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Let’s make a lace-and-ribbon-front shirt for 10 inch dolls! And let’s learn about lacebark… #BlackHistoryMonth #Crafts

Scroll down to the third set of bullets for the free PDF sewing patterns.

Today’s sewing project tutorial video and free doll clothes sewing pattern can be used to make an adorable little sleeveless shirt with a lace-and-ribbon decorative front.

And if you’ve been following my daily blog posts, you’ll know it’s February, which is Black History Month. So on your way down to get today’s free sewing patterns, please read the excerpts from my research on lacebark, an interesting and little-known fact about the ladies of Jamaica and how they used local resources to adorn their handmade clothing.

Before I go on, I need to make my required disclaimer statement: As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. To learn more about how affiliate marketing works on my website, please go to the Privacy Policy page. Thank you!

Sew the lace to the outer garment front’s “right side” before you begin sewing the shirt itself. Image shows the ruffle-edged lace being sewn to the front of an unattached garment front piece. Sew ribbon over the top, right down the middle of the lace. Image shows a woman's fingers laying a strip of quarter inch wide velvet ribbon over the top of the ruffled lace.
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.

When I think of lace, I tend to think of it having European origins, but did you know there’s a tree that grows in the Caribbean that produces a type of lace? I’m talking about the genus Lagetta lagetto, otherwise known as lacebark.

According to Wikipedia, “the tree’s use for textiles may have followed the arrival of slaves from West Africa, where there is a long tradition of barkcloth.” We certainly know that the use of lace was in fashion for white people who could afford it during colonial times, as we see its use in collars, cuffs, and shawls. Think of how George and Martha Washington dressed, for example.

In an article I found on JSTOR (a digital library of academic journals), Amelia Soth suggests that “For the enslaved people of Jamaica, the lacebark tree was a valuable natural resource and a means of asserting one’s dignity.” In her article, entitled, “Lacebark as a Symbol of Resilience,” she tells us that the enslaved women of Jamaica used this resource to raise funds by turning lacebark into a usable textile that catered to the popular fashions of the time.

Left: image shows a colonial bonnet in the style of Martha Washington, made from gauzy lace, in a form that resembles lacebark from Jamaica, Haiti, and other Caribbean islands. Right: a drawing shows a woman of African heritage wearing a wide collar made of gauzy lace over a rust colored Victorian era dress. These images were made using Canva AI, designed by Chelly Wood. Learn more about lacebark and its use by people of African heritage from the Caribbean by visiting ChellyWood.com, a website offering free doll clothes sewing patterns.
Images of lacebark examples created by Canva AI. Visit ChellyWood.com to learn more about lacebark and the Black History Month article associated with this image.

But, Soth said, it was more than just an income for these ladies. It was also a fashion statement with a message. “Peasant and working class women appropriated the fashions of the upper classes, copied and modified them to their liking and used lace-bark to ‘make fashion’ to show that they too can be beautiful as the elite, but on their terms” (Soth).

You can read more about lacebark — what it is, how it’s harvested from trees, and how it was used by both enslaved and free Black women — by clicking on the links I’ve provided in this portion of today’s blog post.

ChellyWood (dot com) free patterns. Left: an African American Petite Barbie doll models handmade heart-print flannel pajama pants with a white lace and ribbon trimmed sleeveless cotton top. The doll on the left stands in profile, facing more-or-less to the viewer's right. From this angle, the snug but comfortable fit of the ensemble is quite apparent. Center: the same African American Petite Barbie doll models her pajamas from the front. At this angle, it's easier to tell that her pajama pants have both an elastic waist and a fly front that snaps. The front of her white cotton sleeveless top is decorated with pink lace and a pink one-eighth inch wide ribbon. The shade of pink lace matches the pajama pants pink flannel. From the front it’s easiest to tell that these are low rise pajama pants while her “tank top” pajama shirt is cropped. A bit of skin appears between pants and top. Right: the same Petite Barbie models her pajamas from a slight angle, with the doll facing the viewer's left. From this angle, it's easy to tell that these pajama pants have a snap-front fly, in addition to the elastic waist. The pajama pants are decorated with tiny Barbie-pink hearts and black hearts framed in pink. The doll's black and burgundy curly hair is pulled back in a short, curly pony tail. This ensemble is part of both the Black History Month celebration for February 2026 and Chelly Wood's Valentine's Day free sewing patterns for making Petite Barbie sized doll clothes.
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.

