You might be thinking, “I don’t have time to make this dress before Halloween!” That may be true, but as it says in the video, you can substitute the candy corn fabric for any other small-print fabric. Think how cute this dress would look with a snowflake- or flower-patterned fabric! How about simple polka dots?

This dress tutorial has a longer-than-usual viewing time, but the dress itself is not too terribly complicated for the average sewist. I took a lot of pictures and included more video clips than I normally do, so that intermediate and somewhat-beginner sewists wouldn’t be intimidated by the project.

The skirt part of the pattern only displays two “ChellyWood.com flowers” (to show that the skirt is relatively easy to make), but the sleeves display four flowers (somewhat hard to make). That’s mostly because of the cuffs. In this tutorial, however, I tried to simplify the cuffs by using bias tape, but a lot of beginner sewists don’t even know what bias tape is, or how/where to buy it.

I plan to offer a future tutorial discussing bias tape, what the different types of bias tape look like, and how to use them when making dolls’ clothes. That tutorial may include some of the footage shown in this video as well, since I really did my best to demonstrate how bias tape can be used for shortcuts.

Overall, I’d give this project three flowers (about average) because, even though sleeves with cuffs can be tricky, there are detailed explanations available for newbies in this video.

And just in case you didn’t click on any of the links above, here’s yet another link to the pattern you’ll need to make this project.

Additional Information:

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My Gallery Page is the easiest way to search through all of my patterns to find what you want. Each image on the Gallery Page takes you to links for patterns and tutorials.

Need help printing my patterns? This link offers a tutorial showing you how to download and print my FREE patterns using Google Docs. (For the older print-a-pattern tutorial, which uses Microsoft Word, click here.) To review my difficulty scale (demonstrating how hard or easy a pattern is by the number of flowers displayed), take a look back at this blog post.

Please note: you must enlarge my patterns to fit a full-sized piece of American computer paper (8.5 x 11 inches or 216 x 279 mm) without margins, before printing. These designs use a scant 1/4 inch seam (4 mm to be exact).

If you’re wondering why I make patterns and videos without charging a fee, please visit the “Chelly’s Books” page, and that should explain my general motivations. My patterns are now available through “Creative Commons Attribution.” This means that I created my patterns (and therefore I own rights to them), but I’m willing to share them with everyone who will tell people about my website.

Here are some helpful ways to tell the world about my patterns:

• You can pin them on Pinterest.
• You can like them on Facebook.
• You can tweet about them.
• Use any other form of social media that appeals to you!

Are you new to sewing? I’ve got a playlist of tutorials for the beginning sewists on my YouTube channel. It includes video tutorials showing you how to do a basic straight stitch when sewing by hand, how to use the whipstitch to hem a garment, how to sew on snaps, and even how to design your own doll clothes patterns, for those who are new to design and alterations.

In case you haven’t heard, I have actually designed some commercial patterns for Lammily LLC. They have some new dolls in their line, including a new male doll, so you might want to visit the Lammily website to see what they’ve got going on.

If your question wasn’t answered here, feel free to submit a question. I’m always happy to help my followers find what they need, so they, too, can make amazing doll clothes and crafts!