In this image, the Chelly Wood doll (a Spin Master Liv doll with a Chelly Wood makeover) holds up the McCalls Crafts pattern number 5462. The image is framed by a blue and purple quilt.

Alterations on the fold line with McCall’s Crafts pattern number 5462 #Sewing #DollClothesPatterns

See that T-shirt in View B with the three-quarter-length sleeves? I’m going to focus today on how to make alterations to that shirt, which is found in the McCall’s Crafts pattern number 5462. In fact, I’ve spent much of the month of April fiddling around with that View B 3/4 sleeve length shirt pattern as well as the regular-sleeve T-shirt in View G, so I … Continue reading Alterations on the fold line with McCall’s Crafts pattern number 5462 #Sewing #DollClothesPatterns

On a purple cotton fabric with tiny white polka dots (the backdrop color) we see an orange cat wearing spectacles, seated at a sewing machine. Pink fabric is in the machine, and the cat's facial expression clearly shows her frustration, even though she carries her white-tipped tail high as she sits at the sewing machine with grumpy whiskers.

There’s a CAT in my Sewing Room! #CharityProject #FeralCat

It has always been my goal to build a sustainable business income that will help me endure any hardships my family and I may face, once I retire from my day job as a school librarian (my retirement is scheduled for 2026 — three years away). However, as I said in my March 15th blog post, the income for this website actually dropped by about … Continue reading There’s a CAT in my Sewing Room! #CharityProject #FeralCat

Surrounded by a purple fabric with white polka dots, is an image of the Chelly Wood doll holding up her business ledger, while seated in her sewing room/office. Beside this photo is a green circle with a white dollar symbol in the middle, and above both of these images are the words, "twenty twenty-two income full disclosure". This is the thumbnail for a blog post on the Chelly Wood dot com website, about the amount of income ChellyWood LLC earned in the year 2022.

How much money does Chelly Wood make? Here’s a quick look at the $$$ I made in 2022… #TaxTime #DollClothesPatterns

Every year, since this website began to earn money, I’ve been divulging how much money I make on this website and what charities I have given to. You can see sums of income and charitable donations of the past when you click on “About the Designer” in the main menu. The scribbly-scrawls in today’s blog post are from the actual pages of my business ledger … Continue reading How much money does Chelly Wood make? Here’s a quick look at the $$$ I made in 2022… #TaxTime #DollClothesPatterns

This thumbnail shows the Chelly Wood doll (a Spin Master Liv doll) seated at her computer and over the top of her desk are the words "free canva course!" In the lower left corner of the thumbnail is the Chelly Wood dot com logo.

Let’s take a FREE Canva class together on March 23rd!

Have you ever wondered how I create my thumbnails, colorful blog images, and business logos? I use a type of software that’s available to everyone who has internet access, and the software is actually free: Canva! Today’s blog post is a simple announcement with a helpful tip for those of you out there who are small-business owners, making doll clothes and selling them online. Or … Continue reading Let’s take a FREE Canva class together on March 23rd!

On a purple cotton fabric square background, the words "free pattern" are written above the ChellyWood.com logo. Beside these texts is a photo of a platinum blonde vintage Skipper doll from the 1980s modeling a short-skirted yellow sundress with straps. (Sometimes spelled sun dress.) To locate and print this doll dress for your vintage skipper dolls, go to Chelly Wood dot com. Other dresses and doll clothes patterns are available for free on this free doll clothes sewing pattern website as well.

Sew a pretty sun dress for vintage 1980’s Skipper dolls w/free sewing patterns @ ChellyWood.com #Easter #DollClothes

For your free patterns and additional tutorial videos, please scroll down to the second set of bullets. Yesterday I posted about my new-used “lucky find” at the Goodwill: a Judy Littlechap doll. Well another recent Goodwill discovery was this vintage Skipper from the 1980’s. However, she didn’t arrive in nearly as good of condition as Judy did. In fact, even after cleaning her up and … Continue reading Sew a pretty sun dress for vintage 1980’s Skipper dolls w/free sewing patterns @ ChellyWood.com #Easter #DollClothes

A purple and blue quilted frame encompasses the edges of a photo of Butterick's 6664 doll clothes sewing pattern which is standing upright next to a Black Barbie who models one of the dresses shown on the pattern's packaging. This dress is a long 1980's style of caftan. It should be noted that a photograph of celebrity Marie Osmond appears on the envelope of the Butterick 6664 doll clothes pattern. The Chelly Wood dot com logo is also shown at the side of the frame.

The Pattern that Taught Me How to Alter Doll Clothes — Butterick’s Marie Osmond 6664 Wardrobe #DonnyAndMarie #MarieOsmond

I learned to sew when I was very young (at age 3 I sewed a simple purse), but I credit the Butterick’s Personality Doll Wardrobe #6664 with teaching me how to alter my doll clothes patterns. I had a Marie Osmond Barbie doll, and I loved to sew for her, but for whatever reason, this particular pattern offered doll clothes that were slightly too big … Continue reading The Pattern that Taught Me How to Alter Doll Clothes — Butterick’s Marie Osmond 6664 Wardrobe #DonnyAndMarie #MarieOsmond

The image shows a quilted frame around the Chelly Wood doll (really a re-painted Spin Master Liv doll that looks like the doll clothing designer, Chelly Wood), and a thought bubble displays that she is having red and white striped jersey fabric thoughts.

