Sewing General Sewing Links

Leekeworld- DollLeeke- L type.

This is L type's size.

* Tall (body with head) : 60cm
* Circumference of Head : 9.5~10.5inch
* Circumference of Neck : 105 mm
* Width of Shoulders : 140mm
* Circumference of Chest : 260mm
* Circumference of Waist : 210mm
* Circumference of Hips : 260mm
* Circumference of Wrist : 60mm
* Length of "From Knee to Foot" : 160mm
* Foot-78 ~ 80mm

Might add this to the Measurements Spreadsheet for 52+ size SD BJD

 

Finally finished an extensive measurement chart with all of the models' measurements! Here you'll find a quick thumbnail reference for each of the patterns, as well as a list of the patterns and the measurements of the models who kindly worked as fitting models:
http://www.gracefaerie.com/patterns/sizing.html
Thank you for all your support!

 

Link to figure templates to aid in design.
Great source of figure templates for design work. *http://www.designersnexus.com/design/free-fashion-croquis-templates/

^S^

 

How to afford $10 to $30 per yard silk (applies to other fabrics as well) for your special sewing projects without paying $10 to $30 per yard, or How To Make You And Your Doll Happy

Once a month or so, I visit my local Good Will and Salvation Army (both are thrift stores here in the USA). I start by checking out the larger sizes of dresses, skirts, blouses, etc., for fiber content. I look for 100% silk, light weight summer wools and linens, handkerchief weight cottons and linens, sheer fabrics, lacy fabrics, fancy buttons in the right scale; you name it, I can find it. After Prom and other formal affairs, I usually can find formal dresses, (yes, even wedding gowns), suits, etc. A large size man's dress linen shirt can give me enough fabric for a petit cote, chemise, or lining for another garment. Well worn and washed white cotton men's shirts make the best lining material. The price range per garment is $1 to as much as $13 for a formal with a long lace train.

The secret is turning the garment inside out, and seeing how many pattern pieces where used in the complete garment. The larger/longer the garment, the fewer seams/pattern pieces there are the better. This gives you larger pieces to work with.

Once home, I wash and dry (either line dry or dryer dry) the garment. Even stuff that says dry clean only. I want to remove any chemical or other residue before the fabric touches the skin of the doll. If it ruins it for making garments, save it for linings, strip it out for making a crocheted rugs or hand bags, or any other project.

Then, with the garment inside out, cut the garment apart at seam and hem lines with good sharp shears. Cut as close to the seam as possible to reduce waste. Remove zips, buttons, snaps, hooks, etc., and save for using on other projects. Iron the pieces, lay out and mark your pattern, and cut. Viola, you have just counted coup in more than one way.

You saved money on a gorgeous piece of fabric you other wise could or would not justify, you are recycling, and you just made your doll love you more!


--
http://www.myspace.com/the_anastasia

When I have money I buy books. *If any is left I buy food and clothes.
Erasmus

 

These are unofficial (taken by me) but pretty accurate measurements for the EID superhero male body:
http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?t=317564&highlight=EID,+measurements

 

Soom MA female measurements. PM for pdf version
http://s273.photobucket.com/albums/jj226/the_anastasia/Soom MA female measurements detailed/

 

Underpinnings-- the hoop skirt frame, my version.
clothes hanger wire or other wire of choice.
gloves
wire cutters
1/2” (12mm) twill tape
thread to match twill tape
needle (sewing machine!)
scissors


Using gloves, cut wire length appropriate to hoop placement. Make a casing with the twill tape. Encase the wire. Attach the hoops to each other with strips of twill tape (length will determine shape of over skirt). The first “layer” is the waistband made of twill tape and snap fastener.
Play with it.
Squish it and get pseudo farthinggales,
Use smaller gauge wire for panniers.
http://s273.photobucket.com/albums/jj226/the_anastasia/Underpinnings--Hoop Skirt Frame/


Anastasia

 

If your fortunate enough to live in so.cal the garment district in L.A. is a great place to get fabric too. You can haggle with most of the vendors in addition to fabric being dirt cheap. I walked out of one shop with 10 yards of royal blue, high quality linen for 20 bucks. If you pool your resources with friends you can stretch your money further and make out like a bandit.

 

What I suggest for anyone making their own BJD clothes: JoAnn craft and Fabric stores sell Remnants. These are left over, end of the bolt fabric that is less than a yard and are discounted at 50% of what you would originally pay. If you are making only one outfit at a time and want each one to be unique, Remnants are the way to go. I work at a JoAnns in California, and remnants are the best way at saving money. EVERY LITTLE BIT HELPS!

 

Thank you for the useful links.

