Teach your child to sew Skipper doll clothes this summer with today’s FREE #MommyAndMe #DollClothesPattern @ ChellyWood.com

For your free patterns and tutorial videos, please scroll down to the second set of bullets.

Today’s free sundress pattern may look familiar to you. A while back I converted the pattern to a PDF for the Skipper Gallery of patterns.

Today I’m updating the old tutorial video as well, since I made the original tutorial video while on vacation at Yellowstone Park. Because I didn’t take my whole sewing studio with me, the lighting for the original video wasn’t very good.

This new tutorial should be much easier on the eyes, and I was careful to explain every detail in the creation of this super easy felt-and-cotton dress project.

A modern Skipper doll models a handmade sundress. She stands before a turquoise blue backdrop. She has a purple streak running through her dark brown hair. Her dress bodice is made of pink felt. The dress skirt, which is gathered at the waist, is made of multicolored purple, pink and a color between-purple-and-pink wavy patterned lines. Her dress straps match the color between purple and pink. There's a ChellyWood.com logo in one corner of the photo.
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 designed this pattern for the absolute beginner sewists out there, after a mother requested a ball gown pattern for her child who was just learning to sew. This project’s super simple design makes it easy to create either a short or long dress, together with a child, in a “mommy and me” sewing format.

Mom can sew the darts and the straps, while the child sews the back closure and gathers the fabric, using a needle and thread. A child just learning to sew on a sewing machine will find it easy to sew the skirt’s hem in one fell swoop.

In this image, Barbie's little sister Skipper stands with her hands behind her back and her head turned to one side. It's a photo of a modern skipper modeling a handmade sundress. She stands before a turquoise blue backdrop. She has a purple streak running through her dark brown hair. Her dress bodice is made of pink felt. The dress skirt, which is gathered at the waist, is made of multicolored purple, pink and a color between-purple-and-pink wavy patterned lines. Her dress straps match the color between purple and pink. There's a ChellyWood.com logo in one corner of the photo.
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 pattern itself is easy to work with. Because the bodice has a sort of “bump” at the top, the doll’s chest will be well-covered, even if something goes wrong when sewing the darts.

If you’d like to know more about how to teach a child to sew, you may benefit by looking back at this post, entitled, “Tips and Tricks for Teaching Kids to Sew w/Doll Clothing Designer Chelly Wood.”

In this photo, Petite Barbie stands with her body slightly angled away from the camera and her head turned to the left of the photographer. She is an African or African American Petite Barbie doll, and with her hands spread apart, she models a handmade sundress. She stands before a turquoise blue backdrop. She has a maroon-colored streak running through her curly black pony tail. Her dress bodice is made of pink felt. The dress skirt, which is gathered at the waist, is made of multicolored purple, pink and a color between-purple-and-pink wavy patterned lines. Her dress straps match the color between purple and pink. There's a ChellyWood.com logo in one corner of the photo.
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.

You could use 1/8 inch Offray ribbon or 1/4 inch Offray ribbon for your straps, but in this video, I am using 1/4 inch double-fold bias tape. Younger children will find it easiest to use ribbon rather than bias tape, but sometimes bias tape happens to be on hand in your sewing supplies when thin ribbon may not be.

The bodice should be cut from felt, and the more flexible your felt swatch, the better. The skirt should be cut from cotton or a cotton-poly blend fabric.

If you follow these guidelines, you’ll find that this dress is pretty much a universal fashion doll dress, which will fit a large variety of fashion dolls, not just Skipper and Petite Barbie.

Image shows a simple sundress worn by three different Mattel dolls, including Curvy Barbie, Tall Barbie, Skipper, and Petite Barbie. Overlay says, "Chelly Wood dot com: Free printable sewing patterns for dolls of many shapes and sizes."
Image shows a simple sundress worn by three different Mattel dolls, including Curvy Barbie, Tall Barbie, Skipper, and Petite Barbie. Overlay says, “Chelly Wood dot com: Free printable sewing patterns for dolls of many shapes and sizes.”

Today’s patterns will fit these dolls:

Here are your free, printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making the basic sundress shown at the top of this page:

Feel free to pinlike, or tweet about my free patterns and tutorials. Here’s a JPG image of today’s free printable PDF sewing pattern, which you’re sure welcome to share on social media:

This is a JPG image of a free printable PDF sewing pattern for making a long sundress for Skipper and many other dolls including but not limited to Modern and made-to-move Barbie dolls, vintage Barbie dolls, Disney Princess dolls, Momoko fashion dolls, Ideal Tammy dolls, Pedigree Sindy dolls, and Queens of Africa dolls. The pattern is quite simple, easy for beginners to sew, and the bodice is to be cut from one piece of craft felt while the skirt is meant to be cut from cotton fabric, on the fold. The pattern itself is marked with a "Creative commons Attribution" symbol, and the pattern is marked with the ChellyWood.com logo. A printable PDF sewing pattern version of this fashion doll sundress can be found on the ChellyWood.com website.
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.

If you wish this pattern was a little bit different, you might want to think about taking my Creative Spark class, “How to Alter Doll Clothes Patterns” which is now live on the Creative Spark platform. You can sign up any time you want, and it’s a one-time fee, NOT a subscription.

And there’s no specific time limit to your course. You can just take your time and learn at the pace that suits you.

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.

To honor the trademark rights of the doll companies mentioned in this blog post, I am including links to their websites here. Please feel free to visit their website and consider purchasing one or more of the dolls mentioned.

Queens of Africa dolls are products offered by the Slice by Cake company, which holds the trademark for them (™). They were designed by Taofick Okoya. Please visit the Queens of Africa website to learn more about their company and its trademarked toys, books, and fashions.

Momoko dolls are products offered by Petworks, which holds the trademark for them (™). Please visit the Momoko Dolls website to learn more about their company and its trademarked toys.

Barbie, MTM Barbie, Francie, and Vintage Barbie dolls are products offered by Mattel, which holds the registered trademark for them (™). Please visit the Mattel Toys website to learn more about their company and its trademarked toys.

Liv dolls were products designed and distributed by the Spin Master company, which still makes dolls and toys today (although the Liv dolls are no longer in production at the time of this blog post). The Spin Master company held the trademark for the Liv Dolls (™). Please visit the Spin Master Toys and Games website to learn more about their company and its trademarked toys and games. Please be aware that the Chelly Wood animated doll is a Spin Master Liv doll that has been re-painted and had its wig colored to appear to look like the real doll clothing designer, Chelly Wood. This was done as a creative project by Chelly’s daughters, and the Spin Master Toys and Games company was not involved in the doll’s makeover in any way.

Disney Princess dolls are products offered by the Disney corporation, which holds the trademark for them (™). Please visit the Disney Toys website to learn more about their company and its trademarked toys.

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