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.
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.
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.”
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.
Today’s patterns will fit these dolls:
- Queens of Africa Dolls
- Momoko dolls
- modern and Made-to-Move Barbie dolls
- vintage Francie dolls
- Liv dolls
- Disney Princess 11 inch dolls
- Disney Princess 10 inch dolls
- Momoko dolls
- Petite Barbie dolls
- Skipper dolls
- Project MC Squared Dolls
Here are your free, printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making the basic sundress shown at the top of this page:
- Free printable PDF sewing pattern for a 10 inch fashion doll basic sundress
- Tutorial video showing how to make the dress (found at the top of this page)
- Tutorial video showing how to gather fabric
- How to hem a garment using the whipstitch
- How to do a straight stitch (AKA running stitch)
- How to sew snaps on fabric
- How to do a backstitch
Feel free to pin, like, 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:
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.
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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.