I keep a PO Box for my ChellyWood.com business, and just imagine my surprise when I opened up my post office box and found vintage Ginny doll clothes wardrobe pattern, Simplicity 1372, waiting inside!

This Christmas will be the first year my husband and I will be spending the holidays alone (without our two grown children) in more than 20 years. I was worried that it would be a sad and lonely holiday without my kids.

But this little treasure, which appeared in my PO box earlier this month, has truly made my holiday special!

The letter which came with the patterns was brief, but I guess Sally, who sent these hard-to-find patterns, has been following my website and decided that I could put these patterns to good use. And as you can see, in the letter I wrote to her, that’s exactly what I intend to do:

When I opened the package, I found that the patterns included not only the instruction sheet (see image at the top), but four envelopes.

It’s funny because this is how I organize my doll clothes patterns too! I even made a video about it!

All of the pattern pieces were included in these envelopes. Nothing was missing. Wow. Just… WOW.

And can we all admire, for a moment, the lovely cursive handwriting on these envelopes? Sooo pretty…

As it says in my letter to Sally, I don’t copy people’s copyrighted patterns. That strikes me as uncivilized and very unfair to the original designer.

Rather, I use my collection of vintage patterns to inspire my own creations. And if you were to go through the plastic tub where I keep my vintage patterns, you would recognize how the doll clothes I’ve designed over the years have been shaped by the designs from my sewing past.

For example, my Rainbow High “cottage core” dress, looks a lot like the yellow strappy dress in View 4 of this Simplicity 8281 Barbie doll clothes pattern:

Here. Compare that dress to my Rainbow High doll dress design, and you’ll see the similarities:

Rainbow High dolls cannot wear Barbie doll clothes patterns, and so I had to make up a pattern of my own, using the idea behind the sundress in the Simplicity 8281 Barbie wardrobe pattern.

Over the years, there have been many doll clothes patterns that have inspired my own creations.

Before I started to design overalls for my own Vogue Ginny doll, for example, I took out the instruction booklet from this Butterick 6508 Cabbage Patch doll clothes pattern, and really read through the instructions extensively.

I also looked at the sketches in the instruction booklet, to make sure I understood how the overalls would fit in both the front and the back of the dolls. Sketches can inspire me tremendously!

Do you see how their pattern uses elastic in the back but not in the front? I designed my Ginny doll overalls in much the same way:

See how these overalls use elastic in the back but not in the front? That concept came from the Cabbage Patch Butterick 6508 pattern.

I can say that about a lot of the patterns in my personal collection. They really truly inspire new patterns, which I typically design from scratch, on my own.

If I had to guess which patterns have most thoroughly inspired my own doll clothes patterns over the years, I would guess that the Simplicity 8281 (shown above) has made the strongest impact on my own designs, along with my Dusty and Ken clothes patterns from Simplicity 7737.

Can you guess which doll clothes I’ve designed that were inspired by Simplicity 7737?

Another pattern that I remember learning to sew from, and which I’m sure has inspired many, many of the patterns I’ve made over the years, has been my Simplicity 4883 Tammy doll clothes pattern.

This was the first doll clothes pattern I remember owning. I grew up in the 1970’s, so these doll clothes styles were actually outdated when I was growing up. And that’s how I learned to alter my patterns — by transforming Tammy’s pedal pushers into wide-leg pants and by transforming Tammy’s 3/4 length coat sleeves  into full-length coat sleeves.

Gosh, I had so much fun with this pattern! I can’t even begin to describe the joy this pattern brought me, even though the fashions were WAY out of style!

Now… a few questions for all of you: What doll clothes patterns do you remember fondly from long ago? Do you still own them? And what impact did they have on the sewing projects that you still do today?

Please answer in the comments section below.

And before I go, I’m going to give one more special digital “Thank You” to Sally for her kind gift of Simplicity 1372 vintage Vogue Ginny and Muffy doll clothes patterns:

Your donation of these treasured doll clothes patterns will undoubtedly inspire future doll clothes patterns, which I will design and make available to the public, right here on ChellyWood.com in years to come.

Best wishes for a happy New Year in 2023!

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.

To read more about my free sewing patterns and tutorials, please visit the “Helpful Tips” page.

For my free doll clothes sewing tutorial videos, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel, ChellyWood1.

Maybe you already own some great commercial patterns, but you really wish you could alter them to look just a little different. If so, my Creative Spark class, “How to Alter Doll Clothes Patterns” may be just what you need to make your commercially designed patterns into the pattern you see in your imagination.

Are you worried that you won’t have time to take a course in doll clothes pattern alteration? You’ll be happy to learn that, for any class on Creative Spark, you don’t have to follow a schedule. Just sign up when you’re ready.

It’s a one-time fee for the course, and there’s no specific time limit to finish your course. You can just take your time and learn at the pace that suits you. So please go have a look at my paid courses on Creative Spark, using this link.

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.