My dolls were pre-Barbie. I owned a couple beautiful 10-inch Madame Alexander dolls. In those days, Madame Alexander sold some of the dolls without luxurious costumes. They came in the box wearing something plain. At first my mother made outfits for my dolls, but in no time I was making my own doll clothes.
My granddaughter is almost five, and I recently got the bug to make doll clothes again. My first recent foray into doll fashion was to make a little girl dress with a matching doll dress. I flipped through books and perused the Internet, trying to find patterns that matched, and I eventually found dresses that were only similar. I made them match by adding some flowers and ribbon to my granddaughter's dress and purse and to Ariel's dress.
I was disappointed that the doll clothes pattern I used was way too big for Ariel. I ended up scrapping the pattern and making something from scratch.
Since that experiment, I've learned that the 18-inch doll is the most popular. American Girl has demonstrated longevity. Madame Alexander and a few other companies make an 18-inch doll with similar measurements. I find sewing for this size doll to be more fun. The larger doll allows for more detail.
My long-term goal is to make fashionable clothes for my granddaughter's 18-inch dolls, and, hopefully, I'll find an easy way to make matching clothes for little girl and doll. I've searched the Internet to see what doll patterns are available. American Girl manufactures beautiful clothing and accessories for the 18-inch doll that are pricey. Butterick, McCalls and Simplicity carry some cute patterns, but I have something else in mind.
I want to create some doll clothes that are trendy, modern, creative, funky, maybe a bit freaky. Not sexy. These are little girl dolls that can become well-dressed. Why not? Although period costumes can be adorable, I think that little girls like to dress their dolls the way they dress themselves.
I gather ideas from the likes of Teen Vogue and Seventeen. My aim is to create "looks" so these dolls can walk the runway. Dolls. Fashion. Patterns. Little girls.
Welcome to my blog about doll fashion and sewing for dolls.
