I had been designing doll clothing and cloth dolls for years, when my husband and I started publishing doll patterns. My husband is an electrical engineer and natural problem solver. He observed how much time I spent carefully cutting out each doll. He noted that I sometimes ruined a carefully constructed doll when I made a mistake on the face. We had tried several solutions to these two problems that worked fairly well, when my husband discovered Spoonflower. Anyone can upload a design to Spoonflower and have it printed on a fabric chosen from the Spoonflower fabric selection. I found it was much faster to make a doll when the pattern has been printed on a Spoonflower fat quarter. The printed faces were wonderfully reliable. We had such a positive experience with the printed patterns, that we decided to make the printed fabric pattern available to the public. When someone buys fabric printed with one of our patterns, we are compensated a small percentage of the sale. We usually take the credit toward a fabric purchase. We don’t make much profit from the fabric sales. We made them available as an extra feature for people who enjoy our patterns.

At first we put out a fat quarter with a trio of dolls patterns and a selection of faces and a work area for the arm and leg templates. We filled extra space on the fat quarter with some shoe patterns, a picture of the completed doll and templates for the arms and legs. Later we put out a fat quarter with a quintet of dolls by limiting the choices of faces and omitting the extras.

The dolls are the same on the two fat quarters and require instructions for my book Sewing for Mini Dolls. Pattern on my Etsy shop.

At this season some doll makers find themselves making multiple dolls for craft shows and charity give-a-ways. We find that some crafters are purchasing whole yards of the quintet on Spoonflower. They are apparently planning on sewing up not just a trio or a quintet but a whole chorus of dolls! For those ambitious sewers we got the idea of providing a PDF file with a whole page of templates so that they can easily print extra copies of the arm and leg templates on printable freezer paper. The freezer paper method should be used to apply the templates. This method is described as an option in the pattern instructions. For your sewing pleasure, the TwinkleTemplates is here for a free download. Be sure to select print full size when you print the templates and check the ruler printed with the templates before using them.

Printable freezer paper is available at sewing and craft stores and on Amazon.

Christmas Sewing, my patterns, Uncategorized Making Six and One Half Inch Dolls

When I was writing my newest book, Learn to Hand Sew for Mini Dolls, I created several patterns that I could not use in the book. Some of the patterns were not easy enough for the book. Some of the patterns could not be made with knits and I had decided that all the clothing should be made from knit fabric. My favorite pattern that did not make the book is this ballet costume.

The little tutu is made from tulle and is too difficult for a beginner. Here is a picture of a second, easier version of the tutu.

The free instructions include both versions of the tutu. Neither version is difficult for an experienced sewer, but I don’t think that a beginner should try either version.

The leotard is difficult to cut out, but once it is cut out I think that a beginner can sew it with needle and thread. An experienced sewer can make this whole costume or let a beginner help complete the easy parts.

I am giving this pattern away because I think it is too cute not to publish and I don’t have a place for it in any of my books right now. If you like the pattern, I hope that you look at my books, Sewing for Mini Dolls, which is for intermediate sewers and Learn to Hand Sew for Mini Dolls, which is for beginners. You might find a use for one or both or the books.

Click here for free ballet pattern 2.

Free Patterns, My books, my patterns American Girl mini clothes patterns, Our Generation mini doll clothes patterns

Altering pants is a little trickier than altering a simple dress. I made a copy of the shorts pattern found in Learn to Sew for Your doll. Then I measured from the doll’s crotch to her waist to see where I needed to move the waist line on the pattern.

I drew a line on the pattern at the new waist line and added a line one half inch above it for the elastic casing.

I cut out the pattern piece. Next I measured half way around her waist. I measured half the waist at 5 inches. I added 1 inch to my 5 inch measurement to find the new width for my pattern piece.

I cut the pattern in half and taped it together again, shrinking it to a 6 inch width.

I sewed the pants up, made casings at the waist and legs, added elastic to the casings. I adjusted the elastic to fit the waist and each leg.

Here is the doll in her diaper cover and sundress. I have pinned the dress up one half inch so that you can see how the dress would look as a top.

my patterns Adapting a pattern

About a year ago Soft Dolls and Animals! published an article that I wrote about making cloth doll toes. My eighteen inch (46 cm) cloth doll Kitty has toes made from my method of making doll toes.

