The pattern you see my Chelly doll holding up in the image above was the first doll clothes pattern I can remember sewing. It was given to me by my grandmother, along with a sewing lesson. Both this pattern and my grandmother’s sewing lesson, combined with a single year of my childhood spent in solitude, transformed me into the doll clothes designer I am today.
When I was in fifth grade, my parents divorced, and at the start of my sixth grade year, I moved to Lodi, California, to live with my father, far away from my grandparents who lived in Washington state, and who had been instrumental in my upbringing prior to that point.
Grandma Souders was an incredible seamstress! She had made all four of her daughters’ clothes, and she made a point to teach each of her daughters how to sew properly. But my mom had moved out, so who would teach me?
Before I left for California, Grandma sat with me in her living room and gave me a thorough sewing lesson. I made Dress View 1 from Simplicity 4883, and it’s designed to fit a vintage Tammy doll. So knowing that I only owned Barbie dolls (not Tammy dolls), Grandma showed me how to alter the side darts for the View 1 dress so the pattern would fit a Barbie.
You and I both owe this woman a great big gallon of gratitude because if it hadn’t been for that day, when I sat on her 1970’s floral sofa, learning to sew and alter a pattern, I would never have been able to create this website with all of its free patterns.
She made sure that I understood the nature of darts, notches, seam allowances, hems, ruffles, and more, and as a parting gift, she gave me this Simplicity 4883 sewing pattern for Tammy. She may have apologized that it wasn’t an official Barbie pattern, but it was a pattern she already owned and she wanted to make sure I had a real doll clothes sewing pattern before I moved far away from her.
I think she even told me something like, “When you’re lonely, when you’re sad, or when you’re just bored… sew! The more you practice, the better you’ll get.”
In the coming year, the fact that this pattern required alterations forced me to learn how to make adjustments to these Tammy patterns. I lived with my dad and brother — Mom and her new boyfriend lived in Seattle — so I had no one in Lodi, California to answer the questions I had as I sewed each and every outfit offered in this pattern.
My only friend at my new school in Lodi was a black girl named Cherry — she pronounced it like the fruit although she may have spelled it differently — who I will never forget for her kindness and her warm friendship. Had I lived closer to Cherry, I might have been able to ask her mom to help me with my sewing projects, but as part of the desegregation busing laws, Cherry rode a school bus from inner-city Sacramento out to suburban Lodi every day.
So we never had any play days after school or on weekends. With no family around and no friends in my neighborhood, I had to entertain myself. My weekends and after school time were filled with sewing. I was getting too old to really enjoy playing with my toys like I had in my younger childhood, but sewing for my dolls became my outlet for creative expression.
And I didn’t own a sewing machine, so I had to sew each pattern by hand. With lots of practice, my hand stitching got better and better, and I became more meticulous about how and where I stitched.
They say necessity is the mother of invention, and boy oh boy did I get inventive! I made and re-made each item of clothing in the Simplicity 4883 sewing pattern, each time altering the pattern just a little bit more. By the end of my sixth grade year, I was designing my own doll clothes patterns for Barbie.
Can you even believe that? By the age of twelve, I could design my own patterns from scratch! That’s how much of an impact my grandmother made, just by giving me one lesson in pattern alteration, by giving me this single pattern for Tammy dolls, and by teaching me how to alter it to fit Barbie.
Wow. Just wow. That’s one heck of a gift to give a child.
My mom and dad got back together when I was in junior high, and with Mom in our house again, I was given the opportunity to buy new and different doll clothes sewing patterns. But that year I’d spent just sewing on my own — that year I’d lived in Lodi, California, far away from any family members — had changed me forever.
After that, I found it hard to just follow a doll clothes sewing pattern as it had been drawn by the original designer. That early lesson in pattern alteration had set me on a path of design and alteration that would make me the doll clothing designer I am today.
Thank you, Grandma Souders! Now that you’re in Heaven with the angels, I hope you know what a tremendous gift you gave me, not just in the Simplicity 4883 sewing pattern for Tammy dolls, but in the gift of teaching me how to alter a pattern. God BLESS you!
