Last Monday’s blog post was all about a mystery surrounding the bodice from my Sew-Easy Advance 2896 doll clothes pattern, View 5 dress. Today’s blog post will pick up where I left off, so if you didn’t read about last week’s bodice mystery, click here to go back to that mysterious story to learn more.

*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.

As I said in last week’s mystery blog post, I really loved the way this dress bodice works. It’s quite a masterpiece of design.

As you can see in the image above, this View 5 dress from Sew-Easy Advance 2896 has straps in back but a full-coverage bodice in front. I loved the simplicity of this design!

At the end of my sleuthing for the bodice pattern, I ended up with six different versions, but I can’t remember which version I used to cut out the bodice for my little Halloween dress.

This is unfortunate because when I got the whole dress made, it didn’t actually fit my vintage Bubble Cut Barbie. I can’t tell you how disappointed I was!

However, as you can see in the image above, at least one of my bodice patterns was a hand-copied version of an original and two of the bodice patterns had been cut in half right down the front. So had I used either of these altered patterns, it’s possible that the pattern itself was to blame for the fact that the dress didn’t close in the back once it was finished.

In any case, I had to make my own alteration, in order to get the Sew-Easy Advance 2896 view 5 dress to close properly in the back.

I took some measurements at the back of the dress, cut out a swatch of fabric just a little bigger than the opening, and sewed it to the dress’s original back closure area.

If you’d like to know exactly how this is done, you can always sign up for my How to Alter Doll Clothes Patterns course. Extending the back of a dress with a gusset is one of the sections of the class.

I show you how to take measurements to make sure that swatch of fabric fits correctly , but there’s a whole lot more that you can learn in the 40 videos that make up the course. Scroll down to the bottom of today’s blog post to learn more.

To make it easy for you to see the process in this blog post, though, I’ve broken it down into the following three steps:

Adding an extension like this is just one way to make your too-small doll dress fit.

Another way to make a too-small doll dress fit the doll is by using hooks and eyes. Click here for the blog post about sewing a hook and eye onto your doll’s dress.

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.