Tag: Sewing Tips

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
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
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

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The image shows the Difficulty Scale for Chelly's flowers. These are purple flowers with turquoise blue center. Lowest on the difficulty scale is a single flower. The most difficult projects have five flowers.
Interviews With Crafters, Tutorials: Sewing Basics

Helpful Tips and FAQ’s for People Who Love to Sew for Dolls #DollClothes #SewingTips

The following information is also found on my “Frequently Asked Questions” page (i.e. FAQ’s). You may have noticed that my difficulty scale’s flowers have changed colors over time. You can tell how old my patterns are by the colors of the flowers on them. Now this doesn’t seem related, but actually it is… My oldest daughter graduated from Idaho State University recently with a college … Continue reading Helpful Tips and FAQ’s for People Who Love to Sew for Dolls #DollClothes #SewingTips

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Framed by a turquoise blue and purple quilted frame, we see the shabby envelope for McCall's teen fashion doll pattern number 3429, with a close-up of its view A (a body suit with wrap-around pants) and view B (a swimsuit) doll clothes sketches. The ChellyWood.com logo appears alongside the pattern.
Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection, Tips for Beginners, Vintage Barbie

Read the directions! McCall’s “Teen Fashion Doll” pattern 3429 #SewingFail #DollClothesPatterns

  Today’s blog post is dedicated to all my followers who live south of the equator. Summer is about to start down there, so it’s time to do a blog post on swimsuits! Sorry for the terrible condition of my pattern in today’s blog post. Not only is the envelope in bad physical condition, but when I purchased it, this pattern was also missing quite … Continue reading Read the directions! McCall’s “Teen Fashion Doll” pattern 3429 #SewingFail #DollClothesPatterns

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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 — all in one place @ ChellyWood.com #SewingTips #DollClothesPatterns

For the whole month of August, we’ve been learning my five tips for making doll clothes collars that really work well. But I thought it would be nice to have a single blog post that I can link to, whenever people need to find these tips all in one place. So here we go again with the tips and tricks about sewing doll clothes collars… … Continue reading 5 tips for making doll clothes collars — all in one place @ ChellyWood.com #SewingTips #DollClothesPatterns

Chelly Wood1 Comment
This image is part of a series of blog posts about how to sew doll clothes collars. This image is part of a series of blog posts about how to sew doll clothes collars. A purple and blue frame surrounds a vintage doll clothes pattern, with the words above stating "Doll Clothes Collars Part 5". In this photo, a sweet little Baby doll wears a yellow gingham handkerchief in his/her hair, along with a typical white collared shirt over which he/she seems to be wearing overalls or a vest with a jacket (also made of yellow gingham). The ChellyWood.com logo appears at the bottom of the image.
Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection, Tips for Beginners, Tutorials: Sewing Basics

5 Ways to Make Doll Clothes Collars that WORK (Tip #5) @ ChellyWood.com #SewingTips #DollClothesPatterns

Collar Tip #5: Use Bias Tape This is my final segment offering my five tips for creating doll clothes collars that really work, and it’s the one I truly use most. I’ve been using bias tape for collars since I was in high school. It’s such an easy solution to the collar conundrum, and most sewists have a plethora of bias tape in their collection, … Continue reading 5 Ways to Make Doll Clothes Collars that WORK (Tip #5) @ ChellyWood.com #SewingTips #DollClothesPatterns

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This image is part of a series of blog posts about how to sew doll clothes collars. This image is part of a series of blog posts about how to sew doll clothes collars. A purple and blue frame surrounds a vintage doll clothes pattern, with the words above stating "Doll Clothes Collars Part 4". In the photo we see the cover of a doll clothes pattern for Skipper dolls from the 1980's or 1990's, and her shirt has a ruffled collar. The ChellyWood.com logo appears at the bottom of the image.
Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection, Tips for Beginners, Tutorials: Sewing Basics

5 Ways to Make Doll Clothes Collars that WORK (Tip #4) @ ChellyWood.com #SewingTips #DollClothesPatterns

Collar Tip #4: Use Felt Making a doll’s dress, shirt, coat, or jacket out of felt does double duty to make a doll’s collar easier to sew. First, you can avoid hemming everything, including the sleeves and the outer edges of the garment itself. Second, you won’t have as much trouble getting that collar to lay like you want it to. However, you may have … Continue reading 5 Ways to Make Doll Clothes Collars that WORK (Tip #4) @ ChellyWood.com #SewingTips #DollClothesPatterns