Here is a close up of the toes.

You can purchase and down load Kitty’s pattern from My Patterns page by clicking here. Kitty’s pattern is also found in my book, Sewing for Large Dolls. You can find out how to order the book from My Books page by clicking here. My small dolls also have toe instructions included in their patterns.

I have had several requests for instructions on how to add toes to other doll patterns. If you would like to use my method of doll toe-making, download this free pdf by clicking on the words “Toe Text”:    Toe Text

I hope that you enjoy it

My books, my patterns Adapting a pattern

I recently discovered a line of fourteen inch (36 cm) dolls called Hearts for Hearts Girls. The dolls represent girls from all over the world and the stories that come with the dolls are both compassionate and proactive. I ordered Lauryce. Her story is about a girl from New Orleans in the USA. I looked to see if any of my doll clothes patterns would fit her. She can wear the dress in my Princess Irene pattern. Here is Lauryce wearing Princess Irene’s dress.

If you are interested in this pattern click here to go to my pattern page. Princess Irene’s pattern is right below the eighteen inch doll patterns.

my patterns Hearts for Hearts Girls

I have just finished a pattern for a ballgown and girl’s dress for eighteen inch (46 cm) dolls. The pattern also has princess dancing slippers, a crown, and classic Mary Jane shoes. Here are two Kitty dolls and a Springfield doll wearing outfits made from the pattern.

If you are interested in this pattern, please go to my pattern page and look for it under Kitty’s patterns. You can go to my pattern page by clicking the button at the top of the page, clicking “patterns” on the left side of this page or clicking here.

my patterns Accessories for American Girl Dolls, Accessories for eighteen inch dolls, eighteen inch doll clothes patterns

I have just finished a pattern for six pairs of bedroom slippers for eighteen inch (46 cm) dolls. There are patterns for mice, dog, and pig slippers as well as cat, bunny, and bear slippers.

The pattern set also includes a pattern for a nightgown and sleep cap. Here is my Springfield doll wearing the gown, cap, and bunny slippers.

Here is Kitty wearing a gown, cap, and cat slippers.

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If you would like to learn more about the pattern, you can click here. Select eighteen inch doll patterns from the top menu. The nightgown, sleep cap, and slippers pattern is right under the Kitty pattern.

my patterns Accessories for American Girl Dolls, Accessories for eighteen inch dolls, eighteen inch doll clothes patterns

I have had several requests for pants patterns to fit Kitty and other 18 inch (46 mm) dolls. I finally took the hint and developed a pattern for pants, shorts, a skirt, a T-shirt, and sneakers. Here are two Kitty dolls and a Springfield doll wearing cloths made from the pattern.

If you are interested in the pattern, please click here or use the pattern button at the top of the page.  You can select the Kitty patterns by clicking on the small Kitty picture at the top of the page or you can just scroll down the page. This pattern is the third Kitty pattern. You can read more about the pattern there and decide if it is one that you would like.

my patterns eighteen inch doll clothes patterns

Check out the new index at the top of my pattern page. We hope that it will help you navigate to the pattern of your choice.

The index has a link to Florabunda’s page. We hope that it will be up and running in a few weeks, but now the only thing available is a picture of Florabunda hard at work.

blog, my patterns

I have finished red striped, flannel nightgowns for my Christmas dolls and Florabunda. I’m almost done with the Christmas dolls’ wardrobe. I’m only planning one more outfit, a Christmas skirt and top. Here are my eighteen inch (46 cm) doll and my American Girl mini in their gowns.

The eighteen inch nightgown pattern is in my book Learn to Sew for Your Doll. The mini’s nightgown comes from my Nightgown,Smock Top, and Two Tiered Skirt down-loadable pattern. The mini doll wears clothes made from Twinkle’s patterns.

When I make a cloth doll as a play doll, I like to include a flannel gown. I think that it adds to the tactile pleasure of the doll. Here are Florabunda and Kitty wearing flannel nightgowns.

The little cats that they are holding are part of a new easy to sew project that I am developing. I’ve made three sizes of cats. Here is Florabunda with the largest cat.

Christmas Sewing, My books, my patterns American Girl mini clothes patterns, eighteen inch doll clothes patterns