For your free patterns and tutorial videos, please scroll down to the second set of bullets.

Today’s tutorial video and free sewing pattern are for more advanced sewists. You can see that I’ve given the pattern five flowers on my difficulty scale (see below), because this swimsuit does have a lining.

To learn more about how the difficulty scale works, please click here.

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!

I’ve included the special instructions page from the video in today’s blog post. Scroll down to see that.

I recommend using a cotton or jersey fabric for this project, and swimsuit fabric might work equally well, although it can be more difficult to sew with.

Cotton is probably the easiest of these fabrics to work with, and that’s what I used for my swimsuit.

Today’s swimsuit/bathing suit project can also double as a bodysuit. You can make a simple skirt for your dolls by using this pattern, which I designed for 17 inch Endless Hair Kingdom Barbie, but which will certainly fit the 16 inch Tonner dolls too.

One of the trickiest parts of my swimsuit pattern is making the back closure. If you’re the kind of person who tends to just fly by the seat of your pants, rather than watching my sewing tutorial videos, I would advise you to really pay attention to the last half of today’s tutorial, to make sure you get the back closure section right.

One more thing I mentioned in my video is the Fiskars mini scissors I use, when I’m clipping my seams. If you don’t already own a pair of Fiskars 5-inch stitchers’ scissors, I do recommend buying some. They really help you step up your doll clothes sewing game!

In today’s video I also mentioned Dritz snaps and a Dritz fabric pencil. Those links should help you locate each of those items, if you have an interest in buying them.

Today’s swimsuit/bathing suit/body suit pattern will fit these dolls:

• 15 1/2-inch dolls like many of the Tonner fashion dolls
• 15 1/2-inch dolls like the Clea Bella dolls
• 16-inch dolls like the Alexandra Fairchild Ford dolls
• 17-inch dolls like the Dreamtopia Endless Hair Kingdom Barbie

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

• Free printable American PDF sewing pattern for the swimsuit/bathing suit/body suit
• Free A4 PDF sewing pattern for the swimsuit/bathing suit/body suit (coming soon)
• Tutorial video for making the swimsuit (found at the top of this page)
• How to do a whipstitch
• How to do a backstitch
• How to choose fabric
• How to tie a knot using a needle and thread
• How to press seams open, using a hot iron

Here are some of the other items I mentioned in my video:

• 3/4 inch sew-on Velcro from Amazon (You’d want to cut it in half vertically)
• chopsticks (for inverting doll clothes)
• lightbox (or you can just use a window)
• Gutermann sewing machine thread
• my Etsy store (for the Life Balance To-Do List)

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

Do you wish you could make today’s swimsuit pattern for your vintage Mattel Barbie doll?

If so, my “How to Alter Doll Clothes Patterns” course on the Creative Spark online learning platform will teach you how to re-size doll clothes patterns. You can click here to learn more about my “How to Alter Doll Clothes Patterns” course on the Creative Spark website.

I also have a new course on the Creative Spark Online Learning platform which teaches you how to design your own doll pants patterns from scratch, including leggings, overalls, and fly-front jeans. Click here to check out that new course, which is only $19.99!

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.

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

Disclaimer/Credit/Affiliate Marketing Link:

*ChellyWood.com earns money by linking to Amazon, eBay, Michaels, 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.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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.

The redheaded doll shown above is a Tonner doll. Chelly Wood and ChellyWood.com are not affiliated with the Tonner brand of dolls or the company that produced them. Little Miss Matched and other Tonner dolls were created and produced by Robert Tonner for Tonner Doll Company, Inc., which holds the trademark rights to them (™). At the time of this blog post, the Tonner Doll Company no longer produces dolls, but you can learn more about them at this link or purchase collectible Tonner dolls on eBay or through other online auction sales.

Clea Bella dolls were created by Christina Bougas, of the Bella Productions Doll Company, and she often signed her dolls “Bogie” on the back of the doll’s head or neck. These “Bogie” dolls were often designed as theater characters or ballerinas. Chelly Wood and ChellyWood.com are not affiliated with Clea Bella or other dolls designed by Christina Bougas, nor are they affiliated in any way with the Bella Productions Doll Company. At the time of this blog post, I was only able to find Clea Bella dolls on eBay, and Wikipedia’s information dates back to 2017. So although Christina Bougas probably still holds the trademark rights to her dolls (™), I’m not sure how to contact the Bella Productions Doll Company. If you know more than I do about this doll company, please leave a helpful comment.

Alexandra Fairchild Dolls were created by the Madame Alexander Doll Company, which holds the trademark rights to these dolls (™). Chelly Wood andChellyWood.com are not affiliated with the Alexander Fairchild Dolls or the Madame Alexander brand of dolls, but Chelly enjoys designing clothes that will fit their dolls. To learn more about the highly prized and collectible dolls made by the Madame Alexander Doll Company, please visit their website at this link.

Dreamtopia Endless Hair Kingdom 17-inch Barbie dolls and My First Barbie 13 inch 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.

Lammily dolls were created by Nickolay Lamm, the CEO of Lammily LLC, which holds the trademark rights to these dolls (™). Chelly Wood andChellyWood.com are not affiliated with the Lammily LLC company or the Lammily brand of dolls, but in 2014 Chelly contracted with them to design the “Winter Wonderland” and “Cozy Wear” sewing patterns for their dolls. Because of her contract agreement with Lammily LLC, Chelly does not specifically design doll clothes patterns to fit the Lammily brand of dolls to post on the ChellyWood.com free pattern website. Instead, if some of her patterns which were designed to fit similar-sized dolls happen to also fit the Lammily dolls, she adds a link to that pattern to her Lammily gallery of free doll clothes patterns. This agreement is designed to encourage people to purchase patterns from the Lammily doll company so their remarkable doll business will thrive. To learn more about Lammily dolls and the positive impact they have on children’s body images, please click here. To purchase one of the many sewing patterns offered by Lammily LLC, please click here. To shop for a Lammily doll, please click here.