I have heard from lots of you about your adventures in doll dressmaking. I am so amazed at the dresses people have made, thank you for sharing.

One question I am frequently asked is what type of fastening do I recommend for the backs of the dresses. My answer is multi-faceted. Both closures have pros and cons.

For Regular Phoebe and ExtraSmall Phoebe I use snaps. I love the aesthetics of snaps, but also velcro will grab and damage yarn and Phoebe has yarn hair.

For My First Phoebe, which is a linen doll, with linen hair, I use velcro. Velcro won't damage linen hair and it is easier for little hands to manipulate. I also don't like to use little things like buttons or snaps on a doll designed for a toddler.

Snaps take more time to sew on. Here's how I do it.

The snap has two parts, so first make sure the smaller side, the male side has the prong facing up. It usually is the top of the snap. The other side, which is larger, is the female side and has the hole facing up. The smaller prong should always be the exposed side and so should the larger hole. This way they can snap together. If you have it the other way around, they won't snap.

I then do two or three loops through each of the four holes of the snap. Knot your thread on the last loop.

At first snaps take patience, but after you've done a few they should take a lot less time.

Velcro does not take patience. It is quick. I usually cut strips of velcro in half, so that the velcro strips are only 1/2 inch wide. Velcro has a lot of stick so you do not necessarily need wide swaths of velcro.

Velcro is best if you sew it on by making a rectangle, sewing around all four of the edges of velcro. This gives a sturdy attachment that can withstand lots of pulling.

A number of people have asked how do you handle velcro or snaps on the reversible dress. Just attach as you normally would and flip the dress inside out. You'll see your snaps and velcro still work even when it is flipped.