Sewing Fabric recommendations good for doll scale

My all time favourite is Liberty Tana Lawn cotton. It's thin, but strong, and densely woven. It drapes beautifully on a smaller scale. There are lots of tiny flower prints to choose from. I even use it in plain colours as lining fabric, so I won't have to deal with loosely woven/fraying fabric on the inside. Btw gathering is easier on the cross grain with this fabric.

Nani Iro linens seem to be good for doll scale, too. I haven't tried them myself, yet.

 

Any lawn cotton, like @Rosinha recommended, and I personally often sew with habotai silk, 5, 8 or 10 momme weights. I buy habotai yardage new and pre-dyed on line or cheaper yardage of it in its natural color and dye it myself. There are very easy, ready-to-use silk liquid paints and dyes these days, and messing around with soda ash and acid alongside the dye is no longer required. You can also tea-stain silk very beautifully and easily, even dyed silk takes tea over it very beautifully to "antique" the pre-existing color. Then I use very sharp, thin (size 8) machine needles to sew this tissue thin silk.

Also for 1/3rd scale sewing, thin, lightweight fabric you get from secondhand store garments, work well. Thin, worn denim shirts etc, and thin drapey knit fabrics ( knit shirts, knit baby clothing) . If you have a second hand clothing store like a goodwill near you, you can sometimes find amazing fabrics there for cheap, and actually touch and feel the hand and drape!

 

If you're buying online, you might want to pay attention to fabric weight. @tanjalalie already mentioned momme for silk, most other fabrics get measured in GSM (a.k.a. g/m2). A light-weight jersey--say, 150 GSM or below--can give a very nice drape... if you're willing to mess with knits

 

Seconding this! I only have tinies, nothing above 1/6 scale, but baby clothing and worn denim shirts (I am in Canada, the stereotype about the 'Canadian tuxedo' is not unfounded) are awesome for doll sewing. Baby clothing provides small prints and thinner knits, and as a bonus can be deconstructed piecemeal to alter and refit to the doll in some very rare cases. Baby socks are also a good resource for small knit cuffs for sleeves, but the fabric is often too thick for much else. Thin denim shirts, on the other hand, give you the look and feel of denim but incredibly thin and more suitable for the scale - It may not be as stiff as regular denim would be, but a good starching or even just adding a lining to reinforce while protecting the doll's 'skin' will make all the difference. And secondhand stores are great fabric resources - you can often find a stained piece that's not suitable for the intended purpose, but is more than adequate to break down and use in doll clothing.

And though it's a little bit niche and hard to find nowadays, if you ever come across old embroidered handkerchiefs, buy one. Sometimes you can use the embroidered part as an embellishment, it not the entire piece as a fabric.

 

Echoing on the denim shirts! If your online fabric store of choice lists fabric by usage, I would not look at thicker stuff than shirt fabrics. Plaids, denims, corduroy made for shirts are thinner and with smaller prints and will make great in-scale pants and skirts for 1/3. Lining fabrics are often thinner and can make good shirts and dresses. I've also found lycra quite useful for doll socks and underwear for instance, but honestly I've also just cut up human underwear for this

If you're willing to look for clothes to take apart second hand, children's clothes are great! You won't end up with too much fabric and shirts can sometimes be thinner/softer for a good doll drape. I just dismantled a lined shirt for 2 year olds and ended up with two different fabrics, both excellently thin and easy to sew.

There is also a choice of doll-size fabric on aliexpress and taobao if you're willing to import - you'll want to search for "doll clothes fabric" or such, there's some thin stretchy denim, some nice prints, sometimes patchwork kits that can easily make several items for dolls that I've seen around, plus you can also get miniature closures and zippers if that is something you need.

 

Re: denim shirts, often the fabric used is actually chambray, so that's something to look for if you're buying fabric new.

Some other thin/drapey fabrics—which I personally haven't sewn doll clothes from, so grain of salt—are cotton voile, cotton gauze, chiffon, (light-weight) satin, (light-weight) crêpe, stretch tulle. Regular tulle is generally stiff, but might be ok if you find a very soft and light one?

 

I like cotton lawn, the finer the better as it isn't too bulky and drapes nicely at doll scale - Regular cottons (patchwrk cotons have a lot of small prints) work nicely for heavier/less floaty styles, depending on the doll scale, floaty silk scarves are nice for floaty drapey studff, but don't work as well for structured garments. I use a lot of silk dupion and thin silk taffetas ("lining" silks work well for doll scale) for those. Ultrafine and tropical-weight wools are available (but sometimes more expensive than silks).

For stretchy stuff like T-shirts - baby and toddler T-shirts and bodies come in thinner/finer knits than adult T-shirt fabric (in both plain colours and small prints that are sometimes suitable depending on you doll's style) and are more readily available than fabric yardage. I uuse the heavier adult-t-shirt fabric for doll sweatshirts and hoodies (thouogh jnot often as I mostly dress my dolls retro/vintage/historical.

What I use the most is second hand mens cotton button-down shirts, thin cotton, win av ariety of plain as well as small wocven (occasionally printed) patterns you don't see in the shiops, cheaper than new yardage from fabric outlets, plenty of fabric in a shirt to cut down for doll scale even if you have to work around frayed collars/cuffs and sweat-stained armpits. Also, it's often been worn to a finer drape so makes clothes for the dolls that look worn rather than new-from-the-shop. I made one of my dolls a suit from a particluarly faded shirt, making use of the faded areas to make it look like an old favourite she still wears for play
and/or messy chores.


EDITED TO ADD: I forgot to mention my favourite go-to ultra fine and drapey cotton fabri c. LRK88 Cottion from Whaleys (Bradford) Ltd. Shipping from them is expensive, however - even within the UK.

They're a wholeasaler so if you buy more than 10metres of a fabric the cost per metre drops substantially. I use LRK88 for veils and and other stuff in full-size historical costumes so buy in a minimum of 10 metre lengths so always have it available for my doll sewing as well. It only comes in white but dyes beautifully. Basically, I zigzag the cut end of the length I've bought, and throw it all in the washing machine at the hottest setting to pre-shrink it (also makes it very soft, drapey, and distorty - so I spray starch the bit I want to use, to stabilise it, before cutting out my project and sewing it, then rinse out the starch once it's made).

Teddy

 

Online stores:
China: Doll Sewing Notions, Miniature And Accessories - pleather, faux suede, (thin striped) jerseys, cotton voile, gauze, denim, fine corduroy
UK: https://www.thedollshousedraper.net/shop for e.g. tiny checks and tartans
US: Welcome | Farmhouse Fabrics, search for "mini tartan"

 

A bit more expensive but if you search *heirloom sewing* fabrics you can find natural fiber, very delicate fabrics, laces and trims, including cotton bobbinette. Which all work well for doll scale.

 

Great tip, @midolls*melissa ! I am always, always hunting for affordable cotton bobbinette, AND tiny cotton and silk trims.

 

Shirt-weight denim is perfect for 1/3 and smaller doll jeans. I've used it often.
For T-shirts, a light jersey knit usually works well.
For woven fabrics, rayon tends to drape better than cotton as a general rule.