Tips for Sewing Tiny Straps and Belts with Chelly Wood #SewingTips #DollClothesPatterns

The camera angle for this photo is just above a sewing machine's presser foot. There's a tiny strap trapped between the flat plate on the sewing machine's platform and the presser foot. Bright yellow arrows point to the left and right of the tiny strap of fabric, indicating that the feed dogs are just to the right and left of the doll clothes strap. The ChellyWood.com logo appears 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.

The arrows in the image at the top of this page point to the feed dogs on a sewing machine. These are the “teeth” that grab the fabric and move it along when you press your foot against the pedal that makes your sewing machine move.

Those of us who have been sewing doll clothes for a while have run across the problem of not having the feed dogs “catch” the material, whenever you’re sewing a tiny strap or belt for a doll. You can see in the image below that the feed dogs don’t actually touch the material of my doll’s shirt strap:

This is a photo of a presser foot for a sewing machine. Between the plate and the presser foot, we can see a doll clothes belt or garment strap that is being sewn. It's quite tiny -- only a quarter of an inch (5 or 6 mm) wide, so the feed dogs are not catching on the fabric at all.
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.

So how do you get the fabric to move along?

Well, it’s not recommended because you can break a needle this way, but I actually grab the tail of my thread at the back of the presser foot, and gently pull my garment strap along.

This doesn’t keep your Barbie belts or garment straps from dipping down into the hole for the bobbin though. Don’t you just hate when that happens?! Ugh! So do I!

And I can tell you it’s not a fool-proof prevention, but one piece of advice I can give you is to start your stitches a quarter inch (or 6 mm) from the raw edge of the strap’s fabric. Also, end your stitches one quarter inch from the edge of the strap’s fabric too. Don’t go all the way to the very edge.

In this close-up photo, a doll dress or shirt strap is laid over the top of a ruler. Using the ruler as a measurement tool, we can see that the stitches Chelly Wood has made on the strap end less than a quarter of an inch (4 mm) from the end of the garment strap.
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.

Another suggestions I have is this: only move your straps and belts forward in the sewing machine. Don’t use the reverse feature to tie a stitch-back-and-forth “knot” at the end of your stitch because to do so, is definitely asking for trouble!

Instead, just give your straps and belts a single-direction stitch without ever backing up.

Now, if you’re worried that your threads will unravel, make the tail at the front and back of the strap or belt really long, and tie the two threads in a knot at each end, just like you would with shoe laces:

In this photo, a tiny doll clothes strap rests atop a woman's index finger. The strap has been sewn with a single stitch on a sewing machine, and the woman's thumb holds the tail thread that is left after stitching, pressing the thread between the thumb and index finger.
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.

But my final piece of advice is the one I actually follow, myself, for the most part. Just whipstitch those tiny belts and straps by hand! It will save you a lot of heartache!

The hands of the Chelly Wood doll (really a Spin Master Liv doll that has been repainted and re-wigged with grey hair) holds onto a garment strap with one hand and with the other hand she pushes a needle through the folded fabric, to create a whipstitch.
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.

I really only use a sewing machine for belts and straps if I’m in a rush. The rest of the time, I sew them by hand, and I always feel like it has been time well-spent because my sewing machine didn’t eat my strap and wind up with a bad case of indigestion.

2 thoughts on “Tips for Sewing Tiny Straps and Belts with Chelly Wood #SewingTips #DollClothesPatterns

  1. All good suggestions. I would add that the use of a ziipper foot for narrow pieces may help.

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