14 inch Plaid Doll Dress

 I am getting back to sewing doll clothes now that the weather is getting colder.

I made this pattern for the first time. It is actually a 14 inch pattern designed for Wellie Wishers.

Luckily, it fits my vintage 14 inch Arranbee doll as well, because I thought it would be just adorable on her.

The pattern is from a 2017 sew along from a blog that has been going up and down lately and is currently down, so I can't link to it.

Yeah, it only took me four years to make this pattern.

This dress is so great on her! It fit without any alteration. I was worried when I picked her up to put her on that the waist would be too small.

I made one inch pleats, and if I had made them narrower, they might be a better size for the doll, but they look okay.

I would prefer red buttons, really, but it's so hard to find buttons this size! 

This was also made from my stash, and I am really happy with it. I think the long waist looks really good on this doll.

Pattern Review: Wren*Feathers Smock Dress

I had fun making Wren*Feathers Chatty Cathy's Smock Dress for Melody.

It went together so easily! I swear, including cutting out fabric pieces, it took like two hours to make.

Admittedly, this does not include adding velcro at the back, because I am out of velcro.

But that only adds ten minutes or so to the total.

Pattern Review: Wren*Feathers Melody's Gym Suit

I felt driven to make Wren*Feather's Melody's Gym Suit.

I, personally, think it is adorable. I know a friend's mother who had to wear one of these as a girl and hated it, and that makes it funny to me.

 Come on, look at the cuteness!

Knowing that it is very authentic appeals to me, also.

Pattern Review: Wren Feather's Melody Meet Dress

Wren*Feathers has a pattern for Melody's Meet Dress here. It is labeled as "April's Halloween Dress," which makes it hard to find on a search, but I guess it keeps AG's copyright department from going after her.

New Free Pattern series from Wren*Feathers

Just when we couldn't love Wren Feathers and her free patterns any more, she does something even more awesome!

She is doing a free pattern series for Black History Month, and doing dresses based on different children's books!

This week, the pattern is from the 1930s. It is based on Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper. I haven't read this, so I put it on hold at the library.

This is SO AWESOME! I love children's books and dolls. This is a wonderful combination!

The link is here.

Pattern Review: Wren*Feathers Renaissance Princess Dress

I just finished another commission to make a dress from a Wren*Feathers pattern. This is the Renaissance Princess dress from the Princess costumes patterns.

It's really pretty, but it took me a while. For one thing, it is made of four pieces- the bodice, which has attached white sleeves, the two purple over sleeves, and the skirt.

Pattern Review: Wren*Feathers Viking Outfit

I made the Wren*Feathers' Viking outfit. This is a tweak of her Princess Costume patterns.

The outfit consists of a white under dress, a blue double-sided apron, and a white cap.

Pattern Review: Heritage Doll Fashions Wrap Top Dress

I have wanted to make Kanani a sun dress from this fabric for ages.

I chose to use Heritage Doll Fashions Wrap Top Dress, available from www.pixiefaire.com.

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

Piet Mondrian and Yves Saint Laurent

 Piet Mondrian is a painter who is known for geometric paintings in primary colors.
He is a favorite of mine.

Below is his 1930 painting Composition II in Red, Blue and Yellow.

Mondrian's paintings inspired the French couture designer Yves Saint Laurent. He made a collection of dresses based on Mondrian's  work in fall 1965.

One dress in particular from this collection has become a fashion icon and was on the cover of Vogue. One dress like this is owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art,

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!