If you regularly follow my blog posts, you’ll recognize the Valentine’s Day pajama pants above. Next week I’ll re-post these images, so you can find the lace-and-ribbon top in the same location as the pajama pants.

I’ll also be posting patterns for the complete skirt-and-top outfit worn by my Creatable World doll, so you can make the skirt pattern that you see in today’s video as well. So keep checking back for that ensemble later on.

The thumbnail will look like this:

An African American Creatable World doll models a handmade African print cotton outfit, including a shirt with a short skirt. The shirt is sleeveless, but running down the front of the shirt is red lace trim with a black quarter-inch wide ribbon running down the center of the lace trim, sort of like a button-front placket (but it doesn’t actually have any buttons). The African print fabric of the skirt matches the the fabric under the lace trim of the shirt. This African print cotton fabric is multicolor, incorporating red, blue, yellow, green, and black. The skirt is a simple elastic-waist style with a bit of flare. It extends to just above the doll’s knees. The doll’s shoes are lovely shiny red Mary Janes with teeny-tiny buckles. The text reads, "Free sewing Pattern!"
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.

How cute is that? Creatable World dolls are so photgenic!

To make today’s lace-and-ribbon-front sleeveless top, you will likely need one or more of the following items:

This list comes from my “Buyer’s Guide” page, which is easily accessed from the home page.

Today’s patterns will fit these dolls*:

Here are your free, printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making the outfit shown at the top of this page:

You may also find these tutorial videos helpful:

For more of my free tutorials, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel, ChellyWood1.

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To read more about my free sewing patterns and tutorials, please visit the “Helpful Tips” page.

References:

Canva AI. Images of the “Lacebark bonnet” and “Drawing of Victorian African American Woman with Lace Collar” were created by Chelly Wood, using Canva AI tools. This is because all of the images of women’s garments that are made with actual lacebark on museum websites are protected by copyright.

Soth, Amelia. “Lacebark as a Symbol of Resilience.” JSTOR, 28 April, 2022. Web. Accessed 19 February, 2026.

Wikipedia contributors. “Lagetta lagetto.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 3 Oct. 2025. Web. 19 Feb. 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagetta_lagetto

Disclaimer/Credit/Affiliate Marketing Links:

When you click 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.

To honor the trademark rights of the doll companies mentioned in this blog post, I am including links to their websites here. Please feel free to visit their website and consider purchasing one or more of the dolls mentioned.

Skipper, Petite Barbie dolls, Creatable World, Kuu Kuu Harajuku dolls, and vintage Sunshine Family dolls are products offered by Mattel, which holds the registered trademark for them (™). Please visit the Mattel Toys website to learn more about their company and its trademarked toys.

Momoko dolls are products offered by Petworks, which holds the trademark for them (™). Please visit the Momoko Dolls website to learn more about their company and its trademarked toys.

Disney Princess, Moana, and Disney fairy dolls are products offered by the Disney corporation, which holds the trademark for them (™). Please visit the Disney Toys website to learn more about their company and its trademarked toys.

Project MC Squared dolls and Rainbow High dolls are products offered by MGA Entertainment, which holds the trademark for them (™). Please visit the Project MC Squared website or the Rainbow High website to learn more about their company and its trademarked toys.

According to Wikipedia, “Ideal Toy Company was an American toy company founded by Morris Michtom and his wife, Rose. During the post–World War II baby boom era, Ideal became the largest doll-making company in the United States.” They produced the Tammy family line of dolls, including Ideal Pepper dolls, but eventually the Tammy line of dolls went out of production (with the exception of the Sindy doll — the UK version — which has had a recent revival). There have been a complicated series of sales of rights for Ideal toys since then, and you can read about it on Wikipedia, if you’re interested. But at the time of this blog post, the trademark name “Tammy” for these dolls was abandoned and has remained “dead” (according to the US Trademark database) since 2004.

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