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This image is part of a series of blog posts about how to sew doll clothes collars. This image is part of a series of blog posts about how to sew doll clothes collars. A purple and blue frame surrounds a vintage doll clothes pattern, with the words above stating "Doll Clothes Collars Part 3". In the photo, we see an 18 inch doll like the American Girl doll sporting a pink "sunday best" style jacket with a collar. The ChellyWood.com logo appears at the bottom of the image.
Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection, Tips for Beginners, Tutorials: Sewing Basics

5 Ways to Make Doll Clothes Collars that WORK (Tip #3) @ ChellyWood.com #SewingTips #DollClothesPatterns

Look closely at the collar that my Ken doll is wearing in the image above. Do you notice anything strange about the collar? Zoom in. Do you see that little white circle under his collar? That’s actually the head of a straight pin. Uh-huh. His collar wouldn’t stay down for the photo shoot, so what did I do? I pinned it down! What works better … Continue reading 5 Ways to Make Doll Clothes Collars that WORK (Tip #3) @ ChellyWood.com #SewingTips #DollClothesPatterns

Chelly WoodLeave a comment
This image is part of a series of blog posts about how to sew doll clothes collars. A purple and blue frame surrounds a vintage doll clothes pattern, with the words above stating "Doll Clothes Collars Part 2". In the photo beneath these words, we see Ken and Barbie dolls wearing variations on the typical Hawaiian shirt. The ChellyWood.com logo appears at the bottom of the image.
Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection, Tips for Beginners, Tutorials: Sewing Basics

5 Ways to Make Doll Clothes Collars that WORK (Tip #2) @ ChellyWood.com #SewingTips #DollClothesPatterns

Today’s blog post is “Part 2” of my series on how to create collars for your doll clothes that actually WORK. So you’re sewing a collar for your doll, and what you want to avoid is that awful won’t-lay-flat thing we’ve all had to deal with: Last week we learned that adding lace is one way to avoid the Halloween-witch collar, and as you can … Continue reading 5 Ways to Make Doll Clothes Collars that WORK (Tip #2) @ ChellyWood.com #SewingTips #DollClothesPatterns

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This image is part of a series of blog posts about how to sew doll clothes collars. A purple and blue frame surrounds a vintage doll clothes pattern, with the words above stating "Doll Clothes Collars Part 1". In the photo beneath these words, there are two Crissy dolls (one is African American / Black and the other is Caucasian with very long blond hair done up in a pony tail) and they are both wearing a lace collar with their 1970's attire. The ChellyWood.com logo appears at the bottom of the image.
Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection, Tips for Beginners, Tutorials: Sewing Basics

5 Ways to Make Doll Clothes Collars that WORK (Tip #1) @ ChellyWood.com #SewingTips #DollClothesPatterns

Today’s blog post is the first in a series of five blog posts that will teach you how to create collars for your doll clothes that actually WORK. In the coming weeks, watch for each of these tips and tricks on sewing doll clothes collars for dolls of every shape and size. Let’s face it, making a teeny tiny shirt’s collar look right is crazy-hard! … Continue reading 5 Ways to Make Doll Clothes Collars that WORK (Tip #1) @ ChellyWood.com #SewingTips #DollClothesPatterns

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On a purple background, we see a woman's fingers holding a recently sewn strap under the title "straps and belts" on a purple square background.
Interviews With Crafters, Tips for Beginners, Tutorials: Sewing Basics, Tutorials: Sewing for Dolls

Tips for Sewing Tiny Straps and Belts with Chelly Wood #SewingTips #DollClothesPatterns

The arrows in the image at the top of this page point to the feed dogs on a sewing machine. These are the “teeth” that grab the fabric and move it along when you press your foot against the pedal that makes your sewing machine move. Those of us who have been sewing doll clothes for a while have run across the problem of not … Continue reading Tips for Sewing Tiny Straps and Belts with Chelly Wood #SewingTips #DollClothesPatterns

Chelly Wood2 Comments
On a purple cotton background with tiny white polka dots, we see the words "why snaps?" and beneath this heading, a photo of a woman's hand holding a package of 12 Dritz snaps. In the corner of this image is the ChellyWood.com logo.
Crafts and Hobbies, Interviews With Crafters, Tutorials: Sewing Basics

Why I love Dritz sew-on snaps (and how to read a Dritz snaps card)! #SewingOnline #DollClothesPatterns

Yesterday I did a blog post asking you which one you liked better: Velcro, or snaps, for the back closure of your doll clothes garments. Although I use both kinds of closures, I prefer snaps, and as I have said many times before on this website, I prefer Dritz snaps to other brands. That’s because Dritz snaps come on a cardstock sheet, so you can … Continue reading Why I love Dritz sew-on snaps (and how to read a Dritz snaps card)! #SewingOnline #DollClothesPatterns

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