Category: Tips for Beginners

In a purple square frame, a photo of spilled straight pins appears under the words "straight pins".
Crafts and Hobbies, For Sale in the Store, Tips for Beginners

Straight pins with colored heads and other “pointers” for people learning to sew…

Lately I’ve been building a list of the top 10 items every beginning sewist/seamstress/tailor needs to have in his/her sewing kit. Coming in at #3 is the all-important collection of straight pins. You may think your grandmother’s hand-me-down straight pins will work fine for a beginner, but they do not. Second-hand pins are not sharp, so they’re likely to create runs in the fabric. There’s … Continue reading Straight pins with colored heads and other “pointers” for people learning to sew…

Chelly Wood3 Comments
Sewing machine image on a turquoise blue background with sewing accoutrements.
Crafts and Hobbies, For Sale in the Store, Tips for Beginners

What brand of thread do you prefer to use? Please leave a comment!

So far, on my list of 10 items every doll clothes sewing enthusiast should have, I’ve mentioned hand-stitching needles and a needle threader. But now, coming in at #3 on my list, I can’t go any further without mentioning the thread. But what brand is best? There are so many! When my girls started sewing, I bought them each one of these boxes of a … Continue reading What brand of thread do you prefer to use? Please leave a comment!

Chelly Wood12 Comments
This is a framed thumbnail with the following text written inside a bodice pattern outline: "Vintage Patterns with lessons for beginners" and a small yellow arrow points to text that states, "available after 30 October 2023".
Crissy Family of Dolls, Marie Osmond dolls, Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection, Pepper Dolls (Vintage), Tammy Doll Patterns, Tips for Beginners, Tutorials: Sewing Basics, Vintage Barbie, Vintage Brad, Vintage Francie, Vintage Ken, Vintage Skipper, Vogue Ginny Dolls

Lessons from Vintage Doll Clothes Patterns (Gallery)

NOTE: These are not free doll clothes patterns! If you would like to download any of the hundreds of free, printable sewing patterns that I offer on this website, please view this video to learn how to find free patterns to fit the doll you’re sewing for. With that said, please click on the doll clothes patterns you would like to learn about: I created … Continue reading Lessons from Vintage Doll Clothes Patterns (Gallery)

Chelly WoodLeave a comment
On a turquoise blue cotton background, we read the words "how to use a needle threader" and beneath these are images of a needle and a traditional tin threader. In the lower left corner is the ChellyWood.com logo.
Crafts and Hobbies, For Sale in the Store, Tips for Beginners

Unlock the Magic: a Guide to Mastering the Needle Threader!

  Last Wednesday, I talked about hand-stitching with sewing needles. These unbelievably important items for your sewing kit came in at #1 on my list of “must-have” tools for beginners who are just learning to sew. While reading last Wednesday’s blog post, you may have been thinking, “But I hate threading needles! It’s hard!” Don’t worry; I’ve gotcha covered with my second necessity for those … Continue reading Unlock the Magic: a Guide to Mastering the Needle Threader!

Chelly Wood2 Comments
A woman with curly red hair sits cross-legged and holding a doll in her right hand, a sewing needle in her right hand, and there's a green thread dangling mid-air between the doll and the sewing needle. The woman appears to be happily sewing the doll's dress with a basket of fabric sitting beside her. This image is superimposed upon a purple gingham background with the Chelly Wood dot com logo in one corner.
Crafts and Hobbies, Tips for Beginners

What type of hand-stitching sewing needles do you use? Please leave a comment!

I often get this question: “I’m new to sewing. What do I need?” So in the coming weeks, I’m going to offer up some simple items that I think are essential in a first-timer’s sewing kit. Today we’re going to start with sewing needles. When I buy hand-stitching sewing needles, I typically purchase a set that includes multiple sizes. But the bigger ones in these … Continue reading What type of hand-stitching sewing needles do you use? Please leave a comment!

