What can you do with small squares of leftover fabric? You can make a Barbie shirt, of course!

And in today’s blog post, I’m going to show you exactly how I took two squares of leftover fabric and turned them into a simple Barbie shirt with a pocket.

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When I first saw the rectangular patterns for making the View 6 shirt from Advance 2896, I thought, “What the heck?”

There were no curves, no yokes, no darts, and no sleeves. These shirt patterns were just a bunch of rectangles. That’s all. Period.

At first, I thought, “That’s too weird. I’m not going to try to make that.”

But of course people give me little teeny tiny scraps of fabric all the time, and after making a dozen items from a chunk of fabric, I’m usually left with little bits and pieces as well. It’s the nature of sewing, right? You’re always going to have leftovers.

And when I found myself staring at two squares of blue gingham fabric with a long skinny tail of blue gingham hanging off of one of the squares, I remembered that strange View 6 shirt pattern from the Around the Clock Wardrobe from Sew-Easy Patterns by Advance, #2896.

So I used my pattern, together with the squares of leftover blue gingham, to cut out the rectangles that I’ve numbered with 1, 2, 3, and 4 in the image below.

Can you see how confusing these rectangles are? I kept thinking, “How on earth is this going to turn into a Barbie shirt?”

Reading the directions wasn’t much help… at first anyway.

I mean, just look at this:

Can you make heads or tails of that? Of course some of the letters are faded, but even if I decipher exactly what was said, the diagram itself is pretty confusing.

It took me two or three reads through to realize that the dotted line (look at the bottom of the diagram) is where you’re supposed to have sewn the pocket onto the outside of the fattest of the three rectangles, piece D.

By my third read through of the directions, I decided to skip these confusing instructions and make the whole thing my own way. That’s when I cut out the white cotton rectangles, which are pieces 5, 6, 7, and 8 on my green cutting board image (scroll back up to see all the cut pieces). These white pieces would become my shirt’s lining, a feature that the original directions didn’t include at all.

And here’s how I made my own version of the View 6 rectangle shirt from Advance 2896:

A. The skinnier of the two rectangles (representing both pieces E and F from the original instructions) shows how I sewed the white lining to the blue gingham back, for both backs. I sewed the hem area, the back closure (in its entirety, bottom to top) and from there, I sewed just 3/4 of an inch along the top. Then, at the top of the side that has the notch cut in it, I sewed from the top of the skinny rectangle to about 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) down the notch side, to form the shirt’s future arm hole opening. I did this for both backs, but A (in the diagram above) only shows one of the backs. You’d just want to make sure you do the other back making your stitches opposite of the first back, so you don’t end up with two left side back pieces.

Then, on the front piece (rectangle D in the original instructions), I attached the lining to the gingham by sewing a straight line for a neckline, leaving an un-sewn area on either side of the neckline. Then I sewed arm hole areas from the top of the rectangle to 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) down the sides of piece D. I also sewed the hem area, attaching the white cotton lining to the gingham there, along the bottom.

B. In this second image, I’ve clipped and am getting ready to invert both back pieces, and although it doesn’t show the front (piece D), I also clipped and inverted that piece as well.

C. This image shows the bottom of the front (piece D) where I’ve sewn the pocket to the front, but what has happened off-camera was this: I sewed the pocket together, attaching the white lining to the blue gingham on three sides. Then I inverted the pocket. I pinned the unsewn part of the pocket to the unsewn side seam of the shirt front before stitching the pocket to the shirt in an L-shape. You might wonder why my stitches don’t form more of a U shape, but if you look ahead at section D, you’ll see why.

D. This image is turned sideways, so we’re looking at the back’s lining, as it lays horizontally across the front piece, with right sides together. In this step, the pocket gets sandwiched in-between the front and back pieces, as I sew down the side seam. I have also sewn across the shoulder area.

E. I attach both backs at the shoulder and side seams, but for the second back, I don’t have to worry about stitching the pocket in place like I did with the first back.

F. At that point, I noticed that my lining left the shirt with shoulder seams sticking up, so I trimmed the excess fabric away from the shoulder seams.

G. I inverted the garment.

H. As a final step, I sewed a row of snaps up the back and finished sewing the blue satin belt I had cut out to go with it. So here’s what the whole ensemble looked like when it was all done:

Behold the final product! The shirt’s sleeves flirt with a cap sleeve style, and that neckline only subtly reveals the boatneck that was intended by the pattern’s original designer. The photo lineup reveals all: On the left, I’ve tied the little belt in back (which is my preference, even though it doesn’t match the original design). Center stage, Bubble Cut Barbie faces us, making those cap sleeves pop! And on the right, she’s in profile, showing off a pocket conveniently placed right at hand level.

Now, if you ever find yourself wondering, “What am I going to do with these little squares of leftover fabric?” you can head back over here to ChellyWood.com to follow my instructions, even if you don’t already own Advance 2896 for vintage Barbie dolls!

Hopefully my instructions are a little clearer than the ones that came in the original package.

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.

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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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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.