Might want to add Dollmore (Under for Custom, there will be a link to patterns on the navigation bar n top) to the list of pattern you can buy. Patterns are for MSD dolls, and they are in both English and Korean in case anyone wants to know.

 

Here you will find buttons and pins small sizes
http://www.littletrimmings.com/ButtonsMenu.aspx
Stamped Felt Here
http://www.o-karamba.es/epages/210677.sf
Here a lot of fabrics
http://www.superbuzzy.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=88
I hope the links are not repeated and that you like.

 

Woohoo! I just found a tutorial on how to print your own fabrics with your ink jet printer! I would be able to print any doll sized design onto cheap cotton fabric! This is gonna save lots of money!
http://www.cynthiahoweminiatures.com/fabricprinting.htm

 

Under the list of fabric vendors, you might want to add Sy Fabrics:

http://www.syfabrics.com/

They have a good selection of mostly costume fabrics (satins, vinyls, lace, etc) and sell discount "grab bag" lots of remnants. When I was working on an Ulala Space Channel 5 costume, that was the only place I was able to find orange stretch vinyl!

 

A book I would reccomend for anyone sewing doll clothes (and human clothes, too; any clothes, really) is The Evolution of Fashion: Pattern and Cut from 1066 to 1930 by Margot Hamilton Hill and Peter A. Bucknell. All the patterns can be scaled to whatever size you need, plus each period has a little blurb explaining a bunch of stuff about the outfits. It's incredibly useful, especially if you want period outfits for your dolls.

 

here a site for doll paterns: http://www.naaipatronen.nl/poppen-poppenkleding-knuffels.html It's in Dutch though. I don't mind translating it however if someone is interested and the sending to europe is €3.75 to €26.25 and international €7.00 to €35.00. It al depends on what you buy (pattern or book).

some other helpful sites:

http://bijouscosplay.deviantart.com/art/How-to-make-ruffles-93221433 For ruffles
http://taeliac.deviantart.com/art/Tutorial-Circle-Skirts-90497598 For circle skirts
http://www.cosplay.com/showthread.php?t=201267 Here are a bunch of tutorials for cosplay. There are some on wig styling, prop making and patterns. Could maybe be handy for someone.

 

Lace Heaven is my source for all kinds of doll-sized laces, especially stretch lace which for some reason is very hard to find in stores!
Wholesale Lace & Sewing Supplies Online | Lace Heaven

They have good prices and I've found them to be super nice, too. ^_^ They might even be able to find your lace for you if they don't stock it currently.

You might get some more suggestions if you ask in a seperate "where to buy" thread, too. ^_^

 

Hello everyone. A friend of mine has just ordered the Gang doll from Bobobie http://www.bobobie.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=201, and I ordered him an outfit for her birthday. However, I do not have all the measurements needed by the company making the clothes. does anyone have this same doll and maybe could help? These are the measurements i already have from bobobie but i tried on their forums and they are huge jerks >_< and won't help

Height: 61 cm
1. Neck Girth: 10 cm
2. Chest Girth (widest): 24.5 cm
3. Waist Girth (narrowest): ?
4. Hips Girth (widest): 25 cm
5. Arm Girth: ?
6. Wrist Girth: ?
7. Thigh Girth: ?
8. Knee Girth: ?
9. Ankle Girth: ?
10. Inner shoulder (Neck Root) to Foot instep: ?
11. Inner shoulder to Narrowest Waist: ?
12. Narrowest Waist to Foot instep: ?
13. Shoulder to Thumb Root: ?
14. Shoulder Width (include both arms): ?

I really appreciate your help. I didn't know I would need this information when I ordered the clothes as I thought they were pre-made, not custom order. I could get the information from her, but I'd hate to spoil the surprise!!

Thank you in advance!

 

You have just become my hero! My gf and I have been searching all over for black stretch lace to make undies and stockings and came up with nil every single time. This website is great! Thank you so much for sharing it!

 

There's an exciting new resource I haven't seen mentioned here -- Spoonflower. Have you seen a particular print that you desperately need in a book, but it hasn't been made for 100 years? Do you have the concept of the perfect 1960s mod pattern, but aren't ready to set up your own silk-screening workroom?

Spoonflower lets you upload a digital print and then buy copies of it by the yard. A lot of historic costumers are using it now, which is why I linked. You can get the design printed on cotton voile, quilting cotton, canvas, knit, cotton voile, crepe du chine...

No, I don't make money when people use Spoonflower, far from it; I'm just so excited that there's finally a way to print yardage when you want it, and to get access to beautiful fabrics created by non-traditional designers.