To this day, I’m also grateful to little Cherry, my only friend in sixth grade. It’s hard to make friends when you’re new at school, and since she was struggling with the same problem — overshadowed by the fact that she was the only black girl in our sixth grade class — we found solace in each other’s companionship, just by having someone to play with on the playground and someone to sit by in the lunchroom.
If you’re out there somewhere, reading this, dear Cherry, please know that I often think of you with prayers of gratitude and good wishes. 🙏
Okay, my faithful followers, now it’s your turn… Who taught you to sew? And what do you remember about the lesson? Please leave a memory of your first sewing lessons in the comment area below.
My mother started threading needles when I was 4. I would sew material scraps on my baby doll and call it clothes. When I wanted to change the clothes, I would cut the the thread and get different scraps of material and my mom would thread another needle. When I was 7, she put lined school paper under the machine needle and I learned to sew a straight seam without thread. Then she drew squiggles on newspaper with a crayon and had me sew those on the machine. When she thought I got good enough, she finally taught me how to thread the machine and read and and cut out an easy pattern.
My grandmother also taught me to sew when I was about 7. It was on a singer sewing machine with the pedal to make it work. I don’t have a lot of clear memories, except that I was hooked ,and never looked back. Made all my own clothes as a teenager, and now I’m making 18 inch doll clothes, snd loving every minute of it.
I can’t remember when I didn’t sew. My mother taught me to mend clothes on our treadle sewing machine. We lived on a farm and there were always clothes to be mended, buttons to re-attach, and socks to darn. My grandmother lived with us a year and taught me to make a doll size patchwork quilt for my doll. I learned to make a shirt, skirt, and apron in 4-H. In 7th grade in Home Ec class I made a jumper out of a heavy plaid fabric; I have hated working with plaids ever since! In high school I had to sometimes alter my clothes to fit me; my mother never turned anything down that someone offered her for me. I didn’t have the option to buy school clothes until I was a senior in high school and leaving for college.
When I started working after college, my first purchase was an electric sewing machine. I made clothes for work that first year. I customized curtains for my apartment. All my life I have bought second hand curtains/drapes and made repairs/alterations to fit my windows.
When I was pregnant years later, I made most of my maternity clothes. I made a baby patchwork quilt that lasted through 4 of my own kids and 4 more of others. When my kids were little, I made clothes for them using patterns. I changed the pockets into deep cargo pockets on their shorts. Little boys like lots of deep pockets to collect things in.
Now I focus on sewing baby quilts for a nearby VA hospital, doll clothes for my granddaughters and my own 18 inch dolls, and items for Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. My daughter has no interest in learning to sew. I can’t imagine a life without sewing!
I too have sewing memories in Lodi, California! My mom was my main teacher. By the time I was in 7th grade, I could easily follow basic patterns, but when i was younger, my favorite way was just wrapping fabric around the doll and sewing it on lol.
I lived there from 1959 to 1969. In 2002, I moved back. Still here!
My grandmas and great-grandmas were all quilters and sewists. None lived close, but visited, and gave me pointers and lessons. My mom could make anything. She would take me to the store and have me pick out a dress and make one like it. I still have some of the doll clothes she made 60+ years ago. She made many many comforters and quilts as well as most of my clothes until 7th grade when I started making my own. I never reached HER level of expertise 😆 I miss her every day.
My girlfriend’s grandmother taught me to sew on an old treadle sewing machine when I was 8 years old. That was 70 years ago. I can still remember it as if it were yesterday. Been sewing creating ever since and loving every minute of it.
My mother taught me. I started making Barbie clothing at an early age.
Thank you, everyone, for sharing your wonderful stories! I’m surprised by how many of you got to experience a treadle style sewing machine. I think Grandma Wood had one of them, but I never saw her use it. She used a more modern Singer, as I recall.
Well I didn’t say I used a treadle, but that’s what I learned on. I still have my grandma’s machine!
