pattern-less doll dress tutorial…
let me get this out of the way… I’m sorry. my camera stinks. and my stinky-camera skills stink… but I photographed the heck out of this last dress I made so that you could make one too… so here goes…
straighten out your fabric!! this is important, and often over-looked… but doll clothes are so small and things can easily go awry… but if you take the time to wash, press and straighten your fabric, you will save yourself mountains of frustration… just google “straighten fabric” if you’re unsure of what to do…
for my zippypops dolls, cut a 22” x 9” rectangle for the dress body.
fold about a third of an inch, fold again, and press the 9” edges. this will be the back dress opening. …let me say: I hate sewing with pins… they get in the way and poke you, mess up a nice smooth seam, and raise the frustration level, so I try to get away with not using them… this means lots of ironing.
go back to the cutting mat, fold the piece lengthwise in half. then fold again so that each outside, seamed edge is on top of the middle…
you should have 2 folded edges on the right… we are going to cut 2” on the bias… those will be the arm holes! so make sure if your fabric has a top and bottom, cut the bias on the top.
voila! now for the sleeves… either the same fabric, or something complimentary… and again, straighten out the fabric!! cut 2, 9” x 3” (or longer) rectangles.
and we are also going to cut a two inch bias on the ends… so fold in half. as with the dress body, if your fabric has a top and bottom, make sure you cut the bias on the top. (sorry for the flash blow out… more will follow)
NOW! this might seem persnickity… but we are sewing French seams. yes. we are. why? well, 1) because, when it comes to sewing, I am a neat-freak. all those fraying edges alarm me. but also 2) doll clothes require such teeny-tiny seams, it just makes sense to me to take that extra step to insure that they are small, but also strong. SO! with wrong-sides together sew the short, straight, outside edge of the sleeve… like, a FRACTION of an inch from the edge.
and then trim the seam down… you should have, maybe 5 woven threads in that edge.
then open and iron the seam flat on the ‘wrong’ side. then fold, and iron the seam. (remember? no pins)
PRODUCT PLACEMENT! my friend Shaerie owns an amazing fabric store/sewing school called Sew L.A., and when she visited me last, as a nice surprise, she brought me this amazing pair of Gingher springing, dressmaker scissors. I never knew I needed them, and now I can’t live without them…
okay… back to sleeves… sew a teeny-tiny seam, making sure that you are encasing the frayed edges inside… voila! French seams!
to insert sleeves… wrong sides together, pin the matching triangle shape of the sleeve to the triangle shape of the dress body. (may I suggest glass head straight pins?) again, we are doing French seams. stitch. trim. press flat. then press the edge. then sew seam on the wrong sides.
on the cutting pad, lay the dress flat. if need be, trim the top edge so that it is straight.
we have to gather the top. so with the machine’s widest stitch setting (and do not back stitch) sew 2, yes TWO, straight stitch lines along the entire top edge of the dress.
gently but firmly pull both the top two threads, on each side, in order to bring the top edge to a gather.
in order to get a perfect fit, try it on the doll. make it a *little* bit shorter than you might think… things stretch out a bit in sewing… and tie both ends of the top thread in an “around the world” knot… just so things stay put. (poor girl’s not finished yet, and she has her eyeballs dangling and pins stuck in her head… nasty business)
we’re going to bind the edge with a bias strip. I prefer to make my own. I think the store-bought ones are a little thick, and we have a lot of material in the neck-edge gathering, but I have used them before and they’re fine if you want to.
before the bias binding gets pinned and sewn, carefully and evenly distribute the little ruffly-gatherings. then pin the binding right sides together, leaving a little flap on each end that we are going to fold over and pin to the wrong sides. sew with the binding side down, using a fairly small stitch.
make sure you have a nice, straight stitch with a consistent edge. if need be, go over it again with the bias side up. (FLASH BLOW OUT!)
press the binding flat. trim loose threads from the gathered edge. fold and fold in the tidy ends.
fold and pin. now, at this point, you can either “stitch in the ditch” if you feel confident, OR, get comfy on the couch and do a “blind ladder stitch” (I always prefer comfy on the couch) sew a little button on one side.
right sides together, pin bias to sleeve edges. making sure that you fold over the ends. stitch.
okay! we are almost done… well, kinda. we need to hem… try the dress on the doll and just eyeball the length. then press. fold under the raw edge and press again.
now go sit on the couch and hem. I do a blind ladder stitch on the hem as well… catching only 2-3 threads-worth of the visible fabric and running the interior stitch inside the seam. I also stitch up the little bit on the sides. I tried to photograph this, but once again FLASH BLOW OUT! next time I make a dress I’ll do a better job of photographing this and I’ll post it. but for now…
and while I’m on the couch, I’ll trim, fold, and blind ladder stitch the sleeve binding as well. once that’s finished, thread some elastic thread into a blunt-end needle, slip it into the bias-casing through a stitch gap, exiting through the same gap. “around the world” knot TIGHT and pull it up into the casing.
NOW! this next part was the most difficult for me to learn and I had to have someone sit down and show me… but I will try to explain here… we need to make a sewn button loop. measure off a length of embroidery floss… how long? oh… maybe two arm’s length? and pull it apart so that you have 3 threads. thread BOTH ends of the floss into the needle eye… so it looks like this:
insert the needle into the end of the neck bias, at the top. catch several fabric-thinknesses… you are going to want this to be anchored… you might need some needlenose plyers to pull this through… but don’t pull it ALL the way through… you should leave the little loop-end on one side because you are going to turn around and thread your floss into that loop-end and pull tight. that is your anchor-knot.
then insert the needle through the other end of the bias casing to form a little loop. test it to make sure you can get your button through it. then… oh, I’m just going to let the photos explain… but what you are essentially doing is carefully tying a bunch of knots around the loop. when you get to the end, bury the stitch.
AND THAT’S IT!! you could add pockets or embroidery or whatever… but your dress is done. I usually wash it a couple times… I’ll throw them in with a load of whites and a bit of bleach… if the cotton fabric is good quality, it won’t fade that much, but the bleach will help to take the crispness off and give the dress a nice soft worn-in feel and look. I also air dry… and THEN I take out the loose gather stitches that are still running along the top. I’ll post a photo of this doll with her dress when she’s done!
THANK YOU AND GOOD NIGHT!
