A Christmas Dress using Fashion File 21 and Pattern 1804a

Just made a new dress with the pointy bib. This time I used more contrasting fabrics.
This skirt is the same as in the 1804a Add-on Bibs pattern but I made the main part 4" instead of 3 1/2".

Get the pointy half bib pattern from the this post.

Happy Sewing,

Val

Free pattern to make a custom dress bodice for your American Girl Doll

A new Fall outfit for Rebecca.

I did some sewing today to make a little Fall dress from pattern 1804 and also add another bib to pattern 1804a.

You must see the gorgeous Christmas dress I made with the pointy bib here.

If you already have a dress pattern by someone else, you can use the free bib. Just lay it on top of your bodice front pattern piece and cut out the points. That way you know the bib will fit onto your bodice.

I decided to use a second pattern piece as a stitching template. You can see I made some adjustments to the points because I made them to small to start with.

This dress has a lined bodice to make the neck and armholes neat. It also has a 30" gathered skirt with the skirt strip 4 1/4" wide plus a band 2 1/2" wide that is folded in half and stitched to the bottom of the skirt (including the 1/4" seam allowance).

You can download for free, the pointed half bib pattern piece and the instructions relating to the bib and the skirt.

You can find more ideas for the 1804 dress here

I hope that you will have a good look at my designs on  Etsy . 

You will find well fitting, classic designs for around 3.60 USD and I am still adding to the collection. 

The pattern pieces are meant to be swapped around to create lots of different designs. They also provide American Girl Doll dressmakers with reliable fitting pattern pieces that can be used as a basis to make different outfits to sell.

Download Fashion File 21 now to get the free pointy half bib pattern. You will need to supply a dress bodice pattern.

I'm always coming up with ideas for new styles. Why not join my mailing list so you won't miss anything. Yes please! 

In Fashion File 21 you get the pointy half bib pattern
and instructions to make up the bib and a skirt with a bottom band.
This is a pattern hack. You need a dress bodice pattern to start with.

Happy Sewing,

Val

The Bag Collection - For Dolls Of Course!

I love Rebecca's modern look with her new tote bag.
I have been drafting and sewing bags for the dolls the last week or so. I have a collection of photos of ladies bags and I am just working through them. I love this patchwork one but the next one is owl shaped and so cute.
The patchwork tote is bag number 3 so far. Patterns and instructions are in the works. I am thinking that I might release them one at a time for free for a limited time then put them together in collections of 5 and put them in my shop. Two more to get my first 5 done.
So, look out for the free patterns coming soon.

Tiny patchwork pieces. I will include the seam allowances on the
final pattern.

Happy Sewing,
Val

Jeans for the Australian Girl Doll

Annabelle in her new doll clothes shorts.

I have been sewing and testing and sewing again working on a jeans pattern for the Australian Girl Doll.

It has been fun playing with the pockets. They look so cute on the finished item. I also had some little studs that I put on the pocket corners.

Surprisingly the belt loops were not very hard to do so I can see they will make a simple embellishment on shorts, jeans or even skirts.

The hardest part was putting the velcro in the fly. I stitched the overlap from the right side so I had to stick the velcro underneath so it wouldn't slip about as I got started. I searched my boxes for my steam a seam but in the end I used some glue dots that I had handy. As long as you only put the glue in the centre where you are not stitching I guess it doesn't matter what you use. You don't want to get your needle gummed up.

Has anyone got some good tips for putting velcro in the fly?

I tried the shorts on my American Girl Doll. They look OK from the front but the waist is a bit big for her.

They also lose that short play shorts look on her shorter legs. I am taking some time to design patterns made to fit the Australian Girl Doll because I think they just look better if they are made to measure.

I will publish the jeans and a denim jacket for the Australian Girl Doll soon. I tend to work on several things at once. You can find a cute open neck blouse and elastic pull ons especially made to fit Australian Girl Dolls on my Etsy shop. Look for the pattern numbers starting with 20.

Happy Sewing,

Val

How to create doll clothes from your imagination: Fashion File 19

The Inspiration

I noticed there is a new American Girl Doll with some cute 50's style doll clothes. I really liked her school dress and knew I could make something similar with pieces from patterns I already had.

You can download the text instructions including the narrow collar and a filing divider. See the link at the end.

Instructions

If you want to use the lined bodice for this dress you will need to use a fine fabric like batiste because the front has several layers of fabric to create the blouse effect and layers of fabric affect the fit. You will want all your fabrics to be a light weight.

To make this dress I used the bodice back and front from 1804 The 18" Dress combo, the scoop neck front from 1810 Scoop Neck Dress and the sleeves from 1806 Open Neck Blouse. I cut down the collar from 1804 to make a narrow Peter Pan collar. I have put the collar in the free file.

I designed a folder divider page so you can print out the pieces and keep them together. I can see myself making several different colour ways with this design.

• The first thing I did was put the two fronts together and trim off a fraction to make them exactly the same around the armholes and at the waist edge.

• Next draw a line 1/2” to one side of the centre front of 1810 front. Place this new line on the fold of the  check fabric so you get extra in the centre to make a pleat.

• Make the pleat in the centre front so the centre of the pleat is in line with the centre front.
• Stitch the top and bottom to secure the pleat.

• Cut a bias strip of black fabric 2.5cm x 20cm (1” x 8”). Press it in half then press one long side to the centre. Open out and stitch the other long side, right side to wrong side of the neckline. Press the binding up over the seam allowance. Fold it to the right side. Turn in the edge and pin. Stitch the binding down close to the edge.
• Place the low neck front on top of the 1804 white front. Baste the side edges.

• Cut a bias strip from the black fabric 3.8cm x 15cm (1 1/2” x 6”). Press it in half. Stitch it to the right side of the front waistline. 

Stitch just less than 1/4” from the edge so this row of stitching will not show after stitching on the skirt.

• Stitch the shoulder seams. Overlock to neaten and press towards the back.
• Do the collar from the 1804 instructions. use the back for the lined version if that is what you are doing. Cut out and stitch the shoulder seams of the lining and apply it to the main enclosing the collar. 
• Use the sleeves from 1806 View 1. I just did a 1/4" hem on the sleeves.

Skirt

• Overlock the hem edge. Turn up 1/4” and stitch starting and finishing 2” from each end. 
• Stitch the ribbon to the skirt 1” from the hemline.

Finishing

• Fold the back facings to the wrong side and stitch across them with a 1/4” seam allowance at the hemline. Turn. Finish the hem.
• Stitch on the 3 buttons.
• Make a bow for the neck. Stitch it to the front. I tied a short length of ribbon in a single knot, trimmed the ends at an angle and stitched it to the neck with a bar tack. (Zig zag on zero length.)
• Put fastenings on the back. 

Download the free PDF Tutorial now

Buy 1804, 1806 and 1810 on Etsy

Happy Sewing,

Val