18" doll clothes tutorial round-up

Here is a quick round-up of my tutorials for 18" doll clothes. Enjoy!

1. 18" doll skirt (which is reversible)
2. Lazy Days Skirt (ribbon hemmed elastic waist skirt)
3. Newborn onesies to nightgowns and t-shirts
4. No-sew tutu
5. Petticoat
6. Chiffon bubble skirt
7. Lace and tulle skirt
8. Sequin skirt
9. Layered trim skirt
10. Doily circle skirt

Happy doll clothes sewing!

PS I forgot to add the No-sew dresses

No-sew 18-inch Doll Dresses

 A few months ago I went to a used clothing sale and bought 34 newborn sized (which fits a 5-8 pound baby) clothing items for $47. So it cost about $1.38 for each item. The intention was to turn them into doll clothes.

 First off, these newborn tops (one orange and the other one blue with white dots) became instant 18-inch doll dresses with no adjustments necessary.

 Next up, there were these two newborn onsie dresses.

 I simply lifted up the skirt part of the dress and cut off the onsie part with a scissors. Just that one quick easy step and they became 18-inch doll dresses. No need to finish the newly cut edges as knit fabric doesn't fray.

 The straps on the pink striped dress turned out to be a little bit too long.

 So I tucked the straps under in the back and sewed them down using my sewing machine. It fit much better after I did that.

Most of the newborn onsies were made into 18-inch doll t-shirts and nightgowns. The newborn bloomers and pants turned out to be too big for an 18-inch doll, but they do fit a bigger baby doll.

What a deal with each new doll clothing item only costing around $1.38 a piece!

Refashion Month

 Magda from House of Estrela is hosting a Refashion Month during July. Today it's my turn to share my refashion...

 This refashion is super quick and 100% FREE! Everyone loves free, right? So first of all, I grabbed some of my daughter's old t-shirts. They were too small, had stains, had holes, but the majority of the fabric was still in pretty good condition. I printed out this free 18" doll t-shirt pattern and placed the pattern pieces at the bottom of the original t-shirts taking advantage of the original hem saving me a step in sewing. I eliminated the sleeves and made tank tops which is mentioned in the instructions. And that's it! It goes to show you just how easy refashioning can be.

Here are a couple more ideas:
Jeans cut off into doll jeans
Girl swimsuit to doll swimsuit

Be sure to check out all the other refashions this month.

Magda has a huge giveaway going on. One lucky winner will get a bundle with patterns from 12 designers.

Enter the giveaway here:
a Rafflecopter giveaway


There is also a sew-along with a sew-along winner, so do add your refashion to the flickr group to enter. Have fun refashioning!

Doily Circle Skirt for 18-inch Doll

  {18-inch doll skirt week :: day 7}

Today it's a doily circle skirt.

Supplies needed:

• doily 9 - 11.5 inches in diameter (I bought these doilies at vintage shops, a couple of the price tags were still on, one was $1.00, the other $3.50)

•  5/8 inch or 1 inch fold over elastic (Looking for some inexpensive fold over elastic? I got a package of 5 headwraps at a dollar store, that's only $1.00 for 2.5 yards of 5/8 inch fold over elastic. Although from my experience making these skirts, I recommend using 1 inch fold over elastic.)

•  ball point needle

 Instructions:

• in the center of the doily cut out a circle that has a radius of 1.75 inches (diameter of 3.5 inches)

•  take the fold over elastic and fold it over the raw edge of the waistline using lots of pins, sew around with multiple step zigzag stitch (it is suggested to use a 2 or 3 stitch length and a ball point needle). If you have never sewn with fold over elastic before I recommend watching a YouTube video to learn how.

•  cut off the excess fold over elastic.

 Although I will continue to share 18-inch doll skirts here in the future, that's a wrap for 18-inch doll skirt week ~ thanks for joining me :)

Quick round-up of all my 18-inch doll creations:

• Popover dresses
• Reversible skirts
• Tea Party dresses
• Doll carrier
• Elastic-waist skirts
• Katie dress
• Newborn onesies to t-shirts and nightgowns
• No-sew tutu
• Petticoat
• Chiffon bubble skirt
• Lace and tulle skirt
• Sequin skirt
• Layered trim skirt

Layered Trim Skirts for 18-inch Doll

  {18-inch doll skirt week :: day 6}

Today it's a layered trim skirt.

Supplies needed:

• 1.5 yards of 1 - 1.5 inch wide trim
• 18 inches by 6 inches of fabric
• 10.5 inches of 3/8 inch wide elastic

 Instructions:

• take the 18 inch by 6 inch piece of fabric, at the top and bottom of the skirt, fold over and press .5 inch and again .5 inch to the wrong side and topstitch

•  take the 1.5 yards of trim and cut it into 3 pieces of 18 inches
• place the first piece of trim along the hem and topstitch

•  place the 2nd piece of trim above the first and topstitch

•  place the third piece of trim above the second and topstitch
• place a safety pin at the end of the elastic and thread it through the casing

•  with right sides together sew the skirt seam with .5 inch seam allowance
• iron seam open
• turn skirt right side out

The white scallop trim was about 2 inches wide, so I only did 2 layers.

