Here’s how I made a very tiny doll dress with McCall’s 2970 (View B) #isew #slowsewing

Beside the McCall's 2970 pattern, a list of dolls that will fit this tiny fashion doll sewing pattern can be read as follows: Dawn, Dale, Glory, Rock Flowers, Tutti, Lori, Nan, Posie, Kim, Donna, and the final name, Pippa, is followed by a question mark. The text at the top of the image says, "Who can wear it?" and the envelope's patterns include each of the following outfits for these tiny 6 inch fashion dolls: View A is a halter dress; View B is a long-sleeved long dress with lace trim; view C is a long-sleeved short dress (above the knee) with a full skirt and the dress bodice has a collar; view D is a tunic, pants, and long vest; View E is a nightgown or bathrobe; View F is a cape with hood. — 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’ve recently done a few blog posts on this McCall’s 2970 doll clothes sewing pattern, including posts about the tiny underpants patterns it comes with and various tiny dolls and toys that can wear this itty bitty pattern.

To read my previous blog posts, including the one that details the difficulties associated with the View B dress, please click here.

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Figure A shows four bodices have been cut out with one rectangular-ish skirt piece. Two of the bodices are made of blue fabric. The skirt and two of the bodices are made from a vintage-looking cotton made of geometric squares, circles, and wavy lines in red, white, and two shades of blue. Figure B shows how lace was sandwiched in-between the lining bodice piece and the outer bodice piece (made from the vintage geometric fabric). Figure C shows that notches on the bodice show where to sew the two bodices together to form the front center seam running from the neckline to the base of the bodice at the front of the doll. — 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 cut out my dress, I used an adorable geometric-themed vintage fabric that had been in my mother-in-law’s collection since the 1970’s. It’s probably older than that though, since it may have been her mother’s fabric from the 1930’s or 1940’s.

There wasn’t much of it — only a swatch — but it was just enough to make a little dress for a 6 inch Topper Dawn miniature doll.

If you look carefully at Figure A above, you’ll notice that the sleeve is strangely positioned on the pattern from McCall’s 2970 (View B). I talked about this in a previous blog post, which you can find here.

Once I figured out the logistics of this pattern, though, I was able to sandwich my pink lace between the lining sleeve and the outer sleeve, as you’ll see in Figures B and C above.

The key to sewing the front seam on the bodice was simple enough: I just needed to pay close attention to the bodice’s notches (Figure C).

Figure D shows a narrow pink lace running along the inside of the hem of a skirt’s fabric, with only a single fold hem. Figure E shows the lace itself resting on a cutting mat, which demonstrates it is ¼ inch wide at its widest points along the scalloped edge of the filagree-style pale pink lace strands. Figure E also shows that the lace was attached to the collar of the dress at the neckline after creating a lining, so the neckline has no rough edges whatsoever, even after the lace has been attached to the inside of the neckline. Figure F shows the dress inside-out after completion. — 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.

There are lots of different ways to attach lace to a dress. As I’ve said, I sandwiched my lace in-between the layers of sleeve, but as you can see in Figure D above, I also added lace to a single-fold hem along the very bottom of the dress.

In hind sight, I think this dress would have fit better if I’d added the lace to the bottom of the dress along a double-fold hem. If you scroll down a bit, you’ll see that the dress is a just a wee bit long on my Dawn doll.

In Figure E above, I’m showing you that I had originally planned to just make the dress’s collar without a lace edge. That’s why I sewed the lining to the outer bodice along the neckline, making a clean edge there.

But eventually I decided to go ahead and add the lace, just as the original McCall’s 2970 pattern calls for. And generally speaking, I like how it turned out (see images below). What are your thoughts?

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 I make this dress again, I think I’m going to use a simpler fabric, like a solid or maybe a gingham check.

The geometric vintage fabric was fun to work with, but looking at these photos of my Topper Dawn doll in the finished dress from View B of McCall’s 2970, I think the dress’s geometric patterns are just a tad bit too busy.

Questions: Do you sew for tiny dolls? And if so, what fabrics do you recommend for tiny dolls?

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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.