How do you stop obsessively thinking about your sewing projects? #SewingProjects #DollClothesPatterns

  My brain has been stuck on the idea that I need to sew the red and white striped T-shirt from my Simplicity 8281 vintage doll clothes pattern for months now. Of course I have other, more important projects underway. For Christmas, I was busy sewing doll clothes for a family I know, and after talking to the mother for this family of children, we … Continue reading How do you stop obsessively thinking about your sewing projects? #SewingProjects #DollClothesPatterns

The image shows a close-up of a Barbie doll's tummy with a tie-style belt wrapped around her waist. She's wearing a pink bathrobe under the belt. The text says, "DIY Belt" and the whole image plus text is overlaid on top of a purple cotton background with tiny white polka dots. The Chelly Wood dot com logo appears in one corner.

Instructions for Making a Doll’s Belt from Bias Tape @ ChellyWood.com #DIYprojects #DollClothesPatterns

Today’s video offers simple, easy-to-follow instructions for making a doll’s wrap-around tie-style belt to fit Mattel’s Barbie dolls and similar-sized dolls. It’s a follow-up to the pajamas and bathrobe project that you can find when you click here. Here’s an image of that project: As you can see, the bathrobe has pockets! So be sure to click here, to go back and learn how to … Continue reading Instructions for Making a Doll’s Belt from Bias Tape @ ChellyWood.com #DIYprojects #DollClothesPatterns

In a quilted frame, we see the image of a Butterick vintage-style pattern for Barbie and Ken doll clothes which includes three outfits for vintage Ken dolls and three outfits for vintage Barbie dolls. The pattern number is 6668 Butterick. This image accompanies a discussion on ChellyWood.com about how sewing doll clothes is different from sewing clothes for human beings.

What is a pattern alteration? #SewingTips #DollClothesPatterns

The class I’m teaching on Creative Spark is called, “How to Alter Doll Clothes Patterns,” but what does “alter” even mean? Altering a pattern is exactly what it sounds like. You take a pattern and change it up — alter it — to be something different than its original designer intended. This is actually legal, especially when it comes to patterns. The Ohio State University … Continue reading What is a pattern alteration? #SewingTips #DollClothesPatterns

Framed by a purple and blue quilt, we see three cabbage patch dolls dressed in handmade doll clothes. This looks like it is a photo from the front of a commercial pattern. There's a "Goodwill" sticker on the front as well, indicating that the pattern was purchased from a second-hand store. The ChellyWood.com logo also appears on the image to the side of the pattern photo.

Turning inspiration into the real thing: doll overalls! #DollClothesPatterns #SewingProjects

Back in march, I did a blog post about these cute Cabbage Patch doll overalls, and how I was itching to design some overalls for one of my dolls. At the time, I wasn’t sure which doll to make my overall pattern for. I’d been sewing doll clothes for Elsa and Anna, because at Christmas, my niece had asked me to make some extra doll … Continue reading Turning inspiration into the real thing: doll overalls! #DollClothesPatterns #SewingProjects

On a turquoise blue linen background, we see an angled photo of the Chelly Wood doll (really a Spin Master Liv doll that has been re-designed by Chelly's daughters to look like her), and she's seated at her laptop computer with the "Share Your Creations" page uploaded to her computer. The words over the top of this photo say "Share the doll clothes you've made!" There's a pink arrow pointing from the words to the laptop.

Have you ever noticed my “Share Your Creations” page? #SocialMedia #DollClothesPatterns

Have you ever noticed that ChellyWood.com has a “Share Your Creations” page? If you’re on a desktop or laptop computer, just go up to the website’s main menu (on a mobile device, look for the hamburger menu in the corner). Where it says “About the Designer,” there’s a drop-down menu. Click on that drop-down menu, and at the bottom of the list, it says, “Share … Continue reading Have you ever noticed my “Share Your Creations” page? #SocialMedia #DollClothesPatterns

On a turquoise blue linen background, we read the words "a project for my students" and beneath these words, an arrow points from a Skipper doll wearing a bikini to a vintage Velvet (15 inch doll) wearing a bikini.

Here’s a project for my Creative Spark students… @ctpublishing

If you’re currently enrolled or have been enrolled in my class, “How to Alter Doll Clothes Patterns” on the Creative Spark online learning platform, I have a quick project for you. Have you tried my re-sizing formula yet? And if so, what were the results? Please contact me through the instructor’s email link in your class, or use my contact form here on ChellyWood.com to … Continue reading Here’s a project for my Creative Spark students… @ctpublishing