3 Ways to Add Hearts to Doll Clothes for Valentine's Day

• It is always fun to make themed outfits for your 18" dolls.
• Hearts are perfect because they are not just for Valentine's Day.
• 3 ways you can add some heart to your doll clothes sewing.

Dress ups is fun for girls and their dolls

A really quick and easy way to comply with themed days is to add applique to either existing doll clothes or make something simple like a dress or skirt or t-shirt to put the applique on.
I love hearts! They are so simple to draw and there are lots of ways to arrange them to create your own unique outfits. They go well on girls' clothes too.

This dress has applique hearts that I cut out with the pinking shears. I had some little bows that I thought looked cute.

I have been working on a jacket with binding around the edges so I made a practice one that went with the dress.

You can use the raw edge applique method, also called fusible web applique to apply cute images from patterned fabric to your garments. When you are making doll clothes that won't be washed much you can get away with not stitching the applique on at all. the fusible web holds is without fraying really well. That's what makes it so good for using on garments you already have made up.

If you have never done raw edge applique before this you tube video gives you the basics.

You can download a heart shape from lots of web sites. Here is a search I did on Pinterest.


Dolls and hearts go together really well - Not just for Valentine's Day

Pink is so nice on any doll and hearts are cute and girly.
I used flannelette with hearts on for these wonderful winter pyjamas

And this heart fabric is perfect for the stand out lining on this little jacket made from my Bolero Series. I think it would have gone well with the dress I just made but I no longer have this jacket.

Ways to add hearts to your doll clothes

Using fusible applique to add hearts to your doll clothes is pretty simple but as you can see in the examples above there are lots of beautiful heart fabrics to make an outfit. The fabric speaks for itself.

Another really simple way to add to a new dress or an old outfit is to use heart shaped buttons. Like applique you can apply the buttons to finished garments without much trouble.

I love how the heart buttons provide some wow factor to this simple contrast add-on bib style yoke.
This dress is from 1804a Add-on Bibs. You add the bibs to the bodice of 1804.

The heart dress I made using 1804 18" Round Neck Dress. 1804 has different sleeves, different collars and different skirt lengths all in one pattern. Read more about the 1804 dress pattern here. You can get it from my Etsy Shop

Happy Doll Dressmaking,
Val