Chelly Wood2 Comments
A photo of colorful fabrics in prints and solids, all folded in a pile, appears at the bottom of a blue frame. At the top, we read the words "Big Fabric Haul!" followed by, "and how to deal with other people's scrap fabric."
Crafts and Hobbies, Plushies/Stuffed Animals, Tips for Beginners

BIG FABRIC HAUL! — and How to Deal With Other People’s Scrap Fabrics #Fabric #FabricHaul

Recently I discovered an enormous plastic bag filled with scrap fabrics at my local Goodwill second hand store. What a find! It was almost all cotton fabrics, with just a few flannels, felt, and lightweight denims thrown in. All but one of the printed fabrics were small-prints in a variety of colors. There were Christmas fabrics, itty bitty polka dots, and ginghams. Woo-hoo! I was … Continue reading BIG FABRIC HAUL! — and How to Deal With Other People’s Scrap Fabrics #Fabric #FabricHaul

Chelly Wood3 Comments
On a purple cotton background with a turquoise blue ribbon title that states in white words, "five types of trim to use when sewing doll clothes" we see a photo of a woman's well-manicured hands poised a top pink fabric, as she applies a wavy lace trim with the sewing machine's presser foot's needle in the center of the photograph.
Crafts and Hobbies, Interviews With Crafters, Tips for Beginners, Yarn and Embroidery

5 commonly used trims for sewing doll clothes #Sewing #DollClothes

Yesterday I posted a whole article on the ten ways you can use ribbon trims. (Click that link to go back and read it.) So today I’m going to skip over ribbon as one of the five commonly used trims for embellishing doll clothes. Ribbon is probably the most common form of trim that doll clothing sewing enthusiasts tend to use. It’s inexpensive, it comes … Continue reading 5 commonly used trims for sewing doll clothes #Sewing #DollClothes

Chelly WoodLeave a comment
The text at the top of this image says "10 ways to use ribbons with doll clothes" and under the text, is an image of a variety of ribbon spools in a number of different sizes and colors.
Crafts and Hobbies, Tips for Beginners, Tutorials: Sewing Basics

Here are 10 ways to use ribbons when sewing doll clothes…

When I did a recent search for photos of doll clothes with ribbons, here on my website, I discovered that I have uploaded 240 images in the website’s archives, showing the many ways you can apply ribbons to doll clothes. Holy smokes! I’ve sifted through those archived photos and done a quick study of them. And here, in some semblance of order, are the top … Continue reading Here are 10 ways to use ribbons when sewing doll clothes…

Chelly WoodLeave a comment
Within a quilted frame, we see a stitched-style title that says "Doll Clothes Collars" and three different images of dolls wearing doll clothes with collars. On the far left is a baby doll in a plaid suit with his little white shirt having a pressed collar; in the middle is an 18 inch doll wearing a dress with a jacket that has a pretty pink collar, and on the right is a Ken doll wearing a Hawaiian shirt with a collar. In the lower left is the ChellyWood.com logo.
Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection, Tips for Beginners, Tutorials: Sewing Basics

5 Tips for Making Doll Clothes Collars

For the most faithful Chelly Wood website readers out there, this is a re-posting of a blog post from about a year ago. The topic is still relevant of course, and I welcome everyone’s comments and suggestions in the discussion area at the bottom of the post! Nobody wants their doll’s collar to stick up all willie-nillie, right? Of course not! So here, all in … Continue reading 5 Tips for Making Doll Clothes Collars

Chelly WoodLeave a comment
On a purple background, we see the word "Closures" poised above three photos: one of a woman's hand holding a strip of blue Velcro, another showing a lineup of four different colors of 3 inch zippers, and a third image of tiny buttons in bright colors, resting in the palm of a woman's hand.
Crafts and Hobbies, For Sale in the Store, Interviews With Crafters, Links, Tips for Beginners

New in the Chelly Wood Store: Clasps, Buttons, Velcro, and More!

In my store (found under the “Shop” button in the main menu on my website), you can now purchase clasps, buttons, Velcro, and more. Today’s blog post details each of these items. Let’s start with clasps. I bought the overalls clasps shown in the palm of my hand above, from a store called I Sew for Doll on Etsy. They have quite a few tiny … Continue reading New in the Chelly Wood Store: Clasps, Buttons, Velcro, and More!

Chelly Wood2 Comments
The image shows the size of these teeny-tiny miniature overalls clasps, as compared to a woman's hand. Each piece is so tiny, it's like the head of a straight pin!
Crafts and Hobbies, For Sale in the Store, Interviews With Crafters, Tips for Beginners

Where do tiny clasps for dolls’ overalls come from? We should all be aware…

Recently I added a new item to my “Shop” page: closures. One of the items I’m linking to are clasps for Barbie-sized (or smaller) dolls’ overalls, and I’m doing this blog post because I like to be open and honest about where these notions are coming from. I buy my overall clasps (shown at the top of this page) from an Etsy store called simply … Continue reading Where do tiny clasps for dolls’ overalls come from? We should all be aware…

