How to alter a turtleneck so it’s a regular style of shirt #MeMadeMonday #SewingHack

In this photograph, we see the Chelly Wood doll (a repainted Spin Master Liv doll that looks like the real doll clothing designer Chelly Wood) holding up vintage Simplicity doll clothes pattern number 8466, which was published in 1969. The pattern offers the following outfits to fit Barbie sized fashion dolls of the time: View 1: a sleeveless dress with high lace collar and a ruffle; view 2: a sleeveless dress with fringe at the bottom in imitation of a Native American style mini skirt; view 3: a bell sleeved mini skirt dress; view 4: a ball gown with empire waist and straps; view 5 a short sleeved turtle neck shirt with mini skirt and vest; view 6: the same mini skirt and short sleeved turtle neck are shown with a blue cape over the top; view 7: bell bottom pants with an elastic waist and a sleeveless shirt that has a buckle style open back. — Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns for making clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

The numbers for the View 5 and View 6 outfits are covered up by the price tag in the image above, but today’s blog post will explain how I removed the turtleneck collar from these two vintage Barbie shirt patterns, to create a more basic shirt neckline for this easy-to-make shirt.

You may want to look back at last week’s post, so you can see how I altered the darts for this blouse/tee shirt as well.

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!

Figure 1: the dolman sleeved shirt front is being stitched to the dolman sleeved shirt back at the shoulder. Figure 2, The bodice lays flat so we can see that both backs have been sewn to the bodice front. Figure 3 shows how the sleeves were hemmed and the collar has been clipped and sewn to the inside of the shirt with a straight stitch. Figure 4 shows how the sides of the garment have all been single-fold hemmed with a straight stitch. Figure 5: a woman's hand holds the shirt closed at the back so the smooth edge of the shirt's collar is visible from the top down. — 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.

The following a quick run-down in the step-by-step process of altering the Views 5 and 7 shirt from Simplicity 8466, so the shirt can be made without its turtleneck collar. If you want to read more of my articles about sewing the vintage Barbie patterns from Simplicity 8466, please click here.

In Figure 1, you can see that I stitched the backs to the shirt’s front along the shoulder seam. I also hemmed the shirt sleeve at this point, but that could have been done in the second step, which is shown in Figure 2.

Once the garment was laid out flat (Figure 2), it was easy enough to go in with my Fiskars Stitchers Minis and clip the collar. Then I just folded these clipped bits inside (toward the wrong side) and used a straight stitch (also called a running stitch) to single-fold hem the so-called “collar” of the shirt (Figures 3 and 4).

A Kira headed Curvy Barbie models a vintage fabric geometric print blouse (red and blue shapes on white cotton) over a pair of wide leg pants on the right. Left of her, a blond modern Barbie models the same shirt with a 1970's style pair of culottes and a vest made of light blue fabric like Kira's wide leg pants. — 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.

I added a few snaps to the back closure, and the shirt was done! So as you can see, this truly is an easy shirt to make.

But I think, if I make it again, I’m going to experiment with lining the shirt.

I have already tried making it from jersey fabric with the collar, but that blog post will have to wait for another day. In the mean time, I would love to hear your opinions.

Questions: What do you think of this collar? Be honest. Do you think it needs more alterations? Does it look “uncomfortable” on the doll? Would it look nicer with more of a scoop neck?

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Disclaimer/Credit/Affiliate Marketing Link:

*Please note: when you click on links to various merchants on the ChellyWood.com 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.