Doll Dressmaking Series: Sewing on Trim

October 24, 2014 Lisa Press

There are all kinds of trim and all kinds of ways to sew on trim. In my last dressmaking post, I covered making bias trim and sewing it on by hand. In this post I will show you how to sew bias trim on with your sewing machine.

Sewing on bias trim with your sewing machine

Pin bias trim on. Other than the end pins that secure the folded end, I keep the pins horizontal. With the pins horizontal, it is often possible to sew alongside of them with the machine, without hitting them.

If you are meticulous, you can measure to make sure your trim is an even distnace from the bottom. I eyeball it, after all these are doll clothes and a bit of wabi-sabi goes with the look.

I sew most straight edged trim on with my edge stitch foot. I love this foot! Many sewing machines come with one. They also can be purchased. A great foot to have–there are many things it can do besides make sewing on trim a breeze.

It has a guide that runs along the edge of trim or fabric, because the guide is guiding by the fabric edge, it keeps your stitches in a straight line and in an even distance from the edge. To change your distance from the edge, move your machine's needle more or less to the right or to the left.

With this foot top stitching will look perfect, and if you've ever tried stitching in the ditch, this makes that easier. Some good info on this foot can be found:

Here

and

Here

I typically move my needle almost to the extreme left.

As soon as your presser foot is holding down the folded edge of the fabric, pull out that first pin. Begin sewing. The guide will be along the edge of your fabric and slightly to the left your needle will be stitching. Do the same for the other side of the trim.

Start with one trim, but more can be better.

If you do not have en edge stitch foot, you can sew on trim with a regular foot.

Use a point on your foot as the guide.
The guide should follow the edge of the fabric.
If you have a needle down option, this can help.
Have the needle slightly to the left of the guide.
You will need to take pins out as you go.

It's fun to play with sewing on trim combinations.

Doll Dressmaking Series: Making your own fabric trim

October 20, 2014 Lisa Press

I often make fabric trim for my doll clothing. It gives me the flexibility to create exactly what I need and it's not hard. You just need the right tool. The Clover bias tape maker. They come in a range of sizes. You can buy them individually or as a set. Although I have used all of my set, I use the 1/2 inch most frequently.

Once you have selected your fabric, cut a one inch strip.

Cut a one inch strip. Cut a long strip, then you will have extra trim for later.

The trick to this gadget is getting your fabric through correctly from the start. I have found the easiest way to do this is to use a large needle with a knotted thread attached to the end of your fabric strip. Dangle the needle through the bias maker starting with the wider yellow side and when it appears out the other end, pull it and the fabric will come with it.

Iron your fabric as you pull it through. it works best to do a little at a time. Once you are done, there will be a right side and a side where the edges of the fabric show.

Bias can be used for waist band trim or trim along the bottom of a skirt. I sew the waist band trims on by hand and the skirt trims usually by machine. In another post I will show you tricks to sewing trims on by machine.

I generally sew waist trims on by hand. Most of my dress bodices are lined and sewing by machine through both layers can be tricky and often does not look good. So to avoid problems, I hand sew it, which is usually quick, neater and more accurate.

Start by pinning your trim in place. Fold under at least 1/4 inch at the two ends.

I begin with sewing the bottom edge in place. This edge is the one that needs to match up accurately with the top of your skirt, so best to start here. Take small edge stitches. See how very little of the stitching shows inside your dress.

Start on the bottom edge, since that is the edge that needs to be accurately lined up.

Very little will show inside if you sew by hand.

The right waist band can make a simple dress look finished.

Your dress is done! And Save your leftovers. I have a little basket of all my bias trims. If I'm not sure what to add to a dress, I will look here first.

Doll Dressmaking Series: The Peter Pan Collar

September 24, 2014 Lisa Press

The Peter Pan collar, the very essence of cuteness. They are not so hard to make. If you can make the reversible or the lined dress, the collar is just a few extra steps.

At the end of this post is a form to get the Peter Pan collar piece.

The collar can be used with either a lined/reversible dress or the facings, both previous posts in this series. Pin and cut four collar pieces, your dress pieces and your lining or facing pieces.

The first step is to sew the collar pieces together, two and two. But they are small and have a tendency to be pushed by the needle into the needle hole and then get chewed up. To avoid this start sewing start the beginning of the collar piece over a piece of tissue paper or stabilizer. Then tear it off when you have sewn the collar pieces.

Turn each piece right side out. Push out the seams with a point turner or knitting needle. This will help the two pieces look symmetrical.

Press.

Using the centerfold line of the dress front, position the two collar pieces and baste them into place in the center where they need to touch.

Pin to sew both collar pieces to the neckline all of the way around.

Sew collar to the dress neckline.

Match lining up to dress, with right sides together. Or facing if you are using facings.

