Pintuck Shirtwaist dress

Dolls are so fun to sew for. They don’t mind one bit if it’s too big or too small or you have to jab a pin into it to hold it on their body. So, if you have a bodice pattern somewhere, add a rectangle to the bottom of it and some bias binding to the neck and you’ve got a little dress. You can draw your own bodice pattern for her. Just need her measurements plus a little extra for ease and seam allowances. (See link below for a video on how that’s done.)

That said - I did not draw this bodice myself – I used one from The Doll’s Dressmaker: The Complete Pattern Book. This pattern had sleeves with it and I wanted sleeves so I copied and reduced one of the patterns in the book. My doll is Teen Trends “Deondra” (and it took me a long time to find that out as her only marking says 2004 Mattel, Inc.) She’s 17 inches – kind of a giant Skipper/Barbie type doll with ball jointed arms and legs. I finally found plenty to dress her in on eBay – but so far I’m not impressed with the choices. I’m “old” though – so that’s probably why. So, I’ve been making her things from scraps.

Anyway, this bodice turned out a bit too big, so I got a little creative with stitching it together and still the bodice had too much extra fabric in the front. Scrap-sewing makes you pretty fearless. So, I figured this was one of those “design opportunities” I’ve heard about and forged ahead with what I had already cut out. I decided to see if I could take up some slack without gathers…and I got out the pin-tucking foot and the double needle and used up some of the fullness in the center front. The back I just folded out the fullness. Pretty cute heh?