Pattern review: Eden Ava Couture Hawaiian Sundress

 I bought an embroidered top at the thrift store, and I could immediately envision the doll dress that I wanted to make with it.

I used the Eden Ava Couture Hawaiian Sundress pattern. It matched very closely to the dress that I had in my head, and it was easy to use.

The difference is that I made the bodice an inch longer, in order to utilize more of the beautiful embroidery. I also made the neckline a V to echo the embroidery.

The material of the blouse was difficult to work with as it was thin. It turned out very well, though.

I love this dress! I wish that I had finished it before summer ended. I had a very busy summer, however, and I ended up getting COVID at the beginning of September.

This dress cost me very little because I bought the blouse at the thrift store that sells clothes by the pound. It probably cost me less than a dollar. If only all my doll clothes were so cheap!

Eden Ava Couture 1930s Vintage Dress

 The Eden Ava 1930s Vintage Dress was one of the first patterns that I sewed. I keep coming back to it.

I think this is the first time that I sewed it here.

It's an easy and fast dress that looks good and doesn't use a lot of fabric.

I seem to have not put all the different variations that I made of this pattern on the blog.

Anyway, here is my latest rendition of this pattern.

Fast, easy, simple.

I am happy with it, and it is on its way to make a little girl happy.

Pattern Review: Eden Ava's 1950s Silhouette Dress

One pattern that I have coveted for a long time is Eden Ava's 1950s Silhouette Dress, available from Pixie Faire. Since I am on a roll with sewing, and with the release of Maryellen, I finally splurged and bought it.

Patterns for Maryellen

I have been sewing some 1950s dresses- actually the same pattern over and over- and this made me think about the patterns available for 1950s American Girl dolls. There are a LOT.

Maryellen is a doll that is easy to spoil!

Simplicity:
Simplicity 1245 by Keepers Dolly Duds

Simplicity 1086 by Keepers Dolly Duds

Simplicity 1244 by The Dollies' Dressmaker

Simplicity 8072 by Elaine Hegl

Simplicity 8071  by Cupcake Cutie Pie 

Simplicity 1443

Simplicity 1486 by Cupcake Cutie Pie

Patterns for Rebecca Rubin

Since I am researching and sewing for Rebecca a lot lately, (okay, I'm a little obsessed) I wanted to make a list of the patterns out there for her era. I do not own all of these. This list may be updated over time.

I feel that there are fewer patterns out there for this period, so it helps to keep track.

Also, why do almost all these patterns have pleated skirts? I'd like to see more dress patterns for this era minus the pleats, please. It gets repetitive.

I would also like to see more patterns for clothing items that are not dresses. Keeper's Dolly Duds Simplicity 1179 pattern has a coat, but I would also like to see patterns for pajamas and swimsuits and bathrobes and other things.

Please share any patterns that I have missed!

On Pixie Faire:

Crabapples Dress It Up

Crabapples Fancy Edwardian Doll Clothes

Crabapples Edwardian Fancy Bundle

Eden Ava Couture 1912 APRON DRESS 18" DOLL CLOTHES

Fashioned by Rebecca 1915 SWEETHEART PLAID BLOUSE

Forget Me Not Designs 1914 Girl Scout Uniform

Love U Bunches LADY LILLY'S TEA DRESS

Love U Bunches LADY LILLY'S WINTER EVENING DRESS

Thimbles and Acorns A Piece of History Dress

On Etsy:

Anne Van Doren Designs Edwardian Style Dress and Apron

Anne Van Doren Designs Victorian Style Underwear

Hint of History 1912 Kimono Variation Dress

Hint of History 1912 Shawl Collar Dress

Jen Wrenne Straight-front pleated skirt dress pattern

Jen Wrenne Irene Dress

Keeper's Dolly Duds PDF Pattern KDD08 "1914 Pleated Frock"

Keeper's Dolly Duds Simplicity 1179 Vintage Inspired Clothes

Mother of Nine circa 1910 Edwardian 3 Dresses

Elsewhere on the Web:


Jen Wrenne FREE Sailor Dress Pattern

Jen Wrenne FREE Stenciled Tea Dress

Primrose Lane Amy's Eyelet Dress Pattern

Primrose Lane Brittany Pattern

Primrose Lane Felicity Pattern

Primrose Lane Michelle Pattern

Sense and Sensibility 1914 Doll Dress Pattern

Sense and Sensibility Edwardian Doll Apron Pattern


Edit: Linouttematha from AGPT found the following patterns:

Ruthie, Emily and Me's Sleeveless Pleated Sundress
Bunny Bear's 1900 Sailor Dress Pattern
Med Welch's Mary's Dress No. 1001
Med Welch's Sissy's Favorite No. 1019

Thank you for sharing, Linouettematha!

Elsewhere on the Web: (I don't know how well some of these fit AG dolls)

Ladie's Home Journal Pattern for Lottie Lane Kestner dolls

Bluette 1913 Winter Coat Pattern for Small doll

Daisyette Vacation Clothes

The Mary Frances Sewing Book

Inspiration for further Rebecca dresses can be found at The Bleu Door. This shows dress patterns produces for Bluette dolls, and you can search by year and decade.

Dolly's New Wardrobe

A friend's daughter just got her first American Girl doll, Rebecca. I was so excited to start creating a wardrobe for her! Every doll needs some clothes.

I asked what the daughter's favorite colors are, and was told pink and purple. I tried to use these colors as much as possible. I think that will become very obvious when you see the pictures.

I first used my favorite doll dress pattern, Eden Ava Couture's 1930s Vintage Dress.  This dress is very classic, easy to sew, and it uses a tiny amount of fabric. I once made three doll dresses from one adult women's blouse using this pattern. Yes, it's about 16 years late for Rebecca, period- and style- wise, but I decided to go for it.

There was a special request for pajamas. I don't have as many patterns for pajamas as for dresses, but I did have one.  I used the pattern for Molly's original pajamas, which you can download for free from AG Playthings.  I wasted a bit of fabric figuring out how the collar works, but I got there in the end. It did not help that while I was sewing the pajama top, the air conditioner was not working in my house. The sewing machine is in the hottest room in the house. I had a mission, and I was not going to let melting stop me!

The pajama pants were a whole 'nother thing. I thought the pants pattern piece looked really wide, and I didn't want them too baggy, so I made each piece a half inch narrower, making the whole thing overall two inches narrower. Hoo boy, was that insufficient. Elastic was the only thing holding the pants up. They looked like clown pants meet bell bottoms. I ended up cutting another inch off each side. The pants are still loose, but now they look much better. For anyone keeping track, that is six inches of fabric I took off the waist overall. Eek.

To me, the pajamas look like a lab coat- at least she can role play if she wants to, I did my best and the end result surprised my by looking different than I imagined.

I made a dress using the Stenciled Tea Dress from Wren*Feathers. This is also a free pattern, and a simple one. This is much more period appropriate for Rebecca.

I am really proud of it. The hardest part was making the stencil out of freezer paper. I already had freezer paper for applique projects, but I had to go to work and use a special tool to cut out the tiny shapes. Once the stencil was made, I ironed it on the dress front and painted on the design. That was easy!

Here is the stencil on the dress front as I paint on the design:

Eventually I plan to make some more period-appropriate clothes for Rebecca, too. I have some.
Keepers Dolly Duds has published Rebecca-period dress patterns, through Simplicity, pattern 1179. These patterns are very elaborate though, and I wanted to do some quick projects to start Rebecca's wardrobe before tackling these fancier pieces.

Here are all the outfits together:

It's a cute little starter wardrobe, if I do say so myself!