Interviews With Crafters, Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection

Holly Hobby Patterns Past and Present! #HollyHobby #DollClothes

In this photograph, the Chelly Wood doll (a re-purposed Spin Master Liv doll wearing a dyed-grey wig done up in a bun and an apron advertising the ChellyWood.com website over black pants and a white shirt) holds up Simplicity Craft Pattern #6006. This pattern, marked with a copyright from 1973, shows the soft-bodied Holly Hobby dolls in four different outfits: undergarments (including bloomers and a slip), a white floral dress with a white dotted Swiss pinafore and blue bonnet, a rust-colored floral dress with a ribbon that ties around the middle of the doll and a matching bonnet with ribbon, and a brown floral dress with lace trim. If you'd like to learn more about this pattern and its history, please visit ChellyWood.com and click on "Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection" under the "categories" feature.

Are you old enough to remember the original Holly Hobby? Today’s vintage pattern on the discussion table is a Holly Hobby doll and clothes (Simplicity #6006) pattern which is marked with a copyright from 1973. In the comments, feel free to write your memories of Holly Hobby.

Or, if you’re a fan of the new Holly Hobby show on Hulu, leave a comment on that topic as well.

I owned this pattern way back when Holly Hobby was the hot new toy for girls, and I actually sewed all of the projects pictured on the pattern, including the doll herself. I used similar fabrics, too!

Here we see a close-up image of Simplicity Craft Pattern #6006. This pattern, marked with a copyright from 1973, shows the soft-bodied Holly Hobby dolls in four different outfits: undergarments (including bloomers and a slip), a white floral dress with a white dotted Swiss pinafore and blue bonnet, a rust-colored floral dress with a ribbon that ties around the middle of the doll and a matching bonnet with ribbon, and a brown floral dress with lace trim. If you'd like to learn more about this pattern and its history, please visit ChellyWood.com and click on "Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection" under the "categories" feature.

If you were a little girl growing up in the 1970’s, you probably don’t remember all the hippie-stuff that younger generations associate with that era, but I bet you remember Holly Hobby. I sure do!

My recently designed and released pioneer dress pattern, which fits Wellie Wishers and similar-sized dolls, was inspired by this Simplicity Holly Hobby pattern.

But what do I mean by that? Before I design a new pattern, a lot of times I’ll go look at the pattern shapes used to make similar garments. Take a look at the image of the back of this pattern, below, noting the area I’ve circled in green:

This is a photograph of the back of Simplicity Pattern 6006 from the 1970's, which explains the fabrics, notions, and specs for making a Holly Hobby soft (plush) doll and pioneer-style doll clothes, including pioneer dresses, bonnets, shoes, bloomers, and a slip. There's a green circle around the pattern shapes; for example the shape of the doll's leg with foot; the shape of the bonnet's brim piece; etc.... The green circle is meant to draw the viewer's attention to the template designs for patterns that are available on many patterns. If you'd like to read the entire article, written by doll clothing designer and YouTuber Chelly Wood, please visit ChellyWood.com and click on "Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection" in the "categories" section of the website.

This little pink grid shows the pattern shapes for making the shoe, the bonnet, and even the bloomers. When I design my own patterns, I am often inspired by these pattern pieces to help me come up with a “starting shape” for my own designs.

In a few months, I’ll be offering a class with Creative Spark, in which I’ll be demonstrating how I design my own patterns, step by step. If you’re interested in taking my up-coming class, you’ll hear about it if you subscribe to my channel on YouTube, sign up for ChellyWood.com’s newsletters (look for the words “email subscription”), or subscribe to Creative Spark’s newsletter.

Disclaimer/Credit/Affiliate Marketing Link:

*ChellyWood.com earns money by linking to Amazon, eBay, Michaels, Etsy, and other online affiliate programs. Links provided above may be affiliate links. For a full list of my affiliate programs, and to understand how cookies are used to help this website earn money, please see my “Privacy Policy” page.

Chelly Wood and the ChellyWood.com website are not affiliated with the pattern company or companies mentioned in this blog post, but Chelly finds inspiration in the doll clothes designed by these pattern companies. To purchase patterns from Simplicity, McCall’s, Butterick, or other pattern companies shown and discussed in this blog post, please click on the links provided here. These links below the “Disclaimer” section do not help raise money for this free pattern website; they are only offered to give credit to the company that made these patterns.

6 thoughts on “Holly Hobby Patterns Past and Present! #HollyHobby #DollClothes”

  1. My grandma made this doll for me, I still have her. I was in high school when the pattern came out. My mom bought me a copy of it to make a doll for my niece. Thanks for bringing back those memories!

    Reply

  3. I had that original pattern way back when. Made a doll and clothes for my sister. It was a nice looking doll and easy to make. Memories.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.