Holiday Crafts, Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection

The Patterns of Christmas Past — Share a memory! #Sewing #VintageSewing

Here we see the vintage 8281 doll clothes sewing patterns, which were designed to fit vintage Barbie dolls, vintage Farrah Fawcett dolls, and vintage Cher dolls from the 1970s and 1980s. The outfits include: view 1 a wedding dress with long sleeves; view 2 a layered skirt with swingy halter top and simple cape; view 3 a pair of wide legged pants with swingy halter top; view 4 a summer dress with empire waist; view 5 a wrap skirt with T-shirt that has raglan sleeves; view 6 a long-sleeved tee shirt with vest and gaucho pants; view 7 a jogging suit with collared jacket and workout pants.
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.

Whenever I dig up my Simplicity 8281 doll clothes sewing pattern, it always reminds me of a Christmas in about 1982  or 1983, when I used this pattern to sew a whopping 60 doll clothes outfits, and I sold them all to classmates and neighbors, to raise money for our family’s Christmas gifts.

My favorite of these patterns was the View 4 dress because it didn’t matter what fabric you used, it always turned out super cute!

*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.

In this image, we see the Chelly Wood doll (actually a Spin Master Liv doll wearing a grey dyed wig, blue glasses, a long-sleeved white shirt with black printed flowers, and a pair of black pants with white Mary Jane shoes) holding up the Simplicity 8281 fashion doll sewing pattern, which was published in 1977.
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.

Unfortunately my Simplicity 8281 no longer has the bodice for the View 4 dress. One of these days I hope to stumble across another Simplicity 8281 at a yard sale or online, and I’ll buy it just for that little bodice pattern!

Back in the early 1980’s, I made every single outfit from this Simplicity 8281, using my mom’s old Genie 353 sewing machine. It was a pretty little machine, with floral graphics running across the top of it.

As I began typing this, I Googled this model of Singer sewing machine and found myself falling down a rabbit hole, remembering all the different buttons and features Mom’s old sewing machine had.

Today's blog post answers the question: "What is the standard seam allowance for sewing doll clothes?" This image is part of the blog post found at ChellyWood.com (a website with free printable sewing patterns for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes)
Image purchased from iClipart (all rights reserved)

Last year my best friend’s grandma asked me to make a look-alike wedding dress for Barbie, to match one of her daughter’s (my best friend’s aunt’s) 1970’s style wedding dress. Of course I chose the Simplicity 8281 wedding dress pattern for this project.

I guess the Barbie wedding dress was the spitting image of the original bride’s dress!

This is a landscape view of three images. On the left, it's a close-up of the bridal gown from Simplicity 8281's bridal gown, which has puff sleeves, a regular bridal veil made of tulle, and a straight swatch of skirt fabric with a lace ruffle attached. In the center, we see the bridal gown with the alterations made by Chelly Wood, so it has a four-tier skirt and uses the broad-brimmed hat designed by Chelly Wood instead of a tulle veil commonly used with Barbie wedding dresses. On the far right is a photograph, yellowed with time, of a beautiful woman dressed in her wedding dress from the 1970's. Her dress has the same puff sleeves, cascading bouquet, and four-tier skirt at the center image. The photo demonstrates how the alterations made by Chelly Wood, have changed the Simplicity pattern for a simple bridal gown into one that nearly exactly matches the original gown worn by the bride who is pictured here.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

For the three-tiered skirt, I did have to modify the original Simplicity 8281 sewing pattern, but it’s not hard to make an alteration like that, especially since I’ve got my own three-tier Barbie skirts here on ChellyWood.com already.

Anyway, Simplicity 8281 brings back wonderful memories of Christmas sewing projects for me, and I just love to revisit that pattern from time to time.

Barbie wears a handmade wedding dress which used Simplicity 8281 View 1 wedding dress patterns to create alterations for a lovely bridal ensemble that imitated an actual dress. This Barbie is shown in her handmade dress with a floral bouquet and wedding bonnet hat, photoshopped into a room with a shadow across the wall and a Pergo style wooden floor.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

How about you? Do you have a favorite sewing pattern that always reminds you of Christmas projects? If so, what pattern is it? Please leave a comment!

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.

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.

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 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.

4 thoughts on “The Patterns of Christmas Past — Share a memory! #Sewing #VintageSewing”

  1. I remember sewing a wedding dress using Simplicity 5356 for my Darci doll’s pretend nuptials to GI Joe on Christmas Day 1983.

    Reply

  2. I have made shirt number 5 at least 10 times. It’s one of the few raglan sleeved pattern I was able to find and it is always helpful using two different fabrics trying to match an already existing skirt or pants.
    For Christmas dresses I try to find the right pattern for the fabric. This year I made particular clothes and now I am trying to finish one for my Madra using a Vogue model, 7466c if I recall well.
    I was so lucky to find some silvery fabric for no price and this year it’s going to be a silvery Christmas.

    Reply

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