Different types of trims come with different price tags. To give you an idea the total cost of the trim for each skirt shown here, it was: $4.50 for the purple faux suede fringe and the pink box pleat, $.38 for the yellow eyelet, and $1.00 for the white scallop.

The t-shirts in these photos were made from newborn onesies, tutorial found here.

Next up, day 7 of 18-inch doll skirt week.

 Quick round-up of all my 18-inch doll creations:

• Popover dresses
• Reversible skirts
• Tea Party dresses
• Doll carrier
• Elastic-waist skirts
• Katie dress
• Newborn onesies to t-shirts and nightgowns
• No-sew tutu
• Petticoat
• Chiffon bubble skirt
• Lace and tulle skirt
• Sequin skirt

Sequin Skirt for 18-inch Doll

  {18-inch doll skirt week :: day 5}

Today it's a sequin skirt!

 Supplies needed:

• 12 inches of 4.5 - 5.5 inch wide sequin trim (it's stretchy) at $5.00 per yard, 12 inches would be $1.67
• thin ballpoint needle size 9/65

From the back you can see that it is stretchy

 Fabric preparation:

• Use scissors to remove the sequins that will fall into the seam allowance which is .25 inch

 Instructions:

• use a thin ballpoint needle size 9/65
• use a zigzag stitch 0.5 (stitch width)
• use a long stitch 3.5 (stitch length)
• with right sides together sew very slowly and use a .25 inch seam allowance
• finger press seams open
• turn right side out

 This sequin skirt has no closures. Since the fabric is stretchy, the skirts is just pulled on and off.

Next up, day 6 of 18-inch doll skirt week.

Quick round-up of all my 18-inch doll creations:

• Popover dresses
• Reversible skirts
• Tea Party dresses
• Doll carrier
• Elastic-waist skirts
• Katie dress
• Newborn onesies to t-shirts and nightgowns
• No-sew tutu
• Petticoat
• Chiffon bubble skirt
• Lace and tulle skirt

18-inch Doll Skirts Giveaway

 ETA: The winner is #15 Jennifer
*****
 It's Giveaway Day! Many thanks to Sew, Mama, Sew for hosting this fun biannual event.

The prize: 9 skirts for an 18-inch doll; black chiffon skirt, petticoat, Tinkerbell tutu, turquoise tulle and tissue lame skirt, and 5 elastic-waist skirts

Enter to win:

• Please leave an answer to the following question: Who will you give the doll skirts to?
• One entry per person
• I will ship internationally
• I will pick the winner
• The giveaway will be open until Friday May 16 at 5 p.m. PST, I will pick a winner and email the winner by May 18, and I will ship the items by May 20

Lace and Tulle Skirt for 18-inch Doll

  {18-inch doll skirt week :: day 4}

Today it's a lace and tulle skirt that was inspired by this skirt (a lace skirt with a sheer mesh ruffle peeking out at the hem).

 For the lace skirt:
Supplies needed:

• 18 inches of 3 7/8 inch wide nylon lace trim at $3.78 per yard, 18 inches will only cost $1.89
• 10.5 inches of oval cord elastic which is about 3/16 inches wide

 Instructions:

• This lace trim already came with a casing at the top. Using the tiniest safety pin you can find, attach it to the end of the oval cord elastic and thread it through the lace casing. 
• Sew up the skirt seam with a .5 inch seam allowance.

 For the tulle and tissue lame skirt:
Supplies needed:

• 18 inches by 6 inches fabric that's the same on each side, I used tissue lame
• 18 inches by 4.5 inches tulle
• 10.5 inches of 3/8 inch elastic

 Instructions:

• For the hem at the bottom of the skirt fabric fold over and press .5 inch and again .5 inch. For the casing at the top of the skirt, fold over and press .5 inch and again .5 inch but towards the right side of the skirt (see photo).
• Topstitch hem.
• Place tulle under the folds of the casing (see photos).

• With tulle in place topstitch the casing.
• Using a small safety pin, attach it to the end of the 3/8 inch wide elastic and thread it through the casing.

•  Sew up the skirt seam with a .5 inch seam allowance.

 By making the lace skirt separate, it gives so many more options. Here is what it looks like with the lace skirt on top of a chiffon bubble skirt.

Next up, day 5 of 18-inch doll skirt week.

Quick round-up of all my 18-inch doll creations:

• Popover dresses
• Reversible skirts
• Tea Party dresses
• Doll carrier
• Elastic-waist skirts
• Katie dress
• Newborn onesies to t-shirts and nightgowns
• No-sew tutu
• Petticoat
• Chiffon bubble skirt