I’ve Made More Doll Clothes Than Dolls

Three times I’ve made sets of clothes for store-bought dolls, not counting the ones I made for my own Barbie doll when I was nine or ten. (I can still picture those crude trial-and-error shirts and dresses that never fit very well.) It would be nice to make some more, and maybe I will, when I get the sewing room cleaned up. Well, then, why am I not in there this moment working on that? I’m tired, and need to rest a bit on my laurels, even though they are old laurels by now.

I did make clothes two years ago for a granddaughter’s Götz toddler doll. The doll is wearing her original outfit above.

I took my patterns from Joan Hinds’s Sew Baby Doll Clothes. First I sewed some overalls from a Hannah Anderson skirt I had found ages ago at the thrift store, and got the hat trim from my scrap bag–or I should say, one of my many boxes of scraps.

A checked dress started out as another thrift store find, a man’s shirt that B. decided he didn’t want. The fabric was in great shape, so I couldn’t throw it out.

Finally I made a nightgown with a pink fleece blanket and pillow to coordinate with both.

When I last saw this Doll Baby, she was dressed in one new outfit and had lent another one to her sister. They were lying together in their cradle, so endearing that I resolved to go home and sew more clothes. There were other scantily clad dolls lying around who tugged at my heart. But I went home and got distracted by other projects and haven’t sent any care packages to the doll family to this day.

9 thoughts on “I’ve Made More Doll Clothes Than Dolls

  1. Love the idea of reusing old clothes for doll clothes! I especially love the last dress. My sister and I used to use old knee socks and cut-off jeans legs to make skirts for our dolls. We had some Sasha dolls that my mom's best friend made smocked dresses for. I should dig them out and send you a photograph – they're absolutely beautiful. She made one dress for my first daughter that I'd like to have a doll big enough to wear it, but now she has granddaughters of her own to sew for. She also makes altar linens and albs. Meanwhile I haven't graduated much past cut-off jeans.

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  2. My happiest memories of my mother are of her sitting at the sewing machine in the kitchen making beautiful clothes for my dolls.

    I'm middle-aged now and I still love dolls and dolls clothes so this is a great post.

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  3. I have a heritage of a sewing grandmother and mother that would make clothes for my dolls, some of which I still own.

    Charlotte has started asking me to sew some clothes for her dolls. I have so much extra fabric from the dresses I sew for her. I need to get started.

    Thank you for sharing.

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  4. I used one of Joan Hinds' books this past Christmas to sew 18-inch doll clothes for my daughter. I'm not a great sewer but I found her patterns fairly easy to follow.

    I've linked to your post.

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