 

Anybody know how to sew hair wigs? I got a bunch of curly dolls' hair just in a bag at the JoAnn hoping to make a wig for my 65cm guy but I have NO IDEA what to do with it now that I have it. ;A;

 

I am a designer and pattern maker and would later like to sell my own doll's clothes. I suppose I will have to make sure that none of my patterns look like any of these provided in the links? How in the world would I avoid duplicating someone else's pattern idea by accident?

Same here--and I've been wondering that, too. ^_^; So far I've just bought a few generic items (shirt, jacket, pants) and taken them apart for patterns and once I've got a feel for the basic shapes I'll start playing with variations... I was under the impression that once you start altering and customizing a base pattern the resulting design belongs to you (I mean, nobody owns Pants, right?)... but I'm not a copyright expert.

 

If you are any good, or willing to give a try to, pattern scaling, I highly recommend the series of books titled "Period Costume for Stage and Screen". They cover a large time span and the patterns, while not completely accurate, look like it. After all, it is for Stage and Screen.

 

It's stated in the first post that copyrighted patterns are protected under the law but there's a thread stating that there are no copyrighted patterns because they are not actually copyrightable:
http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?456513-Note-Copyright-and-Sharing-of-patterns

Should that be changed? There's still some unanswered questions for particulars but the ability to actually copyright a pattern has been pretty thoroughly proven false (in the US anyway).
It's a good idea to contribute to the people who work hard to develop their patterns. But we also need to clear up all of the confusion from conflicting statements.

 

Someone in the "What are you currently sewing... v5" thread talked about a GREAT pattern-making book called "Design it Yourself Clothes: Patternmaking Simplified" by Cal Patch.

It is fantastic! It's only for women's clothes, but it shows you how to draft a properly-fitting pattern for a few dresses, pairs of pants, skirts, and shirts. There's also a section on how to alter the patterns of the first ones given to make different kinds of tops, pants, and skirts. I used it on making a dress for my doll, as well as a shirt. Things fit properly for the most part (though I think I need to change where I measure the waist, because it's too wide there).

She tells you the measurements you're going to need, how big a piece of paper you'll have to get, and where to apply your measurements, plot your points, and connect the lines. It's like an Idiot's Guide, it's so straight-forward.

Admittedly, I'm trying to draft my first pair of pants, and there are a lot more measurements to take, and there are a lot more steps. I'm thinking of just taking a pre-made pants pattern that I'm used to (undead threads) and alter it to the measurements I have, just for a start.

If you have a thinner doll (like a BBB or RS, or anything considered 'slim'), it should be pretty easy to draft a pattern to make something for your doll. Don't know where to measure? That's OK, too; there's a 'map' of where measurements need to be taken and a key as to what each line is referring to.

You can probably get it at your local library (the person who recommended the book got it from there), and it's available on Amazon.

**ONE SUGGESTION: A lot of the patterns require you measure up or down from lines, or the edge of the paper, but she tells you to measure in inches. DO NOT MEASURE IN INCHES! Measuring in inches is good for humans - who are many inches tall and wide - but not for BJDs. 3 inches to you and me doesn't seem like much, but on a BJD, with a smaller scale, it's a huge amount.

I have been sticking to the metric system when measuring on my pattern paper. When she says to measure down three inches, I measure 3cm. It's not equal to 3ins, but remember what I said. When you have to multiply by .75ins, you should multiply by .75cm. It works out for the dolls.

At some point - maybe after I post this, or tomorrow - I'll post my doll's measurements according to those needed in her book. Maybe it will help someone out who has the same doll I own, and they won't have to worry about taking all the measurements themselves, and possibly screw up.

 

DOLLMORE KID (Girl) Measurements
(Measurements are from the shoulders to the waist; measurements for below waist to follow)

I am using the measurements asked for in the book I mentioned above, entitled "Design it Yourself Clothes: Patternmaking Simplified" by Cal Patch. Some measurements I found to be difficult to get being that these are dolls and not real people, and sometimes there needs to be a kind of 'compromise' in terms of wanting to get something to fit properly, and wanting something to fit at all. I'll explain after I provide the measurements:

Note: All measurements are in INCHES due to the fact that my measuring tape is in inches. You'll want to translate them to centimeters if you decide to use a pattern from the book.

Neck to Pelvis Measurements

Neck Width (left to right, not all the way around): 1
Shoulder Width: 3.75
Bicep Circumference: 2.25
Wrist Circumference: 2
Shoulder to Waist: 3.5
Bust: 7.5
Waist: 6-6.5 (depending on if you want something more form-fitting or slouchy)
High Hip (or the pelvic joint; not the widest part of the doll): 8.5
Sleeve Length: Whatever you decide
Shoulder to Wrist: 5

Like I mentioned, some measurements can be a little tricky. If you go by the wrist circumference measurement, you WILL need to remove and put back the doll's hands, because their fingers are spaced out to some degree. If you want, you can measure the wider hand of your doll, and use that as a measurement, but you don't have that form-fitting look anymore.

