Author: Chelly Wood

I am a school librarian with an English degree plus a library science endorsement, and I like to write. I've also designed commercial doll clothes patterns, and I make stop-motion videos with dolls. My literary agent is Elizabeth Kracht of Kimberley Cameron and Associates.
Thumbnail featuring a 10 and 1/4 inch tall DC Superhero Super Girl doll beside a dress form labeled “Tape Measure Tuesday.” The thumbnail includes text: “With doll clothing designer, Chelly Wood,” accompanied by the Chelly Wood dot com logo. The image is bordered by bright turquoise blue rulers against a purple background with tiny polka dots. Clicking this thumbnail leads to an infographic detailing sewing measurements for this 10 and ¼ inch (26 centimeter) doll which was produced and trademarked by DC Comics.
10-inch doll clothes patterns, DC Super Hero Girls Dolls, Doll Measurements, Tape Measure Tuesday

Tape Measure Tuesday: DC Comics Super Girl doll sewing measurements #DCcomicsFan #TapeMeasureTuesday

Scroll down for clarifications to each measurement. You’ll want to pay close attention to the information on this doll’s thigh measurements. Please note: when you click on links to various merchants on this 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 … Continue reading Tape Measure Tuesday: DC Comics Super Girl doll sewing measurements #DCcomicsFan #TapeMeasureTuesday

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The envelope for McCall's 8531 doll clothes patterns for Barbie's cousin, Mod Francie, shows eight different outfits that you can sew for Francie, using McCall's 8531.
Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection, Sewing and Fashion History, Tips for Beginners, Vintage Barbie, Vintage Francie

Here are a few tips and tricks for sewing the McCall’s 8531 doll clothes wardrobe for vintage Francie dolls! #MeMadeMonday #SewVintage

Sometimes people who visit my website for the first time think I’m offering these copyrighted patterns for free. That’s not the case, of course. My website does offer free sewing patterns for Francie and similar-sized dolls, and if you need help finding those patterns, this link should help. However today’s blog post is all about the lessons I’ve personally learned when sewing the outfits offered … Continue reading Here are a few tips and tricks for sewing the McCall’s 8531 doll clothes wardrobe for vintage Francie dolls! #MeMadeMonday #SewVintage

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The thumbnail image shows a purple patch sewn onto a turquoise cloth. The words "doll clothes sewing chat" are written in the center of the purple patch. Floating in a circle around the patch are graphics of various sewing notions, from scissors, to a tape measure, to bobbins, to thread, and more. This feature on Chelly Wood dot com, is an open discussion about a sewing concept. The article will begin with a definition of the sewing concept, and then a discussion question will follow. This is a great place for people to ask questions about and/or give advice on sewing concepts related to making doll clothes.
Crafts and Hobbies, Favorite Books

10 Sewing Books You Can Buy Used Without Regrets #Top10 #Books #GiftIdeas

This list of my top “10 sewing books you can buy used without regrets” is based on a.) the books that have helped me hone my sewing skills, b.) the books that bring me inspiration to continue with my sewing projects, and c.) books that help keep my sewing projects organized. And it may surprise you to find that I’ve included more than just my … Continue reading 10 Sewing Books You Can Buy Used Without Regrets #Top10 #Books #GiftIdeas

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A pretty, bright-eyed Baby Alive 12 inch baby doll stands in a field of poppies. She wears a sleeveless A-line dress made of light blue fabric that has a repeating pattern of ladybugs and little white flowers on it. The ChellyWood.com logo reminds us that the free patterns for making this dress, plus an easy-to-follow tutorial video for sewing this dress can be found at ChellyWood.com. Text above the doll reads, "summer dress."
12-inch doll clothes patterns, 13-inch doll clothes patterns, 14-inch doll clothes patterns, 15-inch doll clothes patterns, A4 Printer PDF Patterns, Baby Alive, Baby Doll Patterns, Daily Patterns, Disney Princess Dolls

Sew an A-Line Dress for Baby Alive with Today’s FREE Patterns @ ChellyWood.com #GiftIdeas #DIYgifts

  Scroll down to the third set of bullets for the free PDF sewing patterns. Today I have a brand new pattern for you. It’s a very easy-to-make A-line dress, and it’s designed to fit baby or toddler dolls that are 12 to 13 inches tall, like Baby Alive and/or the Disney Princess Toddler dolls. I tried to keep the instructions as simple as possible, … Continue reading Sew an A-Line Dress for Baby Alive with Today’s FREE Patterns @ ChellyWood.com #GiftIdeas #DIYgifts

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Holiday Crafts

Make a No-Sew “Quilted” Christmas Tree Ornament with my free Pattern #Quilted #ChristmasTree

