Dressmaking for Dolls
It’s been a while since I’ve blogged about sewing progress. R12 is busy as usual. We have much to share with you. Her day is not complete until she has created something.
It seems like she can make anything from a book and she’s had great success with All Dolled Up: Sewing Clothes and Accessories for Girls & their 18 Inch Dolls. We bought ours locally at JoAnn Fabrics with a coupon, but it does have the DVD and the patterns. How about a tour of her process?
She learned about flat construction with this dress and actually combined a few of the patterns in the book to make the dress just as she wanted it. She was happy to add a Velcro closure to the back of the dress- just like the sets you can buy.
I’m always amazed at R12’s precise sewing lines and eagerness to tackle something new. But, I guess if you don’t give it a go, you don’t learn.
She thought setting the sleeves was much easier using this method and much easier on a doll dress than a fleece pull over she made a few years ago.
Ruthie was gracious enough to volunteer for the fitting. R12 modified the original pattern to include the empire waist. I especially like the ribbon detail she added to her bodice.
Time to attach the skirt to the bodice. The fitting was a great help, but Ruthie was a good sport before the doll dress form arrived. Thanks to generous gifts from family members for Christmas, she purchased a doll dress form. Swoon!
The finished product on display! I love the details of the bias tape on the collar. This was a fun little dress made from scrap fabric.
This dress set comes with a handmade necklace to match it. Of course every American Girl clothing set comes with accessories and shoes! R12 reads a lot of blogs and came up with a design for making the shoes. Notice the fabric flower on the sides. Kanzashi in Bloom provided the inspiration for those.
What a sweet doll set! This was a gift for her cousin who is also an American Girl fan. We mailed it to Maryland recently. For Christmas we gave R12 her very own business cards complete with her Miss Bliss Crafty Creations name, blog address (you might click over using the link if you’ve never been!), email, and other contact information. Whenever she makes a gift or sews for payment, she includes a card. This is pretty exciting for our creative girl whose ambition in life is to have her own sewing business- she wants to make lovely things and design fabric.
R12’s most creative moments happen when she has time to herself. How do you make time for your kids to be creative?
The dress is just adorable. She did a very good job. This is my first time replying to a blog. I happen to come across it on Pinterest while searching for a doll dress form. I noticed there was one used for making the doll dress. I was wondering where you bought it and if it can be used for American Girl 18 inch dolls? It looks like and AG doll in the pictures.
Thank you
Marie, We bought the dress form from Amazon http://tinyurl.com/mc6yw4p This is the one we have. Yes, it does fit American Girl 18 inch dolls. This post is from a few years ago now. Have you come across her more recent work? https://blogshewrote.org/2014/03/06/project-steampunk-fashion-design/ Is one sample. She does history with fashion and makes a new garment for every time period in history she studies. Thanks for reading!