The jeans my Barbie is wearing in the image at the top of today’s blog post were made using my own jeans pattern, which can be easily downloaded for free as a PDF, right here.

But today I want to talk about how I altered this T-shirt pattern, making it a high-low crop top, using McCall’s Crafts pattern number 5462 (a Barbie wardrobe from the 1980’s).

Sometimes I hear people say in sewing forums, “I wouldn’t buy that pattern. It’s outdated.” Clearly these are sewing enthusiasts who have not yet learned how to make alterations.

This week I’m going to show you how I took the pattern for the boatneck T-shirt in View G of McCall’s Craft doll clothes pattern 5462 and modernized it, to look more like a fashionable, boxy crop-top tee, like what we tend to see in stores lately.

The pattern instructions, themselves, explain how you alter the long-sleeved shirt pattern, to make it a shorter sleeve. When I make alterations, I usually read the instructions, but I seldom follow them.

In the image below, you can see that I’ve ignored how the pattern says, “For View G Cut Away Here,” and instead, I’ve folded the pattern back along the cut line (see purple arrow). This will make it so you can re-use the pattern for a long-sleeved shirt later on.

Before I started to cut this shirt out, I actually moved the pattern and re-pinned it, allowing for even more room in the back of the garment. So, do you see how the pink arrow points at the excess fabric in the fold? Well I ended up giving it that extra room in both the center front and the center back before I was done.

Then I folded the front section where the white arrow points at an imaginary blue line. This allowed me to created that cropped front area. I used my fabric pencil to mark the side seam, at about where the red arrow points. This showed me where my slit would start.

Now, I haven’t mentioned the yellow arrow. When we widen the center front and center back, we have to be careful that we don’t cut too deeply into the neckline.

You want your neck to have that nice, almond-shaped boatneck without it slipping off the doll’s shoulders. And if you widen the front and back, you have to then adjust the neckline, to avoid cutting it too deeply.

However, if you accidentally cut the neckline too wide, I actually did a blog post on what you can do to make up for that mistake as well. Here’s an image from that alteration:

And you can click here to read the full article on that alteration as well. As you can see, it also uses McCall’s Crafts Pattern #5462, but I used the longer sleeve variation with that alteration.

Today’s blog post is a re-post from 2023. I’m on vacation in Seattle as this blog post appears to the public on my website.  So thank you for understanding as I take a little time off.

Most of the commercial patterns I display and talk about here on ChellyWood.com are also available for sale on eBay. However, if you’ve never purchased a pattern on eBay before, it’s a good idea to read the article I wrote called, “Tips for Buying Used Doll Clothes Patterns on eBay.” It will save you time, money, and will likely prevent buyer’s remorse.

And by the way, if you use the links I’ve provided to make your eBay purchase, this website will receive a small commission, which helps fund the ChellyWood.com website, so I can continue to provide you with all the free patterns and tutorial videos offered here.

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

For my free doll clothes sewing tutorial videos, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel, ChellyWood1.

Maybe you already own some great commercial patterns, but you really wish you could alter them to look just a little different. If so, my Creative Spark class, “How to Alter Doll Clothes Patterns” may be just what you need to make your commercially designed patterns into the pattern you see in your imagination.

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.

Disclaimer/Credit/Affiliate Marketing Link:

*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.