If you’ve been following my series on doll undergarments, here on ChellyWood.com, you’ll recognize number four above. It’s a pair of panties I sewed using a vintage doll clothes patterns.
But what about the other ones? What’s their story? Well, please take note of the types of fabrics each pair of panties is made from because that will be the focus of today’s blog post!
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As you can see, I’ve been experimenting with doll underpants patterns lately, including a number of different vintage Barbie underpants patterns, but also my own (for comparison purposes). So let me tell you what I’ve learned by making each of these.
A — These panties were made from a baby’s headband. It’s a great way to recycle garment items that don’t have a lot of fabric, like a baby’s headband! These were made from a jersey fabric that only had one-way stretch, but I thought they were pretty easy to make. I used my own Barbie underpants pattern to sew them.
Lesson learned: small swatches of jersey fabric can be made into Barbie underpants!
B — I made these panties from a T-shirt that needed some alterations. Again, it’s my own pattern, but this T-shirt fabric was made of not-so-stretchy cotton with only a little bit of jersey blended into it. So I was glad I had made these a little bigger than the original pattern because they would’ve been tricky to get over Barbie’s hips, had I not enlarged them when cutting them out.
Lesson learned: some T-shirt material isn’t stretchy enough for a doll’s underpants to work with it.
C — I wrote about these underpants in last week’s blog post. They’re made of 100% cotton, which made them not stretchy at all. They fit my Disney Princess fashion doll, but they’re too small for a modern Barbie, even though I was using vintage Barbie pattern Simplicity 9054 to make them.
Lesson learned: vintage Barbie panties patterns don’t always fit modern Barbies!
D — Scroll down. I will cover these undies when I write about the underpants in View I, okay?
E — For these sheer underpants with tulle at the top and satin at the crotch, I used my own Barbie panties pattern, adapting the pattern with a piece of lingerie that was being re-purposed. The sheer top of these underpants is made from the already-sewn hem of the lingerie, providing a nice casing for the top of the undies. Unfortunately, neither the tulle nor the satin had much stretch. They will fit a Barbie, but they’re a tight fit.
Lesson learned: it’s possible to use the hem of a re-purposed garment to provide a casing for your underpants, but neither satin nor tulle make a particularly stretchy pair of underpants.
F — Once again I used Simplicity 9054 to make these mint green striped jersey underpants. Most of the dolls I tried these on looked strange, as if the leg holes were providing wild “wings” that stretched out beyond the top of the doll’s legs. However because they had a ton of stretch (I think there’s even some spandex blended into this two-way stretch fabric), they looked very nice on dolls that were curvier, like Curvy Barbie and Disney’s Mirabel dolls.
Lesson learned: if you’re making underpants for a curvaceous doll, use fabric with two way stretch.
G — For this pair of underpants, I used either McCall’s 6260 or McCall’s 6420. The reason I can’t remember which one is because these two different patterns appear to use the exact same underpants pattern! (And frankly, I can’t quite remember which of them was used to make panties view G.) These underpants are made from a stretchy jersey fabric, and even with the added lace, they still fit both modern Barbie and vintage Barbie, although they’re not stretchy enough to fit Curvy Barbie.
Lesson learned: patterns from one company (in this case, McCall’s) may offer the same panties pattern for multiple pattern numbers.
H — I used 100% quilting cotton for these panties, which used my own Barbie sized underpants pattern. When I was done making them, because 100% cotton doesn’t have any flexibility, they didn’t fit Barbie at all. In fact, because I gave them a lining (I was experimenting), they won’t even fit Skipper. The only dolls I could put them on were dolls like Monster High.
Lesson learned: if you’re going to make panties from 100% cotton, cut them bigger than the pattern and don’t give them a lining.
D and I — Each of these panties uses one-way-stretch polyester fabric. D used a single layer, while the panties represented by the letter I used a lining. Once again (as I saw with the pair shown in view H) having a lining — even one with a bit of stretch — made it impossible to fit these on a modern Barbie. This was my own pattern. What I did like about this coral color is that these panties were both invisible under most dresses.
Lesson learned: coral colored stretch polyester makes a very nice, camouflaged pair of underpants, but it’s better to go with a single layer rather than lining the panties.
J — These were made with pink lace that had just a wee bit of spandex in it, so they did have some stretch to them. What I didn’t like about the lace underpants was the visibility of the elastic under the lace. These were made using the panties pattern from McCall’s 3429 (if I remember correctly), which doesn’t show up on the cover of the McCall’s 3429 pattern envelope, but it does appear as a line drawing on the back of it. This panty is provided as the “bloomers” for the teddy pajama for Barbie, on the as shown on the cover of the envelope.
Lesson learned: it might be better to sew on picot elastic with lace panties, rather than attempting to make a casing because the elastic can be seen through the lace under a casing.
Now for the final verdict: which fabrics did I like the best/least? My least favorite was the 100% cotton because it just didn’t stretch at all (see image above). My very favorite fabric was anything with stretch, including jersey, jersey blends, the stretchy polyester, and even the stretchy lace.
Question: what fabric is your favorite for sewing doll panties, and why?
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