Doll Makeovers, Doll Shoes, Elf on the Shelf, Holiday Crafts, Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection, Vintage Barbie, Whole Costumes for Dolls

Stitch up a Scottish kilt for your Elf on the Shelf using this retro Barbie wrap skirt design #Scottish #NorthPole

Elf on the Shelf wears a dark green short sleeved shirt with a collar and a red Kilt over his usual red elf gear. His boots are made of brown plastic but have a very leathery appearance to them. This kilt was handmade by Chelly Wood, using Simplicity 8281 vintage Barbie wrap around 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.

Note: As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

I think it was back in November when I showed you how to mix-and-match your doll clothes for Barbie, using vintage Simplicity pattern number 8281. Remember this outfit?

In this thumbnail image, the text reads "mix-N-match" with two photos below the text. The photo on the left shows a standard Mattel Barbie wearing a handmade strappy summer bodice with a handmade wrap skirt that comes to just above the knee. She also wears little red plastic ankle boots. The photo on the right shows Simplicity 8281 vintage Barbie, Cher, and Farrah Fawcett doll clothes sewing patterns. Arrows connect the bodice to one outfit for the top and another outfit for the bottom. The arrow pointing at the summer top bodice points to the View 3 and view 2 outfit, while the arrow from the wrap skirt points at the wrap skirt in view 5 of Simplicity 8281 vintage Barbie doll clothes sewing patterns.
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.

Well that same skirt actually fits my little Elf on the Shelf as well! It’s the wrap skirt from View 5 in the Simplicity 8281 pattern that I’ve made into a Christmas kilt for my Elf on the Shelf!

Accessorized with a pair of boots that were originally designed to fit Hunter Huntsman dolls, he looks dashing in my Ken or GI Joe-sized short-sleeved shirt with a collar! Wouldn’t you agree? (Click on this link to find that free shirt pattern — but please note that I’ve altered the shirt sleeves.)

Elf on the Shelf models a handmade evergreen-colored short-sleeved Ken shirt with a collar over a red wrap skirt that has been sewn using the wrap skirt from Simplicity 8281 Barbie patterns. The original skirt pattern has been altered to show off Elf on the Shelf's wobbly knees (so it's shorter than the original Barbie pattern) while the Ken shirt pattern comes from Chelly Wood dot com. Elf on the Shelf is turned at an angle to the viewer, but his eyes peek to the left, in the opposite direction that his body is turned. He wears a pair of plastic, rugged looking boots.
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.

Now if you look closely at my Simplicity 8281 vintage Barbie doll clothes pattern (see below), you’ll notice that the skirt in View 5 is a lot longer than the one my Elf on the Shelf is sporting. There’s another change that has been made… my version of the wrap skirt (now a kilt) is actually reversible.

To shorten the original wrap skirt, and to make it reversible, you’ll have to know a little about making doll clothes pattern alterations. And if you want to shorten your Elf on the Shelf’s shirt sleeves, like I did, again, you’ll need to know how to make doll clothes pattern alterations.

Here we see the vintage 8281 doll clothes sewing patterns, which were designed to fit vintage Barbie dolls, vintage Farrah Fawcett dolls, and vintage Cher dolls from the 1970s and 1980s. The outfits include: view 1 a wedding dress with long sleeves; view 2 a layered skirt with swingy halter top and simple cape; view 3 a pair of wide legged pants with swingy halter top; view 4 a summer dress with empire waist; view 5 a wrap skirt with T-shirt that has raglan sleeves; view 6 a long-sleeved tee shirt with vest and gaucho pants; view 7 a jogging suit with collared jacket and workout pants.
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.

A pattern alteration is simply a change to the way the original pattern was meant to be sewn.

For example, in the image below, you can see how I’ve shortened the wrap skirt from View 5 in the original Simplicity 8281 doll clothes pattern.

A handmade traced version of a wrap skirt from Simplicity 8281 (Skirt view 5) doll clothes sewing patterns has been laid over the top of the original pattern for the wrap skirt in Simplicity 8281 vintage Barbie doll clothes sewing pattern set. We see that the person who made the handmade traced version of this wrap skirt pattern has included all the markings from the original skirt, including the grainline, the cutting instructions, and the center front line, but the traced version says right on the pattern, "alteration for shorter wrap skirt." And in fact, the hand-drawn version of the skirt pattern appears to be about two centimeters shorter than the original.
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.

To learn more about pattern alterations, please click on the links I’m providing here.

I’ve actually written other blog posts about Simplicity 8281, and I’ve featured the wrap skirt from view 5 in its long form as well.

If you go back in Scottish history, there was a time when the kilt was longer than it’s typically worn today. Can you imagine my Elf on the Shelf in this lovely green plaid?

Standing on a hardwood floor with a mottled turquoise backdrop behind her, an African American or African Made to Move Barbie with pale pink lipstick and chocolate complexion models a handmade white tee shirt and a handmade wrap around skirt. The skirt is made of Irish-style plaid with shades of green and white. The darkest of these greens is almost black. The skirt makes a nice A-line and the plaid stripes run at a slight angle in front but seem to be perfectly vertical/perpendicular in the back. The doll's hair, pulled up into a pony tail, is straight and light brown. Her shoes are white plastic flats, to match the white tee shirt. The logo in the corner is the ChellyWood.com symbol.
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.

If you’d like to read the blog post entitled, “Make a doll’s wrap skirt into a kilt for St. Patrick’s Day,” you’ll learn a few tips and tricks about fabric choices, as I explain how I made the skirt above. Again, click on the link I’ve provided to learn more.

For anyone who would like to expand their dolls’ wardrobes, you should really check out my “How to Alter Doll Clothes Patterns” course on the Creative Spark online learning platform. It’s designed with beginners in mind, and one of the sections of the course deals with lengthening and shortening skirts, somewhat like the alteration I made to the View 5 skirt with this vintage Simplicity 8281 doll skirt pattern.

Here’s a link to my bio page on the Creative Spark website, where you can learn more.

This image shows four rows of artist's renderings of doll clothing items. The top row shows four different styles of pants. The second row shows four different styles of shirts. The third row shows four different styles of skirts. The fourth row shows four different styles of dresses, with skirts in long, short, and mid-length styles. The text reads at the top, "Classes in Doll Clothing Design" followed by this paragraph: "Have you ever wished you could create patterns of your own? Click on the links to Chelly's online courses below, to learn more about her paid courses in doll clothing pattern design techniques."

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 go check out my paid courses on Creative Spark, using this link.

I know I sound like a broken vintage vinyl record, but if your family is asking what you want for Christmas this year… well, for those of us who own WAY too many dolls and more fabric than a warehouse can hold, expanding your sewing knowledge (which takes up a lot less room) is always a good gift idea for the holidays!

As always, feel free to pin, like, or tweet about my free patterns and tutorials.

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

Disclaimer/Credit/Affiliate Marketing Link:

*Please note: when you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include Amazon, JoAnn Fabric, Etsy, and the eBay Partner Network. As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. To learn more about how my website uses affiliate marketing, please visit the website’s 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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