Category: Sewing and Fashion History

Simplicity 9054, showing the envelope front, which displays swimwear, hippie clothes, and 1960s and early 1970s fashions for both Ken and Barbie
Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection, Sewing and Fashion History, Tips for Beginners, Vintage Barbie

Holiday Fabrics: Magic Beyond the Season? ✨ #MeMadeMonday #SewChristmas

I’m curious to hear your thoughts on this one everybody… When you make doll clothes out of seasonal fabrics, do these doll clothes become less fun to play with when the holidays are over? I remember playing dolls at my friend Rachel’s house when we were kids, and her family actually put her dolls’ holiday clothes away in a closet when Christmas was over. Can … Continue reading Holiday Fabrics: Magic Beyond the Season? ✨ #MeMadeMonday #SewChristmas

Chelly Wood2 Comments
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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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

Chelly Wood4 Comments
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

Chelly Wood2 Comments
McCall's 2970 doll clothes sewing patterns. Click the thumbnail for the article which talks about which dolls (including Topper Dawn and Pippa) will fit in this tiny six inch doll's wardrobe. Article available to read at chellywood.com
Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection, Sewing and Fashion History, Topper Dawn Dolls, Vintage Barbie

Besides Dawn and Pippa, what other dolls will fit in McCall’s 2970? #MeMadeMonday #TinyToys

Last week I talked in a Monday blog post about how the underpants pattern in the McCall’s 2970 doll clothes pattern fits Topper Dawn and a whole slew of other tiny fashion dolls in the 6 inch tall size range. But there are two other dolls that can fit into this tiny little doll underpants pattern, and I’m going to share this revelation with you … Continue reading Besides Dawn and Pippa, what other dolls will fit in McCall’s 2970? #MeMadeMonday #TinyToys

Chelly Wood6 Comments
McCall's 2970 doll clothes sewing patterns. Click the thumbnail for the article which talks about which dolls (including Topper Dawn and Pippa) will fit in this tiny six inch doll's wardrobe. Article available to read at chellywood.com
Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection, Sewing and Fashion History, Topper Dawn Dolls, Vintage Barbie

What are the smallest underpants you’ve ever made? #MeMadeMonday #TinyThings

This little fashion doll sewing pattern which was produced by McCall in 1971 offers six different outfits for little tiny six inch dolls, like the Topper Dawn dolls. In fact, it seems to fit a number of very small fashion dolls. I’ve listed them in the purple textbox for you. But there’s more to this pattern than meets the eye… Before I go on, I … Continue reading What are the smallest underpants you’ve ever made? #MeMadeMonday #TinyThings

Chelly Wood4 Comments
Advance 9939 vintage Barbie doll clothes patterns (the envelope that the patterns come in) is shown with the Chelly Wood doll, framed in a quilted border. The text reads "Advance 9939 vintage Barbie patterns."
Fabric, Jem and the Holograms, Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection, Sewing and Fashion History, Tips for Beginners, Vintage Barbie

Tips and Tricks for Making Doll Underwear for Jem and the Holograms! #Jem #80sToys

If you’re already familiar with Advance 9939, you may say to yourself, “Wait, that’s a Barbie pattern, not a Jem and the Holograms pattern.” Well the underpants pattern from Advance 9939 doesn’t fit Jem, but the bloomers pattern does! Go back to read about the sewing vocabulary definition for bloomers, which I posted on October 22nd, and you will begin to understand that one person’s … Continue reading Tips and Tricks for Making Doll Underwear for Jem and the Holograms! #Jem #80sToys

Chelly Wood7 Comments
Simplicity 1242 doll clothes patterns for Barbie doll is featured beside the logo for Chelly Wood dot com. Incidentally, this pattern is a modern remake of an older pattern numbered Simplicity 6208 in its original form.
Fabric, Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection, Sewing and Fashion History, Tips for Beginners, Vintage Barbie

Learning to Sew With Simplicity 1242 (AKA Simplicity 6208) Vintage Barbie Doll Clothes Sewing Patterns #CollectivelyCreate #HomeSewing

As my regular followers know, there’s now a whole library of vintage and modern doll clothes sewing patterns on my website, and with each of these patterns, I offer my take on what I’ve learned from the patterns, what alterations may work best for these patterns, and my overall review of the pattern, as I sew with it. If you haven’t found my gallery of … Continue reading Learning to Sew With Simplicity 1242 (AKA Simplicity 6208) Vintage Barbie Doll Clothes Sewing Patterns #CollectivelyCreate #HomeSewing

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Simplicity 1242 doll clothes patterns for Barbie doll is featured beside the logo for Chelly Wood dot com. Incidentally, this pattern is a modern remake of an older pattern numbered Simplicity 6208 in its original form.
Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection, Sewing and Fashion History, Tips for Beginners, Vintage Barbie

Why do the same sewing patterns sometimes have different numbers? #VintageSewing #RetroToys

I recently added Simplicity 1242 to my vintage doll clothes pattern collection. When I looked it up on eBay, I discovered this exact same pattern used to be called Simplicity 6208. What’s up with that? I mean yeah, it’s a super cute pattern, whisking me back to bygone days with its charm, but why did Simplicity mix things up? Why bother changing it from Simplicity … Continue reading Why do the same sewing patterns sometimes have different numbers? #VintageSewing #RetroToys

