This week I’m going to revisit my easiest shirt pattern, and I’m going to teach you how to add bias tape to it for a whole new look:

For those of you who are new to sewing, my tutorial video this week will show you how to add 1/2 inch (approx. 12 mm) bias tape to a garment. Half inch bias tape looks like this when edging my easiest doll shirt pattern:

Half inch bias tape doesn’t look as snappy on small dolls’ shirts as it might on an 18″ doll’s shirt, but for beginners, it’s a good place to start with bias tape. If you’re an intermediate or advanced sewist, though, I recommend the quarter inch bias tape for fashion doll garments:

The quarter inch bias tape is probably the more appropriate size for doll garments, just because it’s smaller.

If you want to purchase the tie dye felt for this project, it’s currently available at JoAnn Fabric and Craft stores in the United States. You can also buy tie dye felt squares online at Hobby Lobby. If you live outside the US, I recommend googling “tie dye felt squares” followed by the name of your country, to see what you can find in your area.

Even though this week’s project looks kind of hard, it really isn’t. Bias tape is easy to apply to a garment, and as you can see, it gives felt a clean edge, to keep the felt from fraying. Although I sew my bias tape on by hand, most people use a sewing machine, and that looks nice too.

One last thing: please visit last Friday’s blog post and vote on the blog’s content for 2018. I’d like to hear everyone’s opinion about what you’d like me to post in 2018!

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!