Three times I made mistakes when sewing Simplicity 4883 for Ideal Tammy dolls #MLK #Oops!

The image shows the Chelly Wood doll (it's really a Spin Master Liv doll that has had its face repainted and its hair dyed white-ish-grey) holding up a Simplicity doll clothes pattern #4883 for sewing a wardrobe to fit vintage Tammy dolls from Ideal Toy Corp. The article associated with this image asks blog followers to leave comments describing the first doll clothes pattern they learned to sew from as a child. Visit ChellyWood.com to join the discussion! — Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

If you are a regular follower of this blog, then you probably already know I’m a big fan of the Simplicity 4883 sewing pattern.

I’ve been making doll clothes with Simplicity 4883 since my early childhood. In fact, it was the first pattern ever given to me, and it was from this pattern that I learned how to alter doll clothes. From there, I learned how to design my own patterns.

*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.

Figure one shows an Ideal Tammy doll (artist's rendition) modeling the coat from View 1 of the Simplicity 4883 doll clothes patterns for Ideal Tammy. Figure two shows a closer look at the stitches on the coat with two purple arrows pointing out that there's one stitch line around the neckline of the coat and two stitch lines running parallel to each other at the waist of this three-quarter-length-sleeve coat made of red fabric with three buttons running down the front. — Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

But even with years and years of experience, having sewn these patterns over and over again in my youth, I still make mistakes. Do you remember the mistake with the collar topstitching? Take a look at the images above.

The topstitching is supposed to have a single row of stitches around the neckline.

On a lightbox, someone has laid out a fabric garment piece in red, shaped like a coat. Under the red fabric, we can see a pattern shining through the weave of the fabric because of the bright lightbox behind it. A fabric pencil rests on top of both the fabric garment piece and the pattern piece. This pattern piece is part of vintage Simplicity doll clothes pattern 4883 for Ideal Tammy dolls. — Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

But because I considered myself super familiar with Simplicity 4883 when I made this red coat, I didn’t go back and read the directions while drawing the topstitching lines.

As a result, when I used my lightbox and my fabric pencil, I actually traced a double-topstitch line, following the seam line with my fabric pencil, as if it was one of the topstitching lines, and then I also marked the actual topstitching line.

This resulted in a coat that didn’t exactly match the picture on the cover art of the Simplicity 4883 envelope.

And then we have the ruffle for the dress in View 1. I didn’t have enough fabric to create the ruffle, as instructed in the directions given.

So I added a second ruffle, layering a longer ruffle underneath the original denim one. One could see this as an imperfection or an adaptation. It’s all a matter of perspective, I guess.

But I liked the way it turned out, even though it’s not identical to the dress as it was originally intended by the designer.

Figure three has a white arrow pointing to where the ruffle pattern lies on a strip of pink and white gingham fabric. The pink and white gingham extends about 3 to 4 centimeters beyond the edges of the ruffle pattern, making the cut ruffle much longer than the original pattern. In figure 3 the yellow arrow points to an image of the denim floral ruffle, which is equally as long as the pink gingham ruffle, but which is about half as wide as the pink gingham ruffle. Figure 4 shows a woman's fingers pulling back the pink gingham hemmed ruffle to expose the pale blue denim floral ruffle underneath, exposing the fact that it too has been hemmed. A needle and white thread shows along the raw edge of these two hemmed ruffles, attaching them with a basting stitch. The denim ruffle, once hemmed is about eleven or twelve millimeters wide, whereas the hemmed pink gingham ruffle is closer to four centimeters wide and also hemmed. — Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

And finally, with the beautiful View 2 gown from Simplicity 4883, I fully intended to make an alteration. I wanted to sandwich my straps between the bodice front and the lining, hiding the stitches between the two layers of bodice. But I was working on this sewing project in the car while traveling.

Unfortunately, I totally forgot to bring the red ribbon for the straps!

So instead of sandwiching the straps in-between the two layers of the bodice, I ended up adding the ribbon straps later, pinning and then sewing them to the lining. One of the straps is a little off-kilter too, so it doesn’t quite lay flat against the doll’s body.

I suppose you could say the final product turned out just fine.

Any little girl would love to play with this dress, without a doubt. But whenever I look inside the bodice of it, I think about the fact that the straps don’t look as pretty as they could have.

So for those of you just learning how to sew, take heart! Even the most experienced sewists (I have more than 50 years of sewing doll clothes under my belt!) — yes, even I — make mistakes all the time.

So on this particular occasion, being a day for celebrating the life and memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I think this quote from the honorable orator is fitting: “If you can’t fly, then run, if you can’t run, then walk, if you can’t walk, then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.”

Thank you for your words of wisdom, Dr. King! ‘Nuff said.

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:

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.