1. Sew from bottom of the back around the neckline, making sure you catch all layers, the lining, both sides of the collar and the dress fabric.

2. Trim excess fabric and clip the curves.

3. Before you sew the armhole seams, pin collar edge in so you do not accidentally catch it in the armhole seam.

4. Sew armhole seams, clip curves.

5. Turn right side out and press.

6. Continue to follow the instructions for the reversible or facing dress for the side seams.

Trim and enjoy! Form for collar pattern pieces below.

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Doll Dressmaking Series: Yes, Another Tool

September 19, 2014 Lisa Press

The next tutorial will be making two different collars. Collars can be a bit tricky because they are tiny but they need to be a bit precise to look good.

Pointy collars need to be pointy, rounded Peter Pan collars need to be rounded. And the two pieces (sides) should mirror each other.

Part of their precision depends on turning them right side out and pushing out their seams before pressing.

For years I have been using a plastic Dritz tool for poking at their seams once they are right side out. The point turner was created for making sure corners are corners but it can also help small rounded shapes take on their exact shape.

It's not so pointy that it will poke through.

I keep one by my iron and one by my sewing machine. I either lose this a lot, or really love it.

or both.

You can find it here:

Create for Less

Amazon

Farmhouse Fabrics

Doll Dressmaking Series:Dress with a bodice and gathered skirt

September 16, 2014 Lisa Press

Last week, you learned reversible dress. From the photos I have received, at least some of you got that down fairly easily. This next dress uses a few skills learned from that dress for a new style of dress—a dress with a bodice and gathered skirt.

Doll Dressmaking: A dress with a bodice and gathered skirt.

The bodice pattern piece can easily be made from your basic dress pattern. Choose where you want your bodice to end and end the pattern piece about 1/3 of an inch beyond that.

You will end up with two bodice pieces, one for the front and one for the back. You will need two of each, because you will be making a lining for the bodice.

The pattern piece for your skirt is basically a rectangle. For Phoebe I used a 10.5"x8" pattern piece, to be placed on the fold. this will give me a 21 x 8" piece of fabric for the skirt.

For the Waldorf Doll and the American Girl Doll I would make the skirt pattern piece 12"x8". The 8 inch side will go on the fold, giving you a 24"x8" skirt.

Ultimately the skirt size will come down to taste, how full do you like your gathering, how long do you like the skirt? I don't like my gathering very full.

Start by making the bodice.

1. Pin and cut two bodices, one for the outside, one for the lining. I used the same fabric for both, but you switch it up.

2. sew all four shoulder seams.

3. Press.

1. Sew neck and back edges and armholes as you did in the lined reversible dress tutorial. Right sides together.

2. Turn right side out. Press.

3. Sew side seams as you did in the reversible dress.

Finish the two 8 inch edges of the skirt. these will be a part of the back closing of the dress.

1. Iron each edge over 1/4 inch.

2. Fold over again and stitch.

Next is gathering the skirt:

1. Set your machine stitch to its longest length. On most machines, it is 5.

2. Start your first line os stitches by reversing for a few stitches, as you would most seams, to secure the stitching. But do not secure the end of the stitching. Instead leave a long thread that you can grab and pull.

3. An eighth of an inch away, repeat. You now have two rows of long stitches, secured at the beginning, with long threads at the end.

4. Take the two threads from one side of the fabric (depicted in red on my sewing) and gently pull.

5. Pull the threads until the skirt is gathered and the same length as the bottom of the bodice. Even out the gathers.

Still confused by gathering:

Craft Cupboard has a good tutorial.

and so does Craftsy.

1. Secure gathering by winding thread around a pin.

2. Pin gathered skirt to the outside fabric of the bodice. Right sides together.

3. Stitch along the lower row of gathering stitches.

1. Fold bodice lining in about 1/4 inch.

2. Hand stitch with a hem (edge) stitch to hold in place, keeping raw edge of skirt tucked in while you sew.

Your dress is almost done.

1. Hem to desired length.

2. Press.

3. Add trim if desired.

There are lot of ways to change this dress up. trims, contrasting fabric, the same fabric. Different types of fabric (wool, tulle, silk...

Have fun and send photos!

Doll Dressmaking Series: The Reversible Dress

September 4, 2014 Lisa Press

In my last post, I showed you how make a facing for a basic doll dress. A facing is one way to finish raw edges. When you line a simple sleeveless dress, you something extra, a reversible dress. Cute, simple and a bit magical from a child's point of view.

How to line a simple doll dress. Makes a sweet reversible dress.

