Lately we’ve been learning how to cut out a Barbie doll clothes sewing pattern. I’m continuing that train of thought in today’s blog post, which reviews the cutting steps and adds a few details.
When you’re getting ready to cut out your doll clothes patterns, it can be very helpful to see which garment pieces will need two identical pieces cut. For these, you can save time by folding your fabric in half (see image above) before you lay out your pattern pieces and pin them on the fabric.
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In the image above, you can see that I’ve got one front piece cut out, but I have two back pieces cut out. The back pieces are mirror images of each other as well. The “mirror image” is often expected when a pattern pieces says “cut 2,” but it’s not often explained in the instructions. So be wary of cutting out two left back pieces or two right back pieces!
To avoid this conundrum, it might be easier to cut all your pieces from fabric that’s solid colored, like you see in the example below. How do you know when you’re supposed to cut one piece vs. two?
Read the pattern itself to see which pattern pieces say “cut 1” and which pattern pieces say “cut 2” (see image below). You only want to pin the “cut 2” pieces onto the folded fabric. Any “cut 1” pieces should be laid out on a single swatch of un-folded fabric.
In the image above (a shorts pattern) look under the right-hand side of the grainline arrow. See where it says “Cut 2”? Don’t be mislead by the pattern number, which happens to also be 2 in this case. See where it says “Pants 2”? That’s the pattern piece number.
Pattern pieces can be given a number or a letter to help you identify them. When you first unfold your patterns from a brand new pattern envelope, they’ll be on a big sheet of tissue paper. “Pants 2” in the image above lets us know which piece to cut from the folded-out tissue paper that all our patterns will be printed on.
On the instruction sheet below, look at Figure 2. this shows that pieces L and M will be sleeves, C will be part of the back, H will be the collar, D will be a back yoke, and J and K will be facings.
If you’re not sure whether your pattern will use letters or numbers to represent the different pieces for a garment, look at the instruction sheet that comes with your pattern. It will give you some diagrams like the ones in figures 1, 2, and 3 below, to help you.
In the image above, the pattern pieces are given letters, like J for the facing and E for the pocket. Numbers on this pattern piece represent notches, and the instructions will tell you to “match notches 7 and 8 at the neck,” which is what I was doing in Figure 6. So be aware that you don’t have to cut out 7 or 8 facings! That would be way too many!
In figure 4 above, I had written “cut 2” directly onto Facing J because I couldn’t find the pattern piece for Facing K (and they were identical but opposite pieces). So it’s okay to write cutting instructions directly onto your pattern pieces. Unfortunately, I later found Facing K, so I had to draw a big X through my “cut 2” instructions.
Some pattern pieces may say, “Cut on Fold,” which means you must fold the fabric, as shown in the image below (see yellow arrow), but carefully lay the pattern’s fold line right up against the edge of the folded fabric (see green arrow).
When you go to cut this pattern, you won’t cut the folded area.
Instead, when you unpin the coat from the fabric, it will open out, to form a single piece, showing both sleeves. You can see what I mean in the images below.
Whenever possible, it’s also a good idea to think about how you can cut out your patterns in ways that use less surface area of fabric.
That way, when you’re done cutting, you’ll be able to use the leftover fabric for other projects. I talked about this yesterday, but it may be a good idea to remind you again, how to conserve fabric for future use.
A trick I use is this… Instead of pinning all the pieces to the fabric before you begin cutting, just lay them on top first to see if they’ll fit. Then, as long as you can remember how you had them arranged, take off the ones you’re not pinning and cutting for the moment.
Cut around teeny-tiny pieces, leaving a bit of a “margin,” so to speak. Then — contrary to the way we cut people’s clothes — pick up the little garment piece (which still has its pattern piece pinned to it) and trim away the excess fabric. That’s what I’m showing you in the images above.
This is especially helpful with really, teeny-tiny garment pieces for small dolls like Barbie.
Fabric isn’t easily cut with regular craft scissors. Instead, you’ll need to buy a pair of good sewing scissors. Otherwise you can damage both your fabric and your pattern.
If you want advice for buying sewing scissors, this link may help. In that article, I offer my suggestions for beginner-friendly scissors.
Carefully cut around all notches. To learn more about notches, please go back to an earlier blog post, in which we discussed notches and grainlines (the arrows which appear on many patterns).
If you look at the big purple arrow in the image above, you’ll see that the hat top has a notch that will later align with the hat’s crown. Then, when we sew the crown’s edge all the way around the hat’s top, the notches that my yellow and pink arrows are pointing at will join at the side of the hat’s crown.
Okay, so you’ve cut out your garment pieces. What do you do next?
If you’re putting together a commercial pattern, you need to read through all of the instructions first, before you start to sew. It helps you get a bigger picture of how each piece goes together, so you don’t later have to backtrack and rip seams.
Once you’ve read all of the instructions for making the garment, begin by following the steps outlined in your pattern’s instructions.
If you’re using one of my free sewing patterns, follow the link in the accompanying blog post to the tutorial or tutorials that show you exactly how to build your garment, through step-by-step instructions in video form.
Now, this “Shorts” video, from my YouTube channel, will show you ALL the steps to cutting out a pattern, that have been covered in this “How to Cut Out a Barbie Pattern” series of blog posts:
The patterns I was using today came from Simplicity 7601 for Barbie, Simplicity 7928 for Barbie, Sew Easy Advance 2899 for Ken, and a couple of my own doll clothes patterns.
Among my own doll clothes patterns were the A-line nightgown for 12 inch baby dolls and the trench coat pattern for fashion dolls. Feel free to click on those links to learn more about the patterns I was using.
If you’re just learning to sew, I recommend that you visit my “Helpful Tips” page. It offers lots of tutorial videos and links to sewing “basics” blog posts that I’ve done in the past.
To see more of my free doll clothes sewing tutorial videos, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel, ChellyWood1.
Before I’m done here, I once again, want to thank the mom who contacted me quite some time ago, asking for directions on how to pin and cut doll clothes patterns. This series has been a lot of fun to make, and I’m so grateful for the question that inspired each of this week’s blog posts!
If you’re new to my website, you probably haven’t heard about my Creative Spark class, “How to Alter Doll Clothes Patterns,” which teaches you how to alter (change) patterns. Did you notice that my Simplicity doll clothes pattern 7601 was made in the early 1990’s?
Yes, these doll clothes patterns are out of style, but if you understand how to alter doll clothes patterns, you can make these garments look more like modern-day fashions.
Are you worried that you won’t have time to take a course in doll clothes pattern alteration? You’ll be happy to learn that, 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 please go have a look at my paid courses on Creative Spark, using this link.
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*ChellyWood.com earns money by linking to JoAnn Fabrics, Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and other online affiliate programs. Links provided above may be affiliate links. For a full list of my affiliate programs, and to understand how cookies are used to help this website earn money, please see my “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.