Once again, I’ve been working with vintage Simplicity pattern 4883 for Ideal Tammy dolls. This time I was making the little red coat in View 1.
As you can see in Figure 2 above, the image on the envelope shows little black stitches at the neckline and waistline of the finished coat. I saw this and thought, “Oh goodie-goodie gumdrops! I can do some embroidery!”
Before I go any further, I have to make my affiliate marketing statement: as an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. If you’d like to know how affiliate marketing works on my site, please click here.
Back in December, I had used a lovely retro-style pinwheel print cotton fabric for the lining of a similar Skipper coat (see image above), and I really liked the way that had turned out. So I opted to use the same fabric for this Tammy/Sindy dolls‘ coat from Simplicity 4883.
After cutting out the garment pieces, I got out my lightbox and a fabric pencil, so I could draw the embroidery lines directly onto the red fabric.
You would think this would be easy enough to do… It’s just a couple of lines after all.
However I had been distracted by the fact that whoever owned the Simplicity 4883 doll clothes pattern before me had used pinking shears to cut out the coat pattern pieces.
So when I went to cut mine from red fabric and pinwheel-print fabric, it left this array of tiny tissue shavings all along the edges of my garment. Ugh.
Furthermore, I planned to take this coat on a road trip, and my husband was in a rush to get going. (He can’t do road trips without anxiety, the poor fellow.) Needless to say, I cut my garment pieces out in a hurry and marked them with my fabric pencil while under pressure.
And so I ended up marking the neck’s seam line as one of the embroidery lines. Whoopsie! (Have a look at the big purple arrow in Figure 4 above.)
I did all the embroidery first, while riding shotgun in my husband’s truck during the road trip, and it wasn’t until I tried to sew the coat together at the neckline, that I discovered my error. It didn’t matter that I’d brought the Simplicity 4883 instruction booklet along with me on the road trip.
At that point, I had already embroidered all along what was supposed to be the neckline seam. So…
Of course I had to make an alteration. It was a simple alteration. I just stitched the coat together a little higher up from the embroidery stitches.
But I think it turned out pretty good, as you can see in this image:
That’s Ideal Tammy on the left and Pedigree Sindy on the right.
And as you can see, this little 1960’s style coat with its three-quarter-length sleeves fits both Pedigree Sindy dolls and vintage Ideal Tammy dolls. YAY!
In the image above, Tammy is wearing the little denim skirt with suspenders that you see illustrated on the instruction sheet below. That’s what she’s wearing under her coat anyway. And I have another blog post showing that project and the alterations I made to it as well.
If you’d like to learn more about how alterations work, you’re in luck! I teach an online class on that very topic. Just scroll down a bit to learn more…
But please don’t go just yet! Please take a moment to leave a comment!
Have you ever read a pattern or its instruction sheet incorrectly? And if so, how did it turn out? I look forward to hearing your stories!
*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.
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.
For more of my free tutorials, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel, ChellyWood1.
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.
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 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.