If you’re not familiar with Kwanzaa, there are a number of resources available to you on the web. I recommend that you google the term and learn a little about this very special holiday celebrated by many Americans of African heritage.

To honor this holiday, I’ve designed a poncho pattern for fashion dolls. It fits many fashion dolls, including Mattel’s Barbie®, Mattel’s Ken®, Spin Master Liv™ Dolls, Lammily®, Momoko™, and more.

Today is the first day of Kwanzaa, and the last day of the holiday is January 1, 2018. So in the next few days, I’ll share my patterns and tutorials for the Kwanzaa poncho, the skirt worn by the female doll in the photo above, and one other little surprise.

Ken’s pants, shirt, and hat were created using patterns that already exist on this website. Here are the patterns and tutorials you’ll find helpful for those clothes (but be aware that I had to adapt the hat pattern a little; I think the hat pattern* may need some adjusting before it fits a Ken doll properly):

Ken’s Hat

• Here’s the free pattern for making the hat*
• Here’s the free tutorial video showing you how to make the hat

 

Ken’s Shirt

• Here’s Pattern 1 for a Ken-doll-sized shirt (I adjusted the sleeve length for shorter sleeves)
• Here’s Pattern 2 (use the jeans pocket pattern for your shirt’s pockets, but make it a bit smaller)
• Here’s a tutorial showing you how to make a shirt with a collar

 

Ken’s pants

• Here’s the free, printable sewing pattern for elastic-waist, pull-on pants for male fashion dolls (you won’t use the inlay)
• Here’s a tutorial showing you how to make the pants

 

Happy Kwanzaa everyone!

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!