How to Sew a Doll Shirt and Pants
Is there anything more fun than dressing up your doll (as a kid of course I would never dress dolls up, I mean I don’t do that…)?? I have been trying to think of fun things to sew with my fabric stash and as I was making a pillowcase dress I thought how cute would it be to make matching doll clothes from the fabric. So the doll clothes idea was born. Here is how to sew a doll shirt and pants.
How to Sew a Doll Shirt and Pants
Scroll down to the end for a video walkthrough.
Supplies:
Shirt Fabric – You can use cotton or jersey knit.
Pant Fabric – (This Knit from Art Gallery Fabrics is adorable! I definitely recommend something stretchy!)
18″ Doll – Pictured is “Peggy” from Target.
Cricut Easy Press (as seen in live video)
Instructions:
Print the templates. The 1/4″ seam allowance is not included in the pattern so use a ruler and trace 1/4″ around each piece before cutting out the template. Use your shirt template and cut out two of the shirt pieces. You can fold the fabric and cut them at the same time or if you want to fussy cut them go ahead and cut them one at a time. For the pants you will need 4 pieces, two facing one way and two facing the other (as pictured below.)
Let’s start with the pants. Sew a right and left side together along the short edge. Then since the clothes are small go ahead and press the bottom hem up 1/4″ because this will be tricky to do later on!
Now place the pieces right sides together and sew along the two long edges. Then cut the thread and sew again along the inside U.
Cut notches around the U so that it will turn out easily around the curve. Then press the waistband under 1/4″. For the bottom hem and the waistband use the fabric fuse to hold the hem down. You could sew but again this is so tiny that I prefer to just use the fabric glue and not fuss with the small hems!
Now we can move on to the shirt. Place the two pieces right sides together and sew along the side and up the bottom portion of the sleeve. Repeat this on the other side. Then use two more seams to sew the shoulders together, be sure to leave the armholes and the neck hole open. It is also a good idea to backstitch along the seam where it meets the neck because this is a fragile seam.
Choose which side is the back of your shirt cut a straight line all the way from the bottom to the top (just on the back, be sure to leave the front in tact.)
Use a ribbon to reinforce the edges of these two cuts that you just made. We are going to add snaps here to close the shirt so you need a strong base.
Now press the bottom hem under 1/4″ You will also want to press the neck hem under by about 1/8″. Then sew these in place.
Use the fabric fuse to hold the arm hem in place. Notch the armpit area so that it lies flat when it is turned out.
While you have the fabric fuse out go ahead and grab your pom pom trim and glue it in place along the bottom hem. I thought about putting it on the neck hem so you should totally do that too 😉
Turn the shirt out. Now add those snaps we were talking about. I added two but you could add them all the way down the back.
Didn’t it turn out so cute? What piece of doll clothing would you like to see a tutorial for? Share with me in the comments below! P.S. keep an eye on the Thermoweb blog for a tutorial for the adorable hot air balloon shirt in the picture below!
Do you know how to sew a doll shirt and pants now? Share with me in the comments below.
Nuria says
So cute! I love it