Can a modern Made-to-Move Barbie wear “Tressy” doll clothes? #DollClothesPatterns #SewingProjects

The image shows a close photo of Simplicity Tressy Doll Clothes Pattern 5731 (Copyright 1964). The doll clothes patterns offered in this pattern set include a long green ball gown with 1960's bodice style; a knife pleated skirt with a 3/4 length sleeve shirt; a pajama; a pair of pedal pusher pants with a 3/4 length sleeve shirt; a ruffled blouse with an American style jumper; a V-neck dress that goes above the knee; a swing coat with 3/4 length sleeves.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

Please take a close look at View 2 in the Simplicity Tressy doll clothes pattern #5731, in the image above. I was very curious about this frilly little blouse that the doll is wearing in View 2, and I especially wondered if Tressy (a 12 inch doll made by American Character, Inc.) could clothing swap with my Made-to-Move Barbies.

So to nobody’s surprise, I sewed an outfit like the one shown in View 2 in the Simplicity Tressy doll pattern 5731!

It was part of an ensemble I put together for a little girl. Look back at this earlier blog post to get the whole story behind this doll clothes wardrobe:

A long string of doll clothes includes (front to back) bermuda shorts with a pocket, a white long-sleeved shirt with a lace collar, lace sleeves, and a front placket that's edged in lace, a floral print short skirt, a pink jumper (American sense of the word), a burgundy tank top, a pink raglan-sleeved short-sleeved shirt made of cotton, and a long burgundy floral print skirt with an elastic waist. The entire wardrobe hangs from handmade (and one store bought) plastic hangers -- some of which also have a cloth shoulder area), and they are hanging from a black string of yarn. The ChellyWood.com logo is in the lower right corner.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

Anyway, I absolutely adore the little white cotton blouse with its 3/4 length sleeves, its ruffles at the ends of each sleeve, and the ruffle front. I wanted to look through the pattern’s directions and really see how they created all the frills on the shirt.

I was a little disappointed to find that the pattern’s written directions recommended adding pre-made ruffles (as lace trim or eyelet trim), rather than providing a ruffle pattern for the garment. But I decided to follow the instructions as they were written (more or less), and this is what I came up with:

The Chelly Wood doll stands in front of a clothes line with doll clothes hanging from handmade miniature hangers. She holds up a white blouse that's about the right size for a typical fashion doll like Barbie. The blouse has a ruffled collar, sleeves that end in a ruffle of lace, and a ribbon that runs down the front of the blouse with lace ruffles trickling down the length of the ribbon on either side of the ribbon.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

Granted, it doesn’t look nearly as frilly as the image in View 2 on the pattern, but it still looked very pretty on my Made-to-Move Barbie.

A Made-to-Move Barbie models a pretty white frock over a maroon, multi-colored printed fabric skirt. The ChellyWood.com logo is in the lower left corner. The outfit clearly fits Made to Move Barbie, although it doesn't look tailor-made. In other words, the blouse fits her somewhat loosely; it doesn't accentuate the natural shape of her body.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

The skirt in these photos was made using my simple short “bell” skirt pattern for Barbie and Queens of Africa dolls. This is a super easy skirt to make!

But let’s take a closer look at the details that make the pattern seem “frilly”…

In close-up, we can see that this Made to Move Barbie doll is wearing a three-quarter length sleeve white cotton shirt. The sleeves are trimmed in white lace. There's also a white cotton lace collar and there's a ribbon of white running down the front of the blouse. Each side of the white ribbon has a silver glitter line along the edge of the white ribbon, and behind the ribbon, there's a row of lace trimming the edges of the ribbon (again, that lace runs down both sides of the white ribbon, just behind the silver glitter edging). The skirt is also shown in greater detail, as it's closer to the camera. The ChellyWood.com logo is in the corner.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

By adding lace without a ruffle, it really changes the look of the blouse altogether I think. Let’s look again at how View 2 looks on the pattern’s artwork and compare it to these images:

In this image, the Chelly Wood doll (a Spin Master Liv doll that has had her face repainted and her wig dyed grey to look like the real doll clothing designer, Chelly Wood) holds up Simplicity "Tressy" doll clothes pattern number 5731 with 7 different doll clothing items pictured on the front of the pattern.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

Does my shirt look as frilly as the image on the cover art for Simplicity Tressy doll clothes pattern #5731? Not really. I think, to make it look really ruffled, I’d have to create a true ruffle from the white cotton fabric, or some lighter weight white fabric. Of course that would take more time than just adding some pre-made lace trim.

The other thing I want you to notice is the fit.

I don’t own an American Character Inc. Tressy doll, but I’m guessing she’s a lot curvier than my Made to Move Barbie because when you look at the outfit from a distance, it does make MTM Barbie look just a wee bit curvier than she would normally seem:

A purple fabric frame surrounds a photo of a Made to Move Barbie dressed in a white shirt and a multi-colored skirt that has a sort of maroon-burgundy-white-pink swirly pattern on the skirt's cotton fabric. The photo is taken from slightly above the doll's head. This angle makes the shirt look sort of frumpy and thick-in-the-middle.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

My mother is no longer living, but she would have used the word “frumpy” to describe the way this blouse fits Made-to-Move Barbie.

So to answer my own question, “Can Tressy doll clothes fit Made-to-Move Barbie dolls?” the answer is yes, but they aren’t going to fit her with tailor-made style.

Regardless of this, it was really fun to sew the little “ruffle-trimmed” blouse from Simplicity Tressy doll clothes pattern #5731, and I’m sure the little girl who receives this blouse will truly enjoy the frilly appearance of the lace trim, as well as the versatility of having a plain white shirt that will mix-and-match with just about anything!

Most of the commercial patterns I display and talk about here on ChellyWood.com are also available for sale on eBay. However, if you’ve never purchased a pattern on eBay before, it’s a good idea to read the article I wrote called, “Tips for Buying Used Doll Clothes Patterns on eBay.” It will save you time, money, and will likely prevent buyer’s remorse.

And by the way, if you use the links I’ve provided to make your eBay purchase, this website will receive a small commission, which helps fund the ChellyWood.com website, so I can continue to provide you with all the free patterns and tutorial videos offered here.

By now you’ve probably heard that my Creative Spark class, “How to Alter Doll Clothes Patterns” is now live on the Creative Spark platform. If you own a Tressy doll clothes pattern, and you’d like to make it fit your Made to Move Barbie dolls with more of a tailor-made look, “How to Alter Doll Clothes Patterns” is exactly the right type of class to teach you how to do that.

And finally, if you’d like to learn more about my free sewing patterns and tutorials, please visit the “Helpful Tips” page.

Disclaimer/Credit/Affiliate Marketing Link:

*ChellyWood.com earns money by linking to JoAnn Fabrics, Amazon, eBay, 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, Vogue, 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.

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