Drafting Doll Clothes

Do you have days when it feels like all your creative endeavors intersect?  This is one of those times!  

I made a knit dress for my toddler niece out of lovely knit fabric I had printed with "My Flower Garden" design at Spoonflower.com.  I gave her a Bamboletta baby doll for Christmas.  The good folks at Bamboletta.com dress their baby dolls in super cute sleeper suits.  But sometimes a girl just needs a dress!!  There aren't commercial patterns to fit these handmade baby dolls. So, I needed to make my own pattern.

During the summer I took Cal Patch's Master Pattern Drafting Work-Along on Creativebug.com.  I learned to draft a dress/tunic pattern and a skirt pattern. If it works for me, it should work for a doll too!

I took out Cal's measurement sheet and measured the doll.  Then I drafted a pattern for a T-shirt dress to match the one I made for my niece. 

Other than the Curve Ruler not working on such a small pattern, the drafting and the pattern worked beautifully!!  The dress went together perfectly!!

I got such a kick out of doing this project!!  The design on the fabric was mine, the pattern was mine and the doll's dress was my creation too!  Super fun!

Pattern Drafting: A-line Flared Skirt

WooHOO!  I did it!  As many of you know, I watch Cal Patch's Master Pattern Drafting Work Along on Creativebug.com earlier this year.  The pattern I drafted for my tunic/dress muslin was a bit too snug. I still haven't around to making the adjustments on that pattern. 

But earlier this month, I decided to make one of the A-line skirts in Cal Patch's tutorial. This was so much fun!  I made a muslin, decided on some adjustments to make it look better on me and made the skirt shown above!

I used freezer paper for the large piece of the pattern. It's great just to be able to roll off a long piece of paper for each piece of the pattern.  For the pockets pieces I used tracing paper.   To add the flair to the A-line skirt pattern, the basic skirt pattern is into sections and spread apart.  I was nearing the end of my roll of freezer paper.  As I cut each segment of the skirt pattern, it curled!  It reminded me of the wigs the girls wear for Irish Step dancing!  Fortunately, a little tape tamed the curls long enough to draw my final pattern pieces!