Every year during the holidays, today’s tutorial video gets a bunch of views on my YouTube channel. Every video view adds a few pennies to my pocketbook, which is great! So this is a re-post, but it’s a popular and fun craft project for the holidays. Hopefully my regular followers don’t mind seeing it again. Here’s the free PDF pattern to accompany the video: Quilted … Continue reading Make a No-Sew “Quilted” Christmas Tree Ornament with my free Pattern #Quilted #ChristmasTree

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Free patterns for 10 inch doll clothes. Images show DC Superhero Super Girl dolls modeling handmade doll clothes including (left) jeans with a tee shirt, (center) a hoodie with leggings, and (right) an evening gown. Click on the thumbnail to locate these free doll clothes sewing patterns at Chelly Wood dot com.
10-inch doll clothes patterns, DC Super Hero Girls Dolls, Whole Costumes for Dolls

Free Sewing Patterns for 10-inch DC Superhero Dolls (Gallery)

Please click on the doll clothes you would like to make. Not what you’re looking for? Behind the scenes, I’m creating a series of classes in doll clothing design techniques, so you can design your own doll clothes for your dolls, using simple techniques, household tools, and your amazing imagination! Click on this link to learn more about my paid courses on the Creative Spark Online Learning platform. If you would like … Continue reading Free Sewing Patterns for 10-inch DC Superhero Dolls (Gallery)

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How to make a dress with pintucks. Pictured are a finished bright yellow doll's dress with the top half showing a full set of pintucks all the way across the dress's upper half. An arrow points to the View A drawing on the McCall's 8531 doll clothes sewing pattern envelope. Beside this is the enlarged image of the drawing from the front of the envelope, sewing an artist's rendition of Francie wearing the same dress as the photo on the left, but the dress in the drawing is white, and it also shows Francie wearing a little lace cap.
Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection, Sewing and Fashion History, Tips for Beginners, Vintage Barbie, Vintage Francie

Pintucks Part 2: How I salvaged Dress View A with a few modifications to McCall’s 8531 for Francie #MeMadeMonday #SewVintage

In last Monday’s post, you heard about how, even I — a very experienced doll clothes sewing enthusiast — struggled to understand the wording “… stitching back ‘Hemlines’ from top as far as lower ends of tucks” in the McCall’s doll clothes pattern 8531 for Mattel’s vintage Francie dolls. I also learned that the estimate in the pattern for how much fabric you would need … Continue reading Pintucks Part 2: How I salvaged Dress View A with a few modifications to McCall’s 8531 for Francie #MeMadeMonday #SewVintage

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Free Patterns! A red headed World of Love doll models a sleeveless shirt and trousers or pants, both made of bright orange cotton fabric. Click on the thumbnail to learn more.
9-inch Dolls, Daily Patterns, Whole Costumes for Dolls, World of Love Doll Patterns

Let’s make a fall swing top and pants for World of Love dolls w/today’s free PDF sewing patterns! #VintageDoll #FlowerPower

For your free patterns and tutorial videos, please scroll down to the second set of bullets. When I was a kid, I didn’t own any of the World of Love pre-teen dolls, but my cousin Virginia did… and I was SO envious! They were the coolest dolls in town, back in the early 1970’s. According to a website called Mod Barbie and Other 70s Dolls, … Continue reading Let’s make a fall swing top and pants for World of Love dolls w/today’s free PDF sewing patterns! #VintageDoll #FlowerPower

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A Dora and Friends 8 inch doll holds up a sign that says "Happy Thanksgiving!" The doll wears a handmade orange tank top over a pair of handmade black and white gingham shorts.
Holiday Crafts

Happy Thanksgiving and THANK YOU to all my followers and friends! #Thanksgiving #SewingGoals and #PortlandFrogs

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who celebrate it. I’m truly thankful today, for all of you who share your love of sewing and doll crafts with me. I hope you have a pleasant day! In the video, I mention a “Portland Frogs” video. That link should take you to the absolute silliness that inspired my artwork. I love the idea of a peaceful — … Continue reading Happy Thanksgiving and THANK YOU to all my followers and friends! #Thanksgiving #SewingGoals and #PortlandFrogs

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Free Patterns! DC Superhero Girls Super Girl doll models a handmade cropped hoodie with a front pocket and a pair of leggings or yoga pants. Visit Chelly Wood dot com for the free patterns. Click on this thumbnail to access the patterns.
10-inch doll clothes patterns, Daily Patterns, DC Super Hero Girls Dolls, Whole Costumes for Dolls

Let’s make a hoodie and yoga pants for 10 inch DC Superhero Super Girl dolls w/today’s free patterns #Superhero #SewingProjects

Scroll down to the third set of bullets for the free PDF sewing patterns. I was a little surprised when I tried this outfit on my DC Superhero Supergirl Doll, that the hood fits over her head perfectly! I first designed this athletic outfit for Barbie’s little sister, Skipper, but as you can see, it also fits Super Girl very nicely. So the tutorial videos … Continue reading Let’s make a hoodie and yoga pants for 10 inch DC Superhero Super Girl dolls w/today’s free patterns #Superhero #SewingProjects

