I’ve been doing a series of blog posts about  McCall’s Barbie pattern 5462, and specifically, I’ve been focused on the shirt pattern found in view B.

I made all of these garments from the View B pattern, and as you can see, they are each just a little bit different:

Today I’m going to focus on the one in the upper right corner of the photo above.

This shirt has a long-ish 3/4 length sleeve, but look at that unusual neckline:

When I cut this shirt out to sew it, I wasn’t feeling very well. I had been making silly mistakes all day long, and when I was cutting the shirt’s neckline, I cut way too deep!

How does one fix a problem like this?

Elastic!

Yes, by adding elastic to the inside of the shirt, I was able to create a gathered look to the front of the garment.

You have to sew the elastic over the top of the garment’s edge, while stretching the elastic, to get this effect:

Perhaps you’re wondering what I mean by that.

Have a look at the images below. After fully sewing the garment, I opened up the back (figure one), pinned one end of the elastic to the shoulder seam (figure 2), and placed the shoulder seam under my sewing machine’s presser foot.

Then I tugged at the elastic, keeping it stretched as I sewed it onto the inside of the garment front (see figure 3).

By creating a “sewing machine knot” (going back and forth over the seam) at the start and end of my stitch, I was able to secure my stitches in place, so when I pulled the garment out of the sewing machine, it puckered, like you see in figure 4.

This creates a nice puffy front for the garment, as if a gathered front was the intended outcome.

It looks nice from the side view too.

Once again, I used  McCall’s Barbie pattern 5462 to make this shirt. The pattern’s design is for a stretchy-fabric sporty top with three-quarter length sleeves, and a boat-neck-style (see image below).

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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*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.