That’s awesome!
My mother taught me to sew, mend and replace buttons and snaps by hand and then I had 4 years of home ec in high school and made quite a few of my own clothes in my teens and early twenties.
Home economics classes were profoundly important to people back when I was growing up, but I don’t think we realized the importance of these classes at the time.
Today very few small rural schools still offer home economics courses as a direct result of the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act. I was working in US public schools both before and after this act passed, and I watched the transformation from within.
Some good things came about as a result of the No Child Left Behind (AKA the Nickelbee) Act, but there were also terrible losses, including the loss of home economics and other elective courses in education. Maybe someday I’ll do a blog post about it. I try to not get too political on my blog, but sometimes I find it cathartic to vent about things like the loss of art and home ec classes in schools.
My own children did not have the option to take home economics courses in school, as a direct result of the passage of the No Child Left Behind act. Thankfully, though, with me as their mom, they were able to learn how to sew at a very young age and they still sew today.
My mom sewed our clothes, and hers, for as long as I can remember. When I was in high school, she let me use her machine and told me what to do but didn’t really teach me. When I got married, my husband got me a sewing machine, but HE was the one who “taught” me … I would get so frustrated because things wouldn’t go well. He made me take a deep breath and told me to go slow and be patient. He encouraged me to continue and not give up. Then he found a teacher who was giving classes and I learned more from her. I ended up sewing clothing for myself and for my daughters. My oldest was tall for her age and very slim so no pants would fit her. I sewed jeans for her so that she would “fit in” with the rest of her friends.
Dear Chelly,
Neither my mom or my older sister taught me how to sew. It was my special education teacher’s aide who doubled as my school bus attendant teaching me to do that. My first project was a felt tote bag, and sometime later, I was given a Mattel Sew Magic sewing pattern (remember that?) for Barbie and Ken doll clothes. I made my first outfits for my Tuesday Taylor doll and my brother’s GI Joe action figure. I was 10 years old back in the mid ’70s when I started sewing.
There are no words to express how very, very wonderful our special education staff are. What an amazing gift this person gave you. I thank God for him/her from the bottom of my heart. ❤️
Hi, my granny taught me how to sew, even if my mother was a dressmaker but she has never had any patience.
We had an age difference of 70 years, so I played at her home how children played once upon a time, with the things a person had at home, with a hammer, a piece of wood and few bolts, or some floss and a scrap of fabric. I have learned how to attach a button and it resulted very useful in several occasions.
Sometimes I joke saying that a hurricane could destroy the cloth but never rip away my buttons! I am now in my late 40s but I can still recall me as a child on the floor of my granny house enjoying myself with no plastic and with only few things. And how much I loved that!
I learned to sew from my mother. At the time, we were living in Brasil and she was teaching another, older girl to sew (I was about 8 at the time). I just sort of “absorbed” what she was teaching her at the time, then mom helped me more after she was done – I learned to sew making doll clothes, normally Barbie clothes but I did make some for other dolls. Since then, I’ve done a lot more learning and a lot more sewing. For many years, I made most all of my clothes because I was so thin I couldn’t find anything that would fit to purchase. I put myself through college by working at Sears in the men’s department doing alterations and teaching sewing classes on the machines we sold. I made some of my sons’ clothes when they were young; my husband’s suits and more recently all of his shirts, as well as my sister-in-law’s wedding dress and all of the attendants’ and flower girl’s dresses.
To this day I actually prefer making doll clothes to anything else. Although I’ve updated my sewing machine several times since the beginning, I still own the original machine I learned on, as well as 2 treadle machines that belonged to my grandmother, all of which still work. They don’t make them like they used to!
What a wonderful sewing story! You taught sewing classes at Sears? Wow. And you still own the original sewing machine that you learned to sew with? That’s so cool!
Like you, I too made my own clothes in high school and college, and like you, I prefer making doll clothes more than anything else. But my goodness, your story is truly unique. Thank you for sharing it. ❤️