Among all the hundreds of free sewing patterns here on ChellyWood.com, I actually do have a couple of examples of reversible garments. I recommend the reversible tank top you see above, for a couple of reasons.
First, it’s a good starter project if you’re new to sewing reversible garments. Second, as a clothing item, it fits a lot of different dolls.
Furthermore, if you’re up for alterations, you could change any similar tank top patterns on my website to reversible tank tops, for any given doll, just by following the instructions in the tutorial video on that Barbie reversible tank top page. For example, I altered the tank top that was designed for Bratz dolls (an 8 inch doll) to be reversible by simply following the same instructions as the Barbie reversible tank top.
If the word “alteration” gives you the willies, never fear! Chelly Wood is here! And I offer a paid course in doll clothes alterations that could definitely help you step up your sewing game. Please scroll down to the area below the cross-stitch symbol to learn more about my “How to Alter Doll Clothes” course on the Creative Spark Online Learning platform.
Before we dive into reversible garments extensively, I need to make my required disclaimer statement: As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. To learn more about how affiliate marketing works on my website, please go to the Privacy Policy page. Thank you!
If you’re a regular follower of my blog, you may remember that I made a wrap skirt from Simplicity 8281 for St. Patrick’s Day one year, and it turned out very nice.
Wrap skirts are another good choice for a first reversible garment project. Unfortunately, I don’t have any wrap skirt projects here on ChellyWood.com at this time, but there are a couple of different vintage doll clothes patterns you can buy on eBay to try this type of project out.
The first, as I’ve mentioned is Simplicity 8281.
As you can see in Views 2 and 3 of this pattern, it also comes with a tank top, which is pretty easy to make reversible. I accomplished this about a year ago, when I was making doll clothes to give to the families of service men and women for Christmas.
That year I also attempted to make the wrap skirt a little shorter, which is a simple enough alteration.
You can always go look back at that blog post by clicking here.
In that altered wrap skirt, I went with a print fabric on one side and a solid on the other. It turned out okay, but I think it would have looked nicer if I had chosen black instead of red solid fabric for the side that didn’t use a print.
I mean, it turned out cute enough, I guess. I just think, with the red background on the floral print, plus the red solid skirt, it’s too much red.
Another wrap skirt pattern that actually comes with instructions to make it reversible is the vintage Simplicity 4883 doll clothes pattern‘s View 3 skirt for Ideal Tammy.
This one is going to be slightly more challenging than the straightforward wrap skirt from Simplicity 8281 wrap skirt because it has both pockets and suspenders.
Yet the pockets and suspenders are part of what makes this skirt super cute!
Of course you could leave off the pockets and/or the suspenders, just to make it as simple as the Simplicity 8281 version.
That’s not what I did, of course. It shouldn’t surprise you that in my second rendition of the Simplicity 4883 wrap skirt, I made the reversible wrap skirt even more complicated, by giving it a bib!
Adding the bib wasn’t too tricky, to tell you the truth, but I did make a mistake a long the way, in terms of how to affix the straps to the bib. I was thinking that if I put a snap on each side of the strap, then it wouldn’t matter whether I was snapping it onto the red side or the pink side, either way, it would be affixed to the bib.
But this didn’t turn out like I thought it would.
Figure 1 below shows how I had at first affixed a snap to each side of the strap — both the pink side and the red side — but when I put this on the doll (before I finished sewing the skirts together), I discovered that where you see buttons sticking out in Figure 2, there were snap studs sticking out instead. That looked really weird!
So as you can see if Figure 3, I seam-ripped (unpicked) my snaps from the red side of the straps and replaced them with little red buttons.
As a final product, this works okay, but when the doll is photographed in profile, those buttons, combined with the snaps (poppers) really add a lot of bulk to the bib.
If I were to make this outfit again, I’d use a less-bulky button. These were the 6 mm buttons, and I think I would opt for the 4 mm buttons instead, if I were going for a third run.
This wrap skirt is just as cute with a bib as it was without, but figuring out how to affix the straps to the reversible bib made the project very tricky at best.
I still think it’s a fun project, and I’m glad I tackled it!
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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.
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*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.