, because it would be nice to have decorated armor instead of one of plain leather.

I haven't thought about the details of the clothes that go underneath the armor, but it'll be at least a shirt and trousers. I've made some repros of historical clothing, so the designs won't be a problem. Some sort of boots are also needed, but I'll need to do a bit of research on that, because I'd like to be a bit more accurate about them.

Arts in the Afternoon

I'm currently much more comfortable with clothes patterns than before, so I had no trouble resizing a simple Barbie pattern to fit a Living Dead Doll. The outfit is "Arts in the Afternoon" from Mari DeWitt's book "Vintage Clothing for the Fashion Doll."

First, here is the outfit as shown in the book. I have made this for Barbie, and as it is a fairly simple design, I wanted to try it in a different size.

Here is the original pattern in the book and the reduced pattern for the Living Dead Doll.

Here are the pieces about halfway through the process. I'm not going through the process here, because of copyright issues, but you can see for yourself how this is done.

And here is the other side of the same piece. The lining is attached to the outer part, which makes sewing a lot easier. Of course you could just as well make this without a lining, which is what I usually do just to keep the seams thinner.

After this, you just sew the side seams and attach a closing mechanism, in this case pieces of velcro, and the top is finished. I made the skirt out of a rectangular piece of fabric, which I put around the doll to see where and how many darts were needed. The skirt is also lined using the same fabric as in the picture above.

Another try with the coat

After figuring out what went wrong the first time, I modified the pattern. The main change was removing the shoulder seams and having side seams instead. This way, the sleeves are much easier to sew in place. The back piece is also a bit wider than it was originally. However, the front is the same width, I didn't make any changes to it.

Here is the main part of the coat with edges treated with textile hardener. This fabric frays very easily, so the hardener was useful as I didn't want wide seam allowances.

The best thing about this pattern is that you can use the sewing machine to sew the sleeves in place. It is also much easier to get everything aligned correctly this way.

The last part is to sew the side seams. The next picture shows the coat without any trimmings, but I plan to use some sort of ribbon for the edges. That means hand sewing the ribbon to cuffs. If you sew it before sewing the side seams, even that can be done with the sewing machine. I just couldn't decide what I wanted, so I finished the coat and will think about the ribbons later.

Edit: You can find the PDF file containing the pattern for this coat on my web site.

Coat for the Kindi Kids doll

I decided to try making a coat using the dress pattern as a starting point. I shortened it, moved the opening to the front, rounded the edges of the front pieces, and made a pattern for the sleeves. In this picture, the sleeves are too long. The doll's arms are really short and the hand size means the sleeves need to be quite wide. These sleeves were a bit too narrow, although the resulting coat can be put on the doll, but only just.

I treated the edges of the fabric with fabric hardener (basically glue), because this fabric frays easily. After that was dry, I sewed some ribbon to the cuffs to make them look neat without turning the fabric.

Then I sewed the sleeve, side and shoulder seams. Before that, I made sure the hands would go through the arm holes and sleeves. It was a tight fit, but manageable, although I knew the pattern would require modifications after checking all the things that were wrong with it.

The final step was sewing the sleeves in place and adding ribbon to the remaining edges. I managed to get the coat on the doll, but while I was doing that, I also realized the back piece needs to be wider. This doll's arms aren't quite as bad as the Living Dead Doll's, but the hands are still quite far apart, making it difficult to put something like this on. See the Fashion Doll Shoes blog for the description of making the shoes.

Variation of the Kindi Kids dress

I finished the dress shown in a photo in the pattern file for the A line dress. 

The patterns in the fabric required dividing the one piece pattern into three pieces. Also, this is 100% cotton, so fraying would have been an issue. That is why I decided to use a lining for the dress. I sewed the side seams and then sewed the resulting piece into a rectangular piece of the lining fabric. The sewing is easier this way as the fabrics stay flat against each other better. 

In the next picture, you can see which seams need sewing at this stage. The hole in the right edge is where you pull the entire thing through when turning it the right way round.

After sewing, I cut away the extra lining fabric and turned the piece. I also ironed it, because I wanted to make sure the lining wouldn't show.

I realized the shoulder seams would be really thick if sewn. So I decided to glue them instead. I used PVA glue and glued a piece of ribbon first on the outside and then, after the glue had dried, folded it on the inside and glued it there as well. This should be strong enough to form a shoulder seam. After the glue was all dry, I trimmed the ribbon so it was level with the edge of the armhole.

The final step was adding velcro closing on the back. The next photo shows the doll wearing the dress. For the shoes, see the Fashion Doll Shoes blog.

Easy to make dress for Kindi Kids dolls

I'm not usually interested in little child dolls, but Kindi Kids are quite cute, and their proportions are interesting in the point of view of making clothes and shoes. So I bought one, and I'm going to experiment on some techniques I wouldn't use for items I make for collectible dolls.

The first idea was making a dress using felt. Unfortunately, this turned out to be too big, so I'll need to make the orange and blue parts a bit narrower, adding two more seams, but hopefully this can be salvaged.

The nice thing about the first experiment was that it gave me a good idea on what to change in the pattern. After making the changes, the pattern can be used for making the dress below. It's one piece of fabric, only shoulder seams need sewing, and back needs some sort of a closing mechanism (velcro recommended).

The pattern is available on my web site, so you can download it as a PDF file and make as many dresses as you like. And it's also a good starting point for your own creations as it has the basic measurements and you can make changes as you wish.

Metal tunic for Monster High CAM doll

I've been making just doll shoes lately, but last night I decided to try this new material I bought at the Dollhouse Fair last week. It's made of metal, but behaves more like fabric.

You can see the structure in this closeup of the reverse side. There are two kinds of metal pieces: rings and pronged plates that are connected to each other using the rings. The way to "cut" this material is to open the prongs to separate pieces.

My first experiment with this material is a tunic for a Monster High "Create A Monster" doll. The reason it only works for these dolls is that in order to put the tunic on the doll you need to remove the head and arms.

I had a 10 cm x 10 cm piece of the material. I connected some pieces on opposite edges to create a side seam. Then I opened the top and bottom on the other side to create an opening for the arm and a side slit. Finally, I connected some pieces on both shoulders.

Here you can see the slit on the side. It was necessary, because the piece was not wide enough to go all the way around the hips. The doll really needs something under this, either a skirt or tight-fitting trousers.

Crocheting

I really prefer the way knitted items look, but crocheting is so much easier. Here is a crocheted dress I made for a Rini doll.

The hem is made using the stitches seen in the video below.

The upper part is made using the stitches shown in the next video.

Knitting

It's been a long time since the last post. Here is a compilation of some knitted doll clothes I have made recently. First, something for the smaller Miss Piggy.

Next, Monster High dresses from similar yarn as Miss Piggy's dress.

Then I tried some dresses with short sleeves.

A dress for Jessica Rabbit, made with just one ball of yarn that had alternating colors.

Here is a group picture of dolls wearing knitted dresses made of the same brand of yarn (Novita puro) in different colors.

Finally, an experiment in making a knitted jump suit. It's better than my first try, but the pattern still requires some modifications.