There are several things to consider when choosing your two fabrics:

Fabric weight. Quilting cotton is as heavy as you can go. Two layers of anything heavier at a doll's size will be too bulky and the seams will get bunchy.
Color. Quilting cotton is not completely opaque. So choose fabrics where you won't see one fabric through the other. Bothe light or both dark.
If you just want a lining, white is fine. White cotton lawn is good too, since it is so lightweight.
Don't choose something that shreds or unravels too easily, like many linens. With a quarter inch seams, you may have some unraveling seams and once the dress is finished and "sealed up" you have no way of going back in and fixing any seam gaps. For one fabric I used quilting cotton, but for the other I used oxford cloth shirting, which does fray a bit.

Make two copies of your basic dress pattern and pin and cut one out of each fabric.

There are several things to consider when choosing your two fabrics.

Next sew together the shoulder seams for each fabric as though they were two independent dresses. Press the seams flat.

Pressing seams is a good habit and makes everything look better.

Place the two dresses together with rich sides together lining shoulder seams up to match.
Sew the two dresses together starting from the hem edge of the back opening up the back opening, around the neck and back down the other side of the back (see closeup below). Next sew each armhole edge together (see close up below). Carefully clip curves and cut sharp edge off of the corner.
Turn inside out by pushing/pulling back halves through the shoulder hole.

Close-up  of where to sew your two dresses together. — Close-up of where to sew your two dresses together.

Once the dress has the right sides out, you will need to neaten things up a bit. First use a semi-pointy something to push your corners out, so they look like corners and not curves. I use a tool called The Purple Thang. But there are a number of things that will work. A size five knitting needle if it isn't too pointy. You don't want to poke straight through the fabric. then press so the edges of your seams are flat.

Next you will be sewing up the side seams, but this is done so in the end the side seams will be hidden. in other words, no inside of the dress with fraying or messy or even visible seams:

Your dress now has four bottom of armhole seams. Two on the right side of the dress, two on the left. Find them.

Pin your two right armhole seams together with right sides of the fabric together. Do the same for the left side. Pin the side seams together from hem to armhole. Notice on my fabric, I've pinned blue to blue, and dotted to dotted.

Now you will sew from the blue hem to the dotted hem with your pinned together armhole seam in the middle of these two. repeat for the other side of your dress.

Flip your dress right sides out and press. Now only the hem and snaps are left. You've finished all of the tricky parts. Hopefully they weren't that tricky.

You are so close to done with your reversible doll dress.

After pressing flip dress back inside out. Pin and sew hems together leaving a gap for turning back right side out.
Fix your hem corners.
Hand stitch up the small remaining gap in the hem. You can use whip stitch, ladder stitch or edge stitch.
Add snaps and you have a dress, or kind of two.

Would love to hear back from anyone who makes a reversible or lined dress. Send photos or...problems and questions.

Doll Dressmaking Series: Facings 101

September 2, 2014 Lisa Press

How you handle the edges of a doll dress can change the look of the dress. I am going to cover several basic ways to finish edges on a doll dress beyond the basic fold over a quarter inch and machine hem, otherwise known as a single fold hem. Very basic, (a word my older daughter uses as an insult). So what else can you do?

Single fold hem, not my first choice for edging a doll dress.

Today, I will show you how to make a simple facing for our basic dress using the basic doll dress pattern (if you don't have one use the link at the end). The illustration below shows how to make the front facing.

In pink, the front facing for the basic dress.

Below shows you how to draw the back facing for the basic doll dress.

You now should have four pattern pieces, the front facing, the back facing, the dress front pattern piece, and the dress back pattern piece.

1. Use Figure 1 as a guide for laying them out. If you are using a half of the front for your pattern piece be sure to place it on the fold, likewise for the front facing. I used contrasting fabrics, which adds an unexpected element of fun, but the facing can be the same as the dress fabric.

2. Sew should seams of the facing and the dress, as shown.

3. Press should seams.

4. Machine hem the bottoms of the facing, as shown.

Pin and sew facing to dress body for neckline and the armholes RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER.

Sew from 1 to 2,

from 3 to 4, and

from 5 to 6.

Turn right side out.

Sew back edges down as a single fold hem. In another lesson we will cover doublefold hem and serging.

Single edge hems for the edge of the back.

Press and your basic dress has a basic facing. You can sew up the side seams and you have a simple dress with a simple facing.

Doll Dressmaking Series: Resizing the pattern

August 19, 2014 Lisa Press

I have made basic dress (the starter pattern) pieces for Phoebe dolls, American Girl Dolls and a 16 inch Waldorf dolls. However, you may want to sew for a different doll. In addition, not all dolls of the same brand are the same size. American Girl doll sizes have varied quite a bit over the last 20 years. And handmade dolls like Phoebe and Waldorf dolls can vary simply because they are handmade.

There are three ways to alter the size of a pattern. In order to know how much you need to change, I suggest starting with making a crude version of the dress from the pattern you think is closest to your doll size.

