I’ve been doing a series of blog posts on all the items a beginning sewist needs to have in his/her first sewing kit. Today’s blog post is about pincushions, the #5 item on my list. Please note: As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Do you see in the image above, how a crafty lady has made her own pincushion? Etsy has plenty … Continue reading Please describe your favorite pin cushion and why you like it…
Over the summer, I purchased Simplicity 5861, a vintage pattern for the earliest version of Skipper dolls. This pattern offers pattern pieces for a coat and three different shirt styles, plus a bolero. These garments’ sleeves were remarkably easy to make! You might wonder why that is. Well take a look at the skipper T-shirt that I designed, displayed on a more modern skipper below: … Continue reading Is there an easy way to sew sleeves? Yes! And it begins with your choice of patterns…
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…
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!
I’m re-posting this ken suit pattern page because I’ve updated all these patterns from JPG images to easy-to-download PDF’s! But I need to apologize… On more than one occasion, people have complained that it’s really hard to see my black thread stitches on the black felt of this dinner jacket. So I’ve got “re-do Ken jacket tutorial” on my Editable Sewing Planner, which, by the … Continue reading Free Ken doll jacket patterns, shirt pattern, and pants patterns, to make a full suit!
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!
Every time I look at the pictures on the cover of my Simplicity 7737 doll clothes pattern envelope, I remember the little sewing room my mother and I shared, when I was in junior high and high school. I made every single outfit offered on this pattern by the time I was 16, and those pants suits — the ones that are designed like a … Continue reading Learning to sew with Simplicity 7737 doll clothes patterns #VintageDolls #DollClothesPatterns
Please scroll down to the second set of bullets for the free printable PDF sewing patterns and links to any additional relevant tutorial videos. When I first designed today’s crop top, I was designing it to fit the LOL Surprise! OMG dolls, but once I got the thing made, I decided that although the crop top does fit her in the hips (the most challenging … Continue reading Make a swingy crop top for Creatable World dolls with today’s free PDF sewing patterns @ ChellyWood.com
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!
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
The pattern we’re learning about today is McCall’s 2686 doll clothes patterns for fashion dolls. It has three different styles of coats that will fit Barbie and other fashion dolls, which is what makes this McCall’s Barbie-sized patterns stand out among the others. View A offers a long fur coat; view B shows how to make a shorter winter coat, which would work well with … Continue reading Learning to sew with McCall’s 2686 doll clothes patterns #WinterCoats #DollClothesPatterns
Please scroll down to the second set of bullets for the free printable PDF sewing patterns and links to any additional relevant tutorial videos. Yesterday I gave you the free pattern for the long-sleeved shirt, along with the video tutorial showing how to make it. And at the end of September, we looked at how we can take these pants and turn them into cargo … Continue reading Let’s make a shirt and pants for Tinkerbell fairy dolls w/free doll clothes patterns!
Please scroll down to the second set of bullets for the free printable PDF sewing patterns and links to any additional relevant tutorial videos. Today’s video and free doll shirt pattern will show you how to sew a long-sleeved shirt that will fit 8 inch to 9 inch dolls like the Tinkerbell fairy dolls from Disney. There’s a whole list of dolls that will fit … Continue reading Sew a pretty long-sleeved Shirt for Tinkerbell or other 8-inch to 9-inch fashion dolls with today’s free doll clothes patterns!
Scroll down to the second set of bullets for the free PDF doll clothes sewing patterns. If you found yourself reading this blog post, you probably already know that the BFC Ink dolls are highly articulated 18 inch tall dolls. They were produced for a brief time, starting around 2009. Anyone who has been on a search for one of these dolls is aware of … Continue reading Shorts and a Top for BFC Ink 18 inch Dolls w/Free Patterns @ ChellyWood.com
As you can see, the Marie Osmond Personality Doll Wardrobe 6664 from Butterick offers some really neat pattern options, but what you don’t see on the outside of the envelope is that these patterns actually come in two different sizes. The back of the pattern envelope says that there are 30 pieces inside, but some fit an 11 to 12 and 1/2 inch fashion doll, … Continue reading Learning to sew with Butterick 6664 Marie Osmond Personality Doll Wardrobe doll clothes patterns #MarieOsmond #DollClothesPatterns
