On Monday I showed you a preview of the summer top. On Tuesday, I gave you the free pattern. Today’s Wednesday, and here’s my tutorial video showing you exactly how to sew this cute little summer halter top /tank top shirt that’s designed to fit 18″ dolls like American Girl dolls, Madame Alexander dolls, and similar-sized dolls.

I usually offer a chance to print those patterns again from the DIY tutorial page, so here you go:

• FREE printable 18″ doll summer shirt pattern
• You’ll also need this pattern for the ribbon measurement (this free doll clothes pattern fits 14″ dolls)

Yes, you’ll notice that there’s an extra pattern there. I couldn’t fit the ribbon / bias tape pattern on the 18″ doll summer shirt pattern page, so I’m re-posting the pattern I designed for the 14″ doll shirt that actually matches this one. In other words, if you also own a Wellie Wisher doll from American Girl or a Hearts for Hearts Girl doll, this second pattern will probably fit her. That way, you can make matching shirts for the big sister and the little sis!

You could use this tutorial to make either shirt, but if you want to see the one that goes with the 14″ dolls (it uses ric rac trim), here’s the link to that pattern’s tutorial as well:

• FREE tutorial video for sewing the 14″ doll summer shirt

That’s all I have to share today. Check back next week to get more free patterns and tutorials! If you enjoy my free patterns and tutorials, scroll down to the “Additional Information” to see what you can do to help keep my blog running. Thanks!

 

Additional Information:

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Some of my followers have wondered what motivates me to give my patterns away for free.

First of all, I’m a librarian by trade. Librarians love free stuff! We believe that the more a person knows, the more enriched their life will be. So it may sound kind of crazy, but I want ChellyWood.com to become a sort of library of free patterns that help people learn to sew doll clothes.

If you’d like to learn more about my motives, feel free to visit my Chelly’s Books page.

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).

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. 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.