My official date of retirement from my day job as a school librarian is almost one month away, and I’m buzzing with excitement! I would put a lot more time into these blog posts (and other doll related projects), if I wasn’t exhausted after work every single day.

So I think you’ll understand when I say, even though I purchased my Judy Littlechap doll in 2023, I’ve only now begun to create a wardrobe for her in earnest.

*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, 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.

For those of you who have taken my “How to Design Your Own Doll Clothes Patterns” online course, you already know my secret formula for re-sizing doll clothes patterns. I’ve been using my own formula to resize patterns for Judy, and today I’m reporting on my progress so far.

Back when I first got my Judy Littlechap, I asked my followers to help me plan her wardrobe in this blog post. (Feel free to go back and add your thoughts to that post.)

One of the commenters, Suzanne, had a bunch of helpful suggestions, as did BetteAnn, who recalled the wardrobe she made for herself in high school. Thank you, to both of you, for sharing your thoughts in that post! Your comments truly inspired me!

One of Suzanne’s suggestions came from my Barbie Around-the-Clock Wardrobe Pattern 2896, so I started with that pattern. The real surprise item in that pattern set was the View 5 dress. In this October 2024 blog post, I talked about the “hidden gem” that I discovered with regards to the View 5 dress, which is why I decided to start with that bodice pattern.

I first made that dress for my vintage Barbie, just to get a feel for how the designer wanted that dress to be constructed. I loved the simplicity of the design — it was very easy to sew! — and the back closure of this garment is absolutely lovely! Therefore I started by re-sizing that bodice pattern as a prototype for something slightly different that I might design with alterations for Judy Littlechap.

In my online course, “How to Design Your Own Doll Clothes Patterns,” I always suggest starting with a felt prototype because you don’t have to hem the edges, and it gives you a good facsimile of how the garment will lay against the doll’s body.

My felt prototype of the bodice for the View 5 dress of the Barbie Pattern 2896 seemed to be a bit bulky at the front of the dress bodice. I suspect it will be less bulky when I make it from cotton, especially if I give it a lining, which is what I’m thinking I’ll do.

Furthermore, I didn’t like the fit of it at the back. Although this back fit Barbie to perfection, Judy Littlechap‘s back is a little bit rounder than Barbie’s, so when I go to adapt this bodice style for Judy Littlechap, I’m going to create a closure that overlaps more naturally for her.

I’m not sure how I want to mark the area where the straps should fit to the back closure, but I definitely feel that a sewist will benefit by having notches or similar marks to indicate where to sew these unusual straps.

For the skirt, I didn’t bother re-sizing. Again, my online course, “How to Design Your Own Doll Clothes Patterns” has a big section on skirts — how to make them fuller, less full, longer, shorter, and even how to give them a waistband — so I applied my own knowledge to the creation of the skirt, based on these skirt-design basics.

And this is the final result:

I think this design project shows promise, but I’m definitely going to make a few significant alterations to the final product before I post my patterns for Judy Littlechap here on ChellyWood.com.

I think this bodice would look nice with more of a pencil skirt, so I’m going to see what I can come up with along those lines. I’m sort of thinking about designing something like Barbie’s Sheath Sensation dress #986 from the 1960’s, or maybe stay truer to the original View 5 dress from the Advance Barbie wardrobe 2896 by designing something closer to Barbie’s Garden Party dress #931.

What are your thoughts? Should I turn it into something like Sheath Sensation #986 or should I stay true to the original by making something more like Garden Party #931? Please leave your comments below!

Once I’m retired, I’m going to have a lot more time on my hands, so one of the things I’ve been experimenting with is this: I’d like to design my own fabrics to look a lot like the ones Mattel used to use, back in the 1960’s and 1970’s. In fact, I recently joined Spoonflower, and I’ve uploaded my first fabric design!

I’ve ordered a fat quarter of my own fabric to use with my future Judy Littlechap dress design. So please go take a look at this fabric (it has a geometric art deco pattern) and consider the fabric’s pattern when helping me to decide whether it would look better as a Judy-Littlechap-sized Sheath Sensation #986 or Garden Party #931.

Of course, it should be said that when I create my look-alike fabrics, they will be entirely my own designs. I want to honor the copyright of whoever created the original fabrics by making my own designs slightly different, but comparable in terms of size and style. I may use watercolor paints or perhaps gouache paints to make them uniquely my own.

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, 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.