Doll clothes

I think making doll clothes is more challenging than sewing for me!!! The pieces are so small and even a tiny mistake is *huge* in proportion to the item. :-(

Yes, despite my above comment, I think it's loads of fun. I've copied antique doll clothes and had some of my creations in museum displays.

Erin

I was horrified at the price of clothes for my daughter's baby born doll - they were more expensive than things I was buying for her! Luckily the doll is quite big and fits in 0000 (very tiny size) regular baby clothes.

A while back (maybe a couple of years???) some posted on this ng a link to a great site with detailed instructions on how to make doll clothes. I can't find the site but will keep looking.

I found this book, and it looks pretty promising: The Dolls Dressmaker: The Complete Pattern Book, by Venus Doger

Oh, and BTW, I own Felicity, the colonial American Girl doll. She in and of herself was pretty expensive, and there isn't any way in heck I'm going to pay $20 for a dress that looks like this:

I can get $25-55 for a set (hat & body) of theme clothes for a concrete goose. You too can dress your concrete geese to match the party...

The same people that gripe because they can't get made to measure blouse for $8-10, because that is what Walmart sells blouses for, will drop $30-50 to clothe a yard goose without a qualm.

As long as you stay away from Barbie. Although Goth Barbie might be fun.

Beats American Gothic Goose, anyway.

Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "....what a ride!"

SPLAT!!

Insanity comes in all shapes and sizes.

Oh, I dunno... How about American punk vampire goose?

Kate,

Here are my doll stuff links. Don't know how much help all of them will be, but there might be sumpthin' in there. ;)

Size charts:

I had more links than that, and some of them were really great. But they are coming up file not found, etc. :( Have fun!!!!

Sharon

There are several yahoo groups for BJDs. Also you might want to look at:

These would give you an idea of what collectors are interested in dressing their dolls like (as well as the occasional pattern). From what I have seen (I am a doll collector, but have resisted these expensive little items) collectors will pay close to what you would get for human clothing, and the dolls are much more cooperative about fittings.

Thanks, Sharon. Some of those will be useful for supplies and ideas.

Great tips and nice sites. many thanks.

Hehehehe - that I know from past experience! They don't squawk and bleed when you stick pins in, and the don't wriggle... Also, they tend not to be late for fittings! :)

That's right, they are very cooperative, as long as you don't try to fit a 12 inch doll outfit to a 14 inch "test" doll .. I did this the other night when I was (a bit) tired, and for the life of me, I could not figure out why it was too small.... It really had me talking to myself for awhile, and I thought the doll would grow teeth and bite me (laughter)......

me

Kate, just start drafting. This will be more useful than attempting to make some other patttern firt. I have found that in most commercial patterns, there is one outfit that fits well and the others just go on the doll.

Besides, I am metrics impaired. I have no idea how tall the dolls are, waist sizes or anything else.

Miz Spike

The dolls (two sizes) haven't arrived yet. We were trying to get something done ahead of time. I did find a place that does some neat (if a tad conventional for me!) kit, but if I end up designing Goth granny and QE I vampire stuff for them there could well be a market! I'll certainly be draping on the doll for some stuff, and turning that into patterns would NOT be hard: I cut my pattern drafting teeth on that process as a kid, long before I knew any 'proper' drafting techniques! :)

I work in a combination of metric/imperial. Buying 60" wide fabric by the metre is standard in the UK! Or buying 115cm wide fabric by the ell from the historical costuming nuts... :D

"Erin" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@c74g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

I adore making doll clothes. I stick to 18" dolls, but it's the best way in the world for me to make something artsy-fartsy and then I photograph it and either sell it or give it away. My niece was here recently and she was drooling over my American Girl Dolls. I had two that were alike, so gave her one and all the clothes I had in a box that wouldn't sell. She was dazzled by all of it. Her response alone was worth it.

I also make doll quilts. It's, again, an easy way to get rid of small bits of fabric I just can't part with, and I often use old Vellux blankets or regular blankets for the backing.

I love the dolls you're looking at!

I found some lovely patterns for various types of dolls here:

Kate Dicey wrote in news:44892bd8$0 $22090$ snipped-for-privacy@ptn-nntp-reader01.plus.net:

P.S. Need any Old Bay? :)

Not yet! :) Got sent a big box the other week by one of the WW crowd. :)