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Thumbnail featuring a 16 inch tall Robert Tonner fashion doll beside a dress form labeled “Tape Measure Tuesday.” The thumbnail includes text: “With doll clothing designer, Chelly Wood,” accompanied by the Chelly Wood dot com logo. The image is bordered by bright turquoise blue rulers against a purple background with tiny polka dots. Clicking this thumbnail leads to an infographic detailing sewing measurements for this almost 16 inch doll which was designed by Robert Tonner.
Doll Measurements, Tape Measure Tuesday

Tape Measure Tuesday: Robert Tonner 16 inch fashion doll sewing measurements #CollectibleDolls #TapeMeasureTuesday

Scroll down for clarifications to each measurement. This beautiful doll was a gift to me, and as such, I don’t actually know her name. If any collectors of Robert Tonner dolls could help me discover what her name would have been, when she first came out of the box, please feel free to leave that information in the comments. I would deeply appreciate it! I … Continue reading Tape Measure Tuesday: Robert Tonner 16 inch fashion doll sewing measurements #CollectibleDolls #TapeMeasureTuesday

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The envelope for McCall's 8531 doll clothes patterns for Barbie's cousin, Mod Francie, shows eight different outfits that you can sew for Francie, using McCall's 8531.
Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection, Sewing and Fashion History, Tips for Beginners, Vintage Barbie, Vintage Francie

Pintuck Dress for Francie — The easiest way to learn pintucks! #MeMadeMonday #SewVintage

According to Wikipedia, “In sewing, a tuck is a fold or pleat in fabric that is sewn or fastened in place.”* It goes on to explain that pintucks are tiny tucks. They’re certainly right about that. The key word is TINY. But there’s a LOT Wikipedia doesn’t tell you about pintucks, and now that I’ve learned a thing or two about pintucks while sewing the … Continue reading Pintuck Dress for Francie — The easiest way to learn pintucks! #MeMadeMonday #SewVintage

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Free patterns! A DC Superhero Girls doll models handmade jeans and a handmade striped T-shirt. Click on the thumbnail to get to the page with the free PDF sewing patterns for making these doll clothes using Chelly Wood's free doll clothes sewing patterns.
10-inch doll clothes patterns, Daily Patterns, DC Super Hero Girls Dolls, Whole Costumes for Dolls

Make a T-shirt and jeans for DC Superhero Super Girl dolls with today’s free patterns @ ChellyWood.com #DCcomics #DollClothes

For your free patterns and tutorial videos, please scroll down to the third set of bullets. I first posted these patterns for the Creatable World dolls from Mattel. But they also fit modern Skipper, vintage Skipper (from the late 1980’s and early 1990’s) and I just discovered that they’ll fit my DC Superhero Super Girl doll. I wanted to be sure to include an additional … Continue reading Make a T-shirt and jeans for DC Superhero Super Girl dolls with today’s free patterns @ ChellyWood.com #DCcomics #DollClothes

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On a bright turquoise blue background, a smattering of flowers have been painted in gouache with leaves behind each of the largest of the flowers. Blossoms represented include pink and orange mums, white apple blossoms with a touch of pink on their petals, and pink peach blossoms. There's a smattering of very tiny child-like flowers peppered between each of the larger blossoms. The Chelly Wood dot com logo appears at the bottom, along with three doll clothes outfits designed by Chelly Wood.
Fabric, Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection

Here’s how I made “Grandma’s Flower Garden, Summer of 1975” #ArtJournal #Spoonflower

As you may have noticed, I have a few glitchy problems on my website. I’m busy behind the scenes, trying to fix all the broken links that have recently happened on ChellyWood.com, so today’s blog post will be short. In the video, though, I mention the new fabric I’ve designed, which you can purchase in my Spoonflower store if you’re interested. And if you want … Continue reading Here’s how I made “Grandma’s Flower Garden, Summer of 1975” #ArtJournal #Spoonflower

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Free patterns! for Barbie! A modern Barbie doll (black model) stands atop the ChellyWood.com logo, and she wears a handmade halter top and ruffled skirt. Click the thumbnail to get the free doll clothes sewing patterns for Barbie dolls.
A4 Printer PDF Patterns, Daily Patterns, Sindy, Whole Costumes for Dolls

Sew a halter top and ruffle skirt for Barbie with today’s free doll clothes patterns @ ChellyWood.com #Barbie #DIYXmasGift

For your free patterns and additional tutorial videos, please scroll down to the second set of bullets. When I design an outfit for one doll, I often try it on many other dolls, just to see which dolls can fit in the outfit. That’s how I create my bulleted list of dolls that will fit in each of my doll clothing pattern designs. I literally … Continue reading Sew a halter top and ruffle skirt for Barbie with today’s free doll clothes patterns @ ChellyWood.com #Barbie #DIYXmasGift

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