Meet Judy Littlechap!

She’s a 13 inch doll, and I recently found her at my local Goodwill store.

Back in January, someone named Christine C. asked me if I was planning to post any patterns for the new 13 inch “My First Barbie,” and I told her that I didn’t have any plans to that effect.

And then I ran across Judy Littlechap, who will likely be able to swap clothes with the new 13 inch Barbie — what a find! (And yes, I whipped up that little swimsuit she’s wearing, so she can meet all of you with some modesty…)

The Littlechap family of dolls was only in production for one year — 1963 — before they were discontinued, but there was a whole lineup of fashions designed for them. I’d like to design some clothes that would have suited this pretty little doll back in the early 1960’s.

So I rifled through some of my old patterns to seek inspiration. My first thought was to make her a poodle skirt, like the one you see in the lower right corner of this McCall’s Crafts 5462 pattern from the 1980’s:

In spite of her height, Judy is actually the teenage daughter of the Littlechaps, and the mom doll, Lisa Littlechap is taller than Judy! So a poodle skirt seemed like a good choice for a teenager.

But then I read online that Judy Littlechap was supposed to look sort of like Jackie Kennedy.

I can see that. Right?

But I can’t see Jackie Kennedy in a poodle skirt.

I think of Jackie Kennedy as wearing classy dresses like the one in View 4 below (the one with the wide white collar in my Barbie Around-the-Clock Wardrobe Pattern 2896):

Or maybe I could create a jacket-and-dress combo like the one in View 2 from my Barbie Trousseau Wardrobe 2895 pattern, for Judy Littlechap. What do you think? That would certainly look classy, if I used the right fabrics.

I looked for some of Judy’s original clothes on eBay, and she did have a plaid pleated skirt with a Girl Scout-ish top, so the skirt in View A below might help me design something similar. This is a modern revival of vintage Simplicity pattern number 5785.

I also like the black plaid dress in View E above, but I’m not fond of those sleeves. They look sort of spacey, like they belong in Star Wars or something. They’re not very 1960’s-ish, if you ask me.

Of course my Tammy doll clothes pattern number 4883 has some good choices. I can see Judy Littlechap wearing a pair of pedal pushers with a crop top, like the set shown in View 4 below.

My Simplicity 5731 Tressy doll clothes pattern set has some great choices too. That red coat is ultra 1960’s! And I can totally picture Judy in the matching red dress with a V-neck.

Now that I look at it again, the skirt-and-top ensemble in View 6 would really look good on her too. They have a sort of schoolgirl theme going on with that ensemble, and I like it.

And then we come to my Simplicity 4510 doll clothes wardrobe. Judy didn’t have a boyfriend — sadly the dolls were discontinued before she could meet someone and fall in love! So I don’t think we’ll need a wedding dress for her.

But I do like that skirt and top in View 2 of this pattern. I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be a top or a jacket, but either way, it has a Jackie Kennedy vibe going on.

What are your thoughts? If you were going to design some outfits for Judy Littlechap, what outfits would inspire your creation? Please leave a comment!

And oh! Hey! Christine C., if you’re reading this, just in case these upcoming patterns do fit the 13 inch Barbie dolls, let me know what you’d like me to design for 13 inch fashion dolls!

I can always resize my regular-sized Barbie patterns to fit Judy (a skill I’ll be sharing in my new Creative Spark course, by the way — How to Design Doll Pants Patterns). But I’ll more than likely just take the patterns out of their envelopes and use them as templates, building my own patterns off of a sloper, like I teach people to do in my new Creative Spark course.

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.

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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.