For those of you new to sewing, click here for the basic steps for making the basic fitting dress.

Key areas for adjusting fit in a doll dress

Once you have made that dress, try it on your doll. and answer the following questions:

Is it too big or too small?
Is it too big or too small all over or in just one or two places? Look at the neck hole, armholes, chest and waist.
How is the length? Remember to take into account a 1 inch hem.

There are three ways to alter a pattern to fit. Which way you go with depends on what type of size change you are attempting.

Too Big or Too Small Overall

If the pattern is overall too big or too small (meaning neck, chest AND armholes), you can easily adjust the pattern with an enlargement or reduction on the copier. It just requires a bit of math. If a doll's chest is 10 inches and you need 11, then copy it at 110%. Or you can use the pattern pieces to do the math. If a 6.5 inch pattern piece needs to be 7.5, divide 7.5 by 6.5 and you get the percentage of enlargement, 115%.

Three things to remember about using the copier to enlarge or reduce.

1. It only really works if all of the measurements need to be uniformly (or almost uniformly) reduced or enlarged.

2 It should not be used for making a dress pattern longer or shorter, just for circumference changes. A doll may be taller but thinner, so the dress's width should not be increased, just length, which is easy to do without the copier.

3. You are also enlarging/reducing the seam allowance. If you are only changing the pattern within 20%, this won't matter so much, but more than that can have an impact. Most doll clothes are sewn with a 3/8 inch seam allowance.

Just Need to Increase the Width

Okay so the armholes are loose enough, but the dress is snug. This can be done by adding a segment onto your pattern piece either with tracing paper or by taping your pattern piece on a piece of graph paper. See sketch below.

If the dress front is one inch too narrow, add a half of an inch to the fold edge. You can create a new pattern either by cutting out the graph paper with the taped on piece.

Just the Neck is Too Tight

Some dolls have narrow necks, some dolls have wide necks. If it is just the neck that is not fitting, the fix is quite simple. You can draw a wider neck on the pattern piece as depicted below. A bit of guess work is involved. But it doesn't take that long to make a sizing dress to try. Or you can cut your sizing dress until it fits and work backwards.

Next, facings and linings.

Doll Dressmaking Series: Base Patterns are ready

August 14, 2014 Lisa Press

I have heard from a number of people that they are excited for this doll dressmaking series. I am too! I hope to teach both how to make patterns for a variety of dress styles from a base pattern and some techniques to help you sew small.

I know I said the base patterns would be done on Monday. I have been working hard both to learn Illustrator and trying to figure out how to post the patterns so everyone can download them easily. The good news is the base dress patterns are ready for Phoebe, American Girl Dolls and 16 inch Waldorf dolls. So yay! We can begin!

The second part of the news is there is no simple way through Squarespace (the people who host this website) to upload the patterns so you can download them. So here's how it will work: I have made a form at the end of this post, just email which ones you want and I will send the PDFs to you.

I have started with these three sizes because I am assuming they are the most popular, but I am willing to add another size Waldorf or Toddler Phoebe if there is interest. But I will also be showing you how to adjust this pattern to fit a slightly different size doll. So no matter what, you win.

A series on designing and making doll dresses.

Please fill out the form at the bottom and I will send you the PDF of the pattern, Once you have that you can begin.

The next blog post is the first lesson to start once you have your pattern pieces.

The base pattern is where we start. Next lesson, making sure it fits your doll!

Phoebe modeling the base pattern pieces.

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Doll Dressmaking: Useful Tools

August 6, 2014 Lisa Press

Later this week I will be uploading a basic doll dress base for us to start the lessons with. I will use this base to teach some sewing techniques and some basic pattern drafting.

To even begin, you will most likely need to make some very rudimentary adjustments to ensure the pattern base fits your doll. So before altering this base pattern, I thought I'd show you my favorite pattern making and altering tools.

The most basic tool: a measuring tape. You will need to know lengths and circumferences of various parts of your doll before you make adjustments.

You will need to alter pattern pieces. This is best done by tracing with a pencil and tracing paper. Lots of erasing. More tracing. And sometimes getting a bit more accurate with graph paper. And when you think all is good, drawing a clean final version with a medium tipped black marker.

Although you can use tracing paper for your pattern pieces, I prefer freezer paper. You can trace onto it. And then you can iron the pieces onto your fabric for accurate and easy cutting. You can even copy onto it. Amazon sells sheets that go through your copier, which allows for easy replicating, enlarging and reducing. You can also just get a roll at the grocery store for a lot less money.

Coming in the next few days...the base dress pattern pieces for a variety of dolls. Adobe illustrator and I are becoming friends (sort of) as I try to create these.

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Too Big or Too Small Overall

Just Need to Increase the Width

Just the Neck is Too Tight

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