Doll overalls and/or coveralls — how hard are they to sew? #VintagePatterns #DollClothesPatterns

This is the JPG image version of a free printable PDF sewing pattern for making a pair of doll overalls to fit 8 inch Vogue Ginny dolls. The pattern is marked with three purple flowers to indicate the difficulty level of this sewing project, and it has the Creative Commons Attribution symbol on it, along with the ChellyWood.com logo. Feel free to share this image on social media, but please attribute it to Chelly Wood, to honor the Creative Commons Attribution license.
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.

Are you old enough to remember Kenner’s Dusty and Skye dolls?

The Simplicity 7737 doll clothes pattern shown just below was one I owned back in the 1970’s and ’80’s. The patterns loosely fit Barbie, but they fit Dusty and Skye really well.

Dusty was awesome!

In this close-up image of Simplicity doll clothes pattern 7737, we see the Kenner Dusty doll (or a drawing meant to look like her) modeling a pair of tennis shorts, an tennis tank top, and in her right hand, she wears a sporty jacket. The ensemble is white with ribbon trims. Beside her a Ken doll (or someone who looks like Ken) models a matching outfit. These images appear on the left, but on the right, Dusty and Ken are sporting full pants suits with collars, cloth belts, and long sleeves. Dusty's pants suit is green while Ken's is blue.
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.

Dusty had a body that looked more like a real teenage girl’s body than Barbie’s body did, and she came with sports equipment! I had her golf set, her parallel bars, her trampoline, and her baseball set. I think I had her golf set too.

Dusty was fit, fun, and fashionable!

I remember the day I bought this Simplicity 7737 doll clothes pattern at my local fabric store. I really believed I had hit the JACKPOT because these doll clothes patterns could fit Dusty!

Here we see the Chelly Wood doll (really a Spin Master Liv doll that has been repainted and had its wig dyed to look like the doll clothing designer, Chelly Wood) holding up the vintage doll clothes pattern, Simplicity 7737. On the cover art for this pattern, we see dolls wearing sporty shorts outfits, full-body coveralls, evening attire, and traditional Kenyan clothing.
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.

This Simplicity 7737 pattern gave me my first experience with making a full-length set of overalls/coveralls, and let me tell you, it was a giant learning curve for me. I remember being in tears over making those collars!

Even with that, though, my own bodysuit and ninja costume patterns were designed based on the lessons I learned when sewing these overalls for Ken and Dusty.

So is it hard to sew overalls? I’ll be honest with you… it can be very challenging. So when I posted my Thursday tutorial last week, with the overalls pattern that I designed to fit vintage Ideal Velvet dolls (shown below), you may have been able to hear the frustration in my “voice” in that blog post!

The image shows a vintage Velvet doll from Ideal, modeling a pair of handmade overalls with bell bottoms. The doll's retractable hair has been wound up, and it's only showing her hair as a shoulder-length bob. She stands in a room with a speckled purple and blue wall and a white floor. The doll stands with her feet together but her hands are spread out a bit, so you can see that the bellbottom overalls are well fitted to her figure. The fabric the overalls are made of look like a starry night sky, with different shades of deep blue and royal blue speckled with teeny-tiny white dots that remind us of stars in a night sky. Her blouse is a short-sleeved cotton blouse with a floral print, and its flowers are in different colors including two different shades of blue, red, pink, and yellow. The flowers' style of artistic design on this blouse is reminiscent of fabrics from a bygone era. The ChellyWood.com logo appears in one corner, reminding the viewer to go to Chelly Wood dot com for all the free, printable PDF sewing patterns for making these overalls and many other doll clothes items to fit vintage Velvet and a bunch of other dolls.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

And yet, those overalls turned out soooo stinkin’ cute!

There are easier overalls patterns than the DustySkye doll clothes patterns. The ones I designed for vintage Ginny dolls, for example, were really pretty easy to design and sew. In fact, I made two versions of them and didn’t have any difficulties whatsoever:

On a purple background fabric with tiny white polka dots, we see three photos of a 1980's Vogue Ginny 8 inch doll modeling two different sets of handmade doll overalls. On the left, the photo shows a side view, and in this photo she wears green cotton overalls with a tiny white star printed on the fabric. Her tee shirt underneath is made of white cotton jersey. In the center we see Ginny wearing handmade overalls made of lightweight denim fabric, and she's facing front so we can clearly see the overalls' bib and straps. She wears a pink cotton short sleeved shirt underneath, which has tiny white polka dots. In the far right photo, Ginny wears the green cotton overalls with tiny white stars again, and we're looking at her from the back where the side closure flaps that snap at the sides are visible. Over the top of these photos, it says, "free PDF sewing patterns" and offers the logo for 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.

Not only were they easy to sew, but I really felt great about the final product as well — it was a real sense of accomplishment to design those overalls.

With that said, I’m going to mention that my next course on the Creative Spark online learning platform will teach you how to design your own doll pants, including overalls.

Just look at the adorable overalls I’ve made while filming this class:

In the photo, three different types of dolls are pictured, and each is modeling overalls. On the left, an eight inch Vogue Ginny doll wears a pair of green overalls with tiny white stars. She's hugging the leg of 15 and a half inch vintage Ideal Velvet, who models a pair of red bell-bottom overalls. To Velvet's right, a JC Toys Lil' Cutesies 8 inch baby doll is wearing a pair of white overalls with multi-colored stars. Chelly Wood dot com offers all of these patterns and accompanying tutorial videos for free, but if you would like to learn how to design your own doll overalls, for dolls of any shape or size, you can sign up for Chelly Wood's Creative Spark online course at Creative Spark dot CT Pub dot com.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

With my new Creative Spark course, you’ll learn how to create pants with an elastic waist, like the vintage Francie doll pants that I’m posting a pattern for tomorrow (look below), and you’ll learn how to design your own pants with a fly as well.

This photo shows Francie walking in a pair of purple ankle pants and a matching purple cotton tank top. She wears purple high heel shoes with pointed toes. The background is a mottled teal blue backdrop and the floor is white. The Chelly Wood dot com logo appears in one corner.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

We’ll also learn how to design our own leggings patterns for 18 inch dolls, but the lessons I teach will apply to all different sizes of dolls. And as we wrap up the course, I’ll show you three different ways to design your own doll overalls.

So are overalls hard to sew? They can be tricky, but with practice, you can get better and better at sewing them.

Before you sign up for my “How to Design Your Own Doll Pants” course, you should try to make one of the overalls patterns I’ve offered for free, here on ChellyWood.com — or try your luck with an overalls pattern you already own.

Is it something you’d like to learn to design? If so, this upcoming class could be exactly the right course for you!

The image shows the design for Chelly Wood's baby doll overalls from two different angles. The text over the two photos says "baby doll overalls" and in the photo on the left, the baby doll looks to the viewer's right. In the photo on the left, the baby doll looks ahead.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

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.

In the photo, the Chelly Wood doll (a Spin Master Liv doll that has been re-designed to look like the real doll clothing designer, Chelly Wood) holds up the butterick 6508 Cabbage Patch Kids doll clothes sewing pattern. Three outfits are pictured on the front. One doll wears a long sleeved shirt with regular trousers. Another doll wears a long sleeved shirt with overalls. A third doll wears a long sleeved shirt with an overalls skirt.
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.

Here’s a link to Butterick’s Cabbage Patch Kids overalls pattern 6508, for example, and it would be a good one to sew for practice!

And by the way, if you use the links I’ve provided to make your eBay purchases (like the link above), the ChellyWood.com website will receive a small commission, which helps fund my video software and supplies, 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.

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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