Crafts and Hobbies, Fan Mail, Interviews With Crafters, Links, Plushies/Stuffed Animals, Tips for Beginners, Tutorials: Sewing Basics

Tips and Tricks for Beginners, Just Learning to Sew @ ChellyWood.com #LearningToSew #SewingTips

In this photo, an 18 inch Best Friends Club doll sits at a toy-sized sewing machine. Beside her sewing table is an empty dress form. She wears handmade doll clothes. The logo at the bottom of the page says, Chelly Wood dot com, which is a website where you can find free printable PDF sewing patterns for dolls of many shapes and all different sizes. This image accompanies an FAQ's page that offers many tips and tricks, specifically for people who love to sew doll clothes.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns for dolls of many shapes and sizes.

Are you new to sewing? Or are you thinking about teaching a child how to sew? If so, you might want to read my blog post about the top 10 sewing supplies you’ll need in a beginner’s sewing basket.

I’ve got a playlist of tutorials for the beginning sewists on my YouTube channel as well. It includes video tutorials like:

And there are many others.

This photograph shows the Chelly Wood doll (a Spin Master Liv doll that has been repainted and had its hair dyed grey to look like the real doll clothing designer and school librarian, Chelly Wood) holding up a tiny handmade miniature book. she wears a checked librarian's apron with large pockets. She holds up a tiny book and stands before an audience of very small, child-like dolls. Behind her is a librarian's circulation with piles of books on it. Farther back in the photograph is a wall-sized (in 1:6 scale) bookshelf with dozens of colorful books on the shelf. The bookshelf appears to end at a little nook, and in the nook stands a bust of William Shakespeare (also in 1:6 scale). The watermark on the photo reminds us that this picture comes from ChellyWood.com, which offers free printable sewing patterns and tutorials for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns and tutorial videos showing how to make doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

As a school librarian (in my day job), I’m often asked to teach little “elective” classes for my middle school students. Recently my Yearbook/ Journalism class finished designing this year’s annual/ yearbook, and the students asked me to teach them how to sew.

I started with a fairly easy project, my unofficial Minecraft character cube, which both boys and girls enjoy sewing. It was a perfect jumping off point to get kids started.

This image shows the Minecraft Creeper character as a hacky sack or footbag cube that has been hand-sewn using felt and the free printable sewing pattern for Minecraft characters found at ChellyWood.com (this is a PDF printable free pattern for a number of minecraft characters including creeper, skeleton, and enderman).
Click here for all the free printable PDF patterns and tutorial videos you’ll need to make this unofficial MineCraft “Creeper” felt cube project: https://wp.me/p1LmCj-GNo PLEASE NOTE: This project will post on 24 March at 7:00 AM Mountain Standard Time in the blog postings).

Next, we made little bears, using my Firefighter Bear pattern and tutorials.

From there, the students branched out. Some of the girls made a dress for their bears, using my 8 inch baby doll dress pattern. One of the boys in my class got started making a football pillow, while the other is learning to make pants for his bear, using my pattern for a bear’s trousers.

The image shows a caramel colored bear modeling a red Hawaiian print shirt with a collar and lapel. The Hawaiian shirt has short sleeves. The South Pacific patterning on the red shirt includes a mottled black pattern throughout the silky fabric. The plush bear toy also wears black pants or trousers with an elastic waist to match the Hawaiian shirt.
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.

Of course, it’s a journalism class, so eventually these students will have to write an expository essay, explaining how to make these items, but in the mean time, they’re having a lot of fun learning to sew!

I frequently get “fan mail” that starts, “I’m new to sewing…” and ends with a request for advice like “What’s easy to start with?” or “Which tutorials should I watch?” So today’s blog post is designed to address these kinds of questions.

The image shows the Chelly Wood doll holding an envelope. Beside her is a sewing machine and behind her is a dess form modeling a handmade doll dress. The watermark says, "Chelly Wood dot com : free patterns and tutorials."
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns to make doll clothes for dolls of many shapes and sizes.

If a mom or grandma reaches out, asking me which fashion doll clothes would be easiest to use, when teaching a child to sew, my go-to doll clothing pattern is always the basic sundress for fashion dolls, with a felt bodice.

It’s easy to sew because felt is an easy fabric to cut when you’re first learning how to pin and cut out a pattern. It’s forgiving, more stretchy than most people realize, and you don’t have to hem it. The skirt on this easy-to-sew fashion doll dress is just a straight stitch as well, so it’s a great first item to sew on Mom’s or Grandma’s sewing machine!

A modern Skipper doll models a handmade sundress. She stands before a turquoise blue backdrop. She has a purple streak running through her dark brown hair. Her dress bodice is made of pink felt. The dress skirt, which is gathered at the waist, is made of multicolored purple, pink and a color between-purple-and-pink wavy patterned lines. Her dress straps match the color between purple and pink. There's a ChellyWood.com logo in one corner of the photo.
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 pattern (the one shown above) will fit most fashion dolls, too, including Barbie, Skipper, Curvy Barbie, and more!

If you’re thinking about teaching a child to sew, or if you, yourself, are just starting to learn how to sew, these simple projects are great for beginners of any age to start with:

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.

If you enjoyed this blog post, and you’d like to see my videos, you might want to navigate over to my YouTube channel, ChellyWood1 to look through my playlists.

If you would like to make a donation to this free doll clothes pattern website, please click here. There’s also a “Donate” button in the main menu.

For anyone who would like to expand their dolls’ wardrobes, you should really check out my “How to Alter Doll Clothes Patterns” course and my “Design Your Own Doll Pants Patterns from Scratch” classes on the Creative Spark online learning platform. Here’s my bio page on their 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.

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 any of the doll or toy companies mentioned in this blog post, but Chelly enjoys designing her doll clothes to fit a variety of dolls. To learn more about the doll companies mentioned in today’s post, please visit the doll or toy company’s website.

2 thoughts on “Tips and Tricks for Beginners, Just Learning to Sew @ ChellyWood.com #LearningToSew #SewingTips”

  1. How do you tie your knots at the end of your thread and how do you put thread through a sewing machine needle

    Reply

    1. Hi Melissa. If you’re using a sewing machine, you create a “knot” by sewing over the start point and the end point with a backstitch. In other words, you sew over the same spot forward, backward, and forward again.

      Threading your sewing machine is going to be different for every machine, but you should be able to find a manual online, even if your machine is used. Whenever I get a new sewing machine, I have to use the manual to help me thread it, until I memorize how that particular machine is threaded.

      If you bought a new sewing machine, often places that sell them also offer classes or lessons, to help you learn how to use your machine. If you bought a new sewing machine at a general store instead of a sewing store, ask around in your local sewing groups to find out where you can take lessons. When I bought my Viking sewing machine, I paid for four lessons at a local sewing center. It was well worth the money!

      Can you tell me what type of machine you have?

      Reply

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