How to make adjustments for thicker fabric when sewing doll clothes

Thicker fabric makes a huge difference when you sew small garments.

You can't just wake up one morning and say, "I'm going to use denim instead of quilting cotton".

I would also like to add that if you have trouble with your hands or fingers such as arthritis you will find it difficult to thread elastic through the denim waist band. If you really need denim trousers I recommend the flat front waist trouser patten 1812. There is only half the distance to thread the elastic.

My example is the button tab capris I made end of 2022.

They need:

• a button tab
• a stitched on waist band 
• and cuffs included in the inseam

All these require some special treatment to make them work in denim instead of light weight  quilting cotton.

Button Tab

If you try to make a strip with a seam in it for the tab you won't be able to turn it right side out. That's my observation anyway.

You could possible sew the seam with right sides out then centre the seam in the back. Just fold down the end like I did in my instructions before you do the seam.

I already had a pattern piece that was going to work if I folded it in 3 to make the tab. This piece was my waist band. I didn't have to measure up a special strip and try to get it just the right width.

I'm all for use what you've got with as little changes as possible.

Not having seam allowances kept my button tab nice and flat.

Waist Band

To make the pockets fit neatly I needed a sew on waist band. This means more seam allowances. So I decided to finish the raw edge for the inside of the waist band and have it overlap the waist seam as one layer rather than turn the edge under. It's not as neat but it also isn't as bulky.

This is my sample garment so this waist band is not as neat as I would like. I thought I could get away without pinking the edge, but not so. In the instructions I have said to pink the edge then zig zag it.

But you can see what I mean about less bulk.

One last thing about the waist band. You have to use 1/2" elastic. 1/4" elastic isn't strong enough to pull-up the denim waist band. The denim stretches out the elastic instead and the waist doesn't hug the doll.

Cuffs and the Inseam

With quilting cotton fabric I generally take the easy way and just sew the inseam with the cuffs rolled up. No-one can see much of that section when the doll wears the pants so cuffs with a seam through them doesn't really matter.

But with the denim, all those layers in the cuffs makes sewing the seam really hard. So you have to unroll the cuffs and wiggle things around a bit so you get the inseams together neatly for sewing.

Sew the seam then roll up the cuffs again. Denim is pretty stiff so the cuff tends to just stay in place.

There is not a lot of room between the tab and the in seam so you just have to make sure you don't accidentally catch some of the cuff.

Look out for this design in my shop before the end of 2022.

Happy Doll Dressmaking,

Val