Chelly Wood5 Comments
The image shows a laundry line of doll clothes that fit 14 inch, 15 inch, 16 inch, or 17 inch dolls like Wellie Wishers, Hearts for Hearts girls, vintage Velvet dolls, or Best Friends Club BFC Ink dolls. There are free printable sewing patterns for making all of these doll clothes at ChellyWood.com
Fan Mail, Interviews With Crafters, Remco I Dream of Jeannie Dolls, Tips for Beginners

How to Care for Your Handmade Doll Clothes

*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, JoAnn Fabric, Etsy, and the eBay Partner Network. As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. To learn more about how my website uses affiliate marketing, please visit the website’s Privacy Policy … Continue reading How to Care for Your Handmade Doll Clothes

Chelly Wood2 Comments
The image shows Simplicity 18" doll clothes pattern #4654 which includes patterns for making a lined hooded raincoat or coverup, a tank top and skort, a short-sleeved everyday dress, a sunny sleeveless top with capri pants, a T-shirt with cargo pants, and a crop top with skort or shorts. There's also an 18-inch doll pictured on the pattern wearing a denim jumper with overall straps. The doll wears a striped tee shirt under the overall-style jumper. (This is "jumper" in the US sense of the word -- not a "sweater" as we'd say in the US, but more of a dress with the style of overalls). The watermark on this photo reminds us to visit ChellyWood.com for free, printable sewing patterns for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes. This image also has a header that says, "Today's topic of discussion: what makes a pattern difficult for beginners?" And in fact, if you navigate to the link to the article that accompanies this image, doll clothing designer, YouTuber, and writer Chelly Wood discusses all the features that make this particular pattern difficult for a beginner who is just learning to sew. This article is designed to help anyone who teaches sewing classes, is teaching another person how to sew, or people who are, themselves, just learning to sew, what to avoid when purchasing store-bought patterns.
18-inch doll clothes patterns, Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection, Tips for Beginners

Learning to sew with 18 inch doll clothes pattern Simplicity 4654 #Sewing #DollClothesPatterns

When I first uploaded this photo, it was part of a series that answered the question, “How can you tell when a pattern is not for beginners?” People often think that sewing for a bigger doll will be easier than sewing for a smaller doll, but that’s not always true. With Simplicity 4654, you would be sewing for an 18 inch doll — usually a … Continue reading Learning to sew with 18 inch doll clothes pattern Simplicity 4654 #Sewing #DollClothesPatterns

Chelly Wood2 Comments
Here we see a close-up of a Mattel Barbie's face. She's wearing a pillbox hat, made of felt, which was sewn using the Simplicity 7601 doll clothes pattern. This lovely Barbie has pale pink lipstick, what might be considered an olive complexion or perhaps a Mediterranean complexion, light brown eyes, and blond, curly hair. The pillbox hat rests gently over her curls, and the felt the hat is made from is a pale purple, almost lilac color. The hat is tipped slightly over her right eye. The coat she wears is barely seen in the image, but it too, is made of the lilac felt. The Chelly Wood dot com logo appears in the lower left corner.
Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection, Tips for Beginners, Tutorials: Sewing Basics, Uncategorized

The benefits of sewing with felt when making doll clothes #SewEasy #DollClothesPatterns

As far as fabrics go, felt is relatively cheap, it’s available in most people’s stashes, and it’s easy to sew by hand or on a sewing machine. But is it okay to use for doll clothes? That’s what today’s blog post is going to address. I really love felt for making doll coats and hats, as you can see in previous blog posts I’ve written … Continue reading The benefits of sewing with felt when making doll clothes #SewEasy #DollClothesPatterns

Chelly WoodLeave a comment
Framed by a quilt in shades of purple and red, we see a pretty Black Barbie modeling a shirt with a gathered neck line alongside a photo of McCalls pattern 5462 for Barbie and Ken dolls. A black arrow points from the View B doll modeling sportswear on the McCall's pattern to the image of the Black or African Barbie modeling a handmade shirt with a gathered front.
Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection, Tips for Beginners

What can you do if you cut a neckline too large for your doll? #SewingTips #DollClothesPatterns

I’ve been doing a series of blog posts about  McCall’s Barbie pattern 5462, and specifically, I’ve been focused on the shirt pattern found in view B. I made all of these garments from the View B pattern, and as you can see, they are each just a little bit different: Today I’m going to focus on the one in the upper right corner of the … Continue reading What can you do if you cut a neckline too large for your doll? #SewingTips #DollClothesPatterns

Chelly WoodLeave a comment