Chelly Wood2 Comments
An Ida B Wells doll from Mattel's Inspiring Women collection wears a jacket from Simplicity 1242 while standing beside an image of the Simplicity 1242 doll clothes sewing pattern for Barbie dolls.
Curvy Barbie, Fabric, Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection, Sewing and Fashion History, Tips for Beginners, Vintage Barbie

Duplicating Donna’s Jacket with Simplicity 1242 and an Inspiring Woman, Ida B. Wells #Sewing #WomensHistory

As I’ve said in my earlier blog posts, I was so moved by the people I met in Chicago at the IANDS conference, that I created doll clothes to represent each of the people I met while I was there. This doll is meant to represent a woman named Donna. I worked with her in the IANDS bookstore about three times, as a volunteer, and … Continue reading Duplicating Donna’s Jacket with Simplicity 1242 and an Inspiring Woman, Ida B. Wells #Sewing #WomensHistory

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Advance 2896 with quilted frame and Tall Barbie in Halloween dress standing nearby. the doll is shown in profile. Her long hair is accentuated by this side view, and you can see that the dress has a belt that ties in the back. On the pattern envelope this dress is most like the one pictured in View 5.
Fabric, Holiday Crafts, Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection, Sewing and Fashion History, Tips for Beginners, Vintage Barbie

When your pattern doesn’t fit on the fabric, what do you do? #SewingTips #couture

We’ve all had it happen. You’re thinking, “A fat quarter should be enough to make this little doll dress. Right?” You get home, start pinning the pattern pieces onto the fabric, and then… “Oh crap.” That fat quarter isn’t quite long enough for the skirt’s ruffle (or whatever piece still needs pinning). What can you do? Before I go on, I need to make my … Continue reading When your pattern doesn’t fit on the fabric, what do you do? #SewingTips #couture

Chelly Wood4 Comments
Thumbnail image shows the front of pattern envelope Simplicity 8281, plus a close-up of Simplicity 8281's View 6 culottes, vest, and long-sleeved tee shirt. In the middle, between the pattern envelope and the close-up of a doll wearing the View 6 gouchos (culottes) vest and t-shirt, we see a bubble cut Barbie wearing the handmade outfit. Exactly as printed on the envelope cover, the gouchos / culottes and vest are sky blue, while the long-sleeved T-shirt is made of a red and white striped jersey fabric with narrow one-eighth inch wide stripes. The dolls shoes are red classic pumps.
Fabric, Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection, Sewing and Fashion History, Tips for Beginners, Vintage Barbie

Are denim vests back in style in 2025? #SewingPodcast #FashionHistory

I started my 7th grade year in the fall of 1979, and I distinctly remember owning an outfit that included a denim vest. It came with a pretty ruffled skirt made of tan denim, a white top made of lightweight cotton, and a tan denim vest with cream-colored topstitching. My aunt, Harriet, took me on a shopping spree just before school started, and she bought … Continue reading Are denim vests back in style in 2025? #SewingPodcast #FashionHistory

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A woman in a long dress with a bustle is silhouetted in white on a purple background with a turquoise blue frame. She holds a bouquet. a man in a top hat holding a cane stands beside her. The Word "History" is in all capitals, stylized in a historical font, beneath the two silhouetted figures in white on the purple background.
History and Research, Sewing and Fashion History, Tutorials: Sewing Basics

Men’s and Women’s Fashion in History #EuropeanHistory #AmericanHistory

The video above comes from the Catherine Sews YouTube channel. I love a good romp through fashion history, and Catherine (who like me is retiring from her teaching career to focus on her own creativity) takes us on a wonderful journey through fashion history in this video, which chronicles both men’s and women’s fashion, from the 1700’s to the 2000’s! I hope you enjoy this … Continue reading Men’s and Women’s Fashion in History #EuropeanHistory #AmericanHistory

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A pink screen shows a video play button and the text reads "History of American Dolls: Video."
Doll Collecting, History and Research, Sewing and Fashion History

Fashion Doll History from the DAR Museum #FashionDolls #History

The video above comes from the DAR Museum’s YouTube channel. As a member of the DAR myself (the Daughters of the American Revolution), I have thoroughly enjoyed some of the podcasts and YouTube videos the DAR Museum has done on sewing history. To see the whole “Making-Meaning-Memory: A Sewn in America Symposium” playlist, please click here. You may recognize some of the dolls featured in … Continue reading Fashion Doll History from the DAR Museum #FashionDolls #History

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A Chelly Wood doll (a Spin Master Liv doll that has been OOAK re-dressed, re-painted, and had its hair dyed to look like the real doll clothing designer Chelly Wood stands beside a photo of a McCall's 9061 vintage sewing pattern for baby and toddler dolls. The Chelly Wood doll wears a red check shirt and black trousers with a pair of flats. Her hair is tied in a red check handkerchief and she wears dark cat eye glasses.
Baby Doll Patterns, Fabric, Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection, Sewing and Fashion History, Tips for Beginners

Learning to sew with McCall’s 9061 Vintage Baby and Toddler Dolls’ Wardrobe Patterns #Sewing #DollCollector

If you’re looking for details, tips, and tricks for sewing with the vintage McCall’s 9061 pattern for baby and toddler dolls, you’ve come to the right place! In today’s blog post, I’m going to give you links to the other blog posts I’ve written about this pattern, plus, I’ll let you know what information can be found on the envelope itself, including which dolls this … Continue reading Learning to sew with McCall’s 9061 Vintage Baby and Toddler Dolls’ Wardrobe Patterns #Sewing #DollCollector

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