Here we have the tutorial video showing how to sew a very basic felt shirt for 18 inch dolls (46 cm dolls) like American Girl dolls and Madame Alexander dolls.
Yesterday I posted the free pattern that accompanies this video, but for your convenience, I’m re-posting it right here:
If you’re very talented at sewing, you may have scoffed at my inclusion of the statement “safety pins work okay” in the garment closure section of this video, but I included that little snippet of advice for a specific reason: some of my followers use my videos to teach their children and grandchildren how to sew.
With little beginners in the art of sewing, snaps can be pretty frustrating and difficult. Just think about how hard it is to learn to use scissors in kindergarten! So this seemingly unusual option for my “absolute beginners'” video is suggested with little fingers in mind. It’s enough, sometimes, to just give kids a chance to sew a straight stitch at the shoulders and side seams.
Of course, with felt garments, Velcro isn’t a very good option, since it will stick to the fabric. Safety pins offer the option to walk away and be “done” with the project, feeling that sense of joy at having created something your dolls can wear.
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.
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 post or 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. You can also write to Chelly Wood at this address. I’m always happy to help my followers find what they need, so they, too, can make amazing doll clothes and crafts.