11-inch doll clothes patterns, Barbie Patterns, Daily Patterns, Tall Barbie, Whole Costumes for Dolls

Let’s make a timeless classic for Barbies: a super simple trench coat! #DollCollector #Fashion

For your free patterns and tutorial videos, please scroll down to the second set of bullets.

Back in December of 2022, I gave you a free bathrobe pattern, which was designed to fit fashion dolls like Barbie.

To my surprise, I still get requests every now and then for a “Barbie trench coat” or a “Barbie winter coat” pattern. When people write to me requesting these, I usually remind them that my bathrobe pattern will work for a trench coat; you just need to use solid cotton fabric instead of flannel.

Since the requests continue to roll in, I decided it was time to take my own advice and just use my own pattern to make a trench coat. And that’s the story behind today’s tutorial.

Before I write more, I do have to make my Amazon affiliate statement: as an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

A vintage Barbie is shown wearing a grey overcoat. It's a simple design, trimmed in lighter grey bias tape. It has no hood or collar, and it appears to have no lining.
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 make today’s coat project, you’re going to need some solid cotton fabric and, although they’re optional, you may want some size 3/0 Dritz snaps, for the coat’s closure as well.

You’ll also need some 1/4 inch double-fold bias tape for the trim that goes around the front. I used bias tape to make a belt for my bathrobe version as well, and I’ve included a link to that how-to video, in the second set of bullets, below.

Now, as you’ll see in the video, I actually made my own bias tape, using a bias tape making tool. I mean, this is a pretty easy coat to sew, and frankly, I needed to add a little challenge in order to keep the project fun for myself!

Figure 1 shows handmade bias tape laying on a cutting mat beside a metal bias tape making tool. Figure 2 shows the bias tape laying open, so you can see where Chelly Wood has stitched together different pieces of fabric that were cut on the bias. Figure 3 shows a closer look at the bias tape making tool. It's small enough to fit in the palm of a woman's hand, it's made of metal, and it has a little hook on the wider of the two ends of the tool.
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.

At first, I intended to use the same grey polyester blend fabric to make my bias tape, as the polyester blend fabric that I was using for the coat. There were two problems with this.

First, polyester is not as easy to work with when making bias tape because it has to be ironed as you pull it through the bias tape maker, and my dark grey polyester didn’t want to hold its press, even with starch to stiffen it up.

Second, I didn’t have enough of the grey polyester! So I opted for a contrasting cotton (of which I also had a very small amount, but just enough to make this work).

So in Figure 2 above, you’ll see a seam line just below the arrow. That’s where I sewed together strips of the lighter grey cotton, to form my bias tape.

If you’re curious about making your own bias tape, you can purchase a 1/4 inch double-fold bias tape maker (shown in a close-up in Figure 3) on Amazon, using this link. Note: there are knock-offs of the Clover bias tape maker on Amazon, so I advise buying the one I’ve linked to rather than shopping around for a cheaper, and possibly less useful, model.

In a room with a wooden floor and a mottled purple wall, a Black Barbie with long straight warm brown hair faces the camera. Her hair, which she wears in a pony tail, has been pulled around to the front of her left shoulder. She crosses her arms, as if she's warming herself on a cold night. She wears a dark grey trench coat (handmade) with a light grey bias tape trim that runs the length of the coat's front opening. The coat is quite long, extending to the length of her three-tier skirt, which she wears with a matching top under the winter coat.
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.

In the long run, I don’t recommend using polyester for your coat, like I did. Polyester does come out looking shinier than cotton (like a rain slicker or raincoat), but since it’s harder to make bias tape out of polyester, I’d just go with 100% cotton.

On a side note, if you’d like to learn how to use a bias tape tool, Professor Pincushion has a great video on that! Just click here to see it. 

She also has a new book out called, Professor Pincushion’s Beginner Guide to Sewing: Garment Making for Nervous Newbies.

I’ve found, over the years, that if I haven’t made a tutorial video on a technique that you need to understand in order to sew something correctly, chances are pretty good that Professor Pincushion does have a true-to-the-concept video on it!

So although I haven’t bought her book yet for myself, I would venture to guess that it’s an especially helpful book for anyone who’s new to sewing.

The Chelly Wood doll, which is actually a Spin Master Liv doll that has had its face repainted and its wig dyed grey to look like the real doll clothing designer, YouTuber, and writer, Chelly Wood, models an easy-to-sew trench coat designed by Chelly Wood, to fit fashion dolls like Barbie, Spin Master Liv dolls, Tall Barbie, and more. For the free winter coat / trench coat patterns, please go to Chelly Wood dot com and search for eleven and one half inch dolls' free 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.

Last but not least, as soon as this pattern went live on my website, someone contacted me, requesting more information about how to make the angel wings that are also on the bathrobe / trench coat pattern. Click here if you want to learn how to make the angel wings, which also have a tutorial on ChellyWood.com!

Today’s patterns will fit these dolls:

Here are your free, printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making the coat shown in the video at the top of this page:

This image of a turquoise blue sewing needle pulling purple thread away from a line of cross-stitching is used as a divider between sections of a blog post.

For more of my free tutorials, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel, ChellyWood1.

Is this pattern close to what you were looking for, but maybe you’re wishing the pattern was slightly different? If so, my Creative Spark class, “How to Alter Doll Clothes Patterns” may be just what you need to make these patterns into the pattern you see in your imagination.

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.

As always, feel free to pin, like, or tweet about my free patterns and tutorials. Here’s an image you’re welcome to share on social media:

This is a JPG image of a free PDF Barbie doll clothes sewing pattern that can be downloaded and printed at ChellyWood.com. The pattern includes the front pieces for a pair of high-waisted shorts with a fly, a pair of capri pants with a high waist and a fly, the front piece for a bathrobe, and a slipper pattern. In order to get all of the pattern pieces, you will need to download the PDF sewing pattern, which is free at ChellyWood.com
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

Disclaimer/Credit/Affiliate Marketing Link:

*ChellyWood.com earns money by linking to Amazon, eBay, Michaels, 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.

To honor the trademark rights of the doll companies mentioned in this blog post, I am including links to their websites here. Please feel free to visit their website and consider purchasing one or more of the dolls mentioned.

Queens of Africa dolls are products offered by the Slice by Cake company, which holds the trademark for them (™). They were designed by Taofick Okoya. Please visit the Queens of Africa website to learn more about their company and its trademarked toys, books, and fashions.

Momoko dolls are products offered by Petworks, which holds the trademark for them (™). Please visit the Momoko Dolls website to learn more about their company and its trademarked toys.

Barbie, MTM Barbie, Francie, Tall Barbie, and Petite Barbie dolls are products offered by Mattel, which holds the registered trademark for them (™). Please visit the Mattel Toys website to learn more about their company and its trademarked toys.

Liv dolls were products designed and distributed by the Spin Master company, which still makes dolls and toys today (although the Liv dolls are no longer in production at the time of this blog post). The Spin Master company held the trademark for the Liv Dolls (™). Please visit the Spin Master Toys and Games website to learn more about their company and its trademarked toys and games. Please be aware that the Chelly Wood animated doll is a Spin Master Liv doll that has been re-painted and had its wig colored to appear to look like the real doll clothing designer, Chelly Wood. This was done as a creative project by Chelly’s daughters, and the Spin Master Toys and Games company was not involved in the doll’s makeover in any way.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.