You also need to take into account the armpit. When we move the arm out, it comes out of the socket a little, and you are going to need to take into account the circumference of that space when you're making your arm circumference measurement.

With the sleeve length, like human clothes, it doesn't matter where you want it to be. The pattern I was applying the measurement to called for a full-length sleeve, but I decided to make mine a 3/4 sleeve instead.

 

thank you for sharing

 

I think all BBB bodies are the same, so if I get a chance to tomorrow, I will take the additional measurements from my Apollo's body.

 

I found this site help me a lot when I needed to make something for my little girl even though she's not here, it has a lot of bjd measurements in cm

http://www.mydreamlesssleep.com/bjd-measurements

 

Here I made a big list of links with free BJD sewing patterns and tutorials that I found online. Some of the patterns and tutorials are made by me. Hope you find this useful

http://anastasia-arts.blogspot.ru/2013/02/bjd-free-bjd-clothes-patterns-list.html

 

Does a pattern of making a Angelic pretty outfit exist for msd girls?

 

Thank you all for all the good advice! Does anyone have any specific advice on sewing for a total pattern noob? My boy desperately needs some pants, but I don't know what over the counter would fit, so I've decided to make some. I'm familiar with some of the basic ideas, but I can't run a sewing machine to save my life.

 

erisraven - You can get good results without a sewing machine by using a needle and thread (and thimble!). For projects as small as bjd clothes it might even be easier since the seam allowances are small.
For boy pants, if you have another pair that fits, trace around them to make a pattern. You might simplify the design if there are pockets and lots of details. Usually there is a front pattern and a back pattern, although if you want you can combine the left front and back, then sew it to the right front and back, making the construction a little easier.
If you don't already have a pair of pants, try laying your boy over paper and trace him. Using scrap fabric cut out the trace, adding fabric around the lines to account for the 3-D nature of your doll. Put it around him and pin to fit.
If you use fabrics with some stretch they will be easier to dress on your doll. Think about stretchy denim to use for jeans.
Good luck!

 

I love the checked dress! You did a superb job matching the plaid.

 

Such a great thread. I really appreciate all of the tips provided. I will try to share information as I come across it!

 

For people who want eyelets in their clothes, this tutorial shows how to make some that won't fray. Note that you should use a tailor's awl for this, NOT SCISSORS. You don't want to cut the fibers, just shove them out of the way.

Recreating 16th and 17th Century Clothing: The Renaissance Tailor

 

oh man, this is so helpful! Thanks so much for sharing!

 

I agree! Thanks so much for all the links and info

 

Wow, this thread will save my life once I get around to ordering my doll. Although she's of the large size category, I've been practicing clothes-making on small Obitsu girls (and even with their size, I still got flops). I used to be afraid of handling needles, but if you've pricked all of your fingers trying to sew manually you'd get over it soon enough. Thank you very much, guys!

 

I do this also!!!

 

Thank you for the useful links.

 

You can make your own buttons easily and cheaply. All you need is a hole-punch and some plastic (from margarine containers, for example.) Use a nail to make button holes.

 

@BarbK That is a wonderful tip, thanks! Sounds good as there are several sizes of hole punches available and I can imagine with paint, you can match a color exactly as you wish. Maybe even glue a bead on the back for the shank style. Great idea!

 

You're welcome. You can also make buttons using polymer clay. You can buy raw millefiori polymer clay or make your own designs and make buttons from this. How-to instructions are online if you're interested. Anyway, there are tons of ways to create closures. Have fun.

 

Thanks, this is very useful!
But some links is so old, web is already gone T_T

 

Late coming into the post but here's a couple more fabric links, if you like to use stretch fabric. Of course all sites sell several different types of fabric.

www.spandexworld.com
www.spandexhouse.com
www.rexfabrics.us
www.bluemoonfabrics.com/

My sister makes gymnastic outfits so the two of us have spent MANY hours scouring the Internet looking for new fabric sites. Blue Moon Fabrics is the retail version of Nipkow and Kobelt fabrics. Rex Fabrics will require you to buy a certain yardage. Spandex World can be pricey but they have sales fairly often and the clearance section can have some good stuff.

 

Thrifting is the best kind of fabric buying for dolls. You can find some really nice dresses of nice fabric quality in thrift stores. I was thinking of running to my local goodwill to make my new girl's clothing. Thrifting is also an easy way to save funds for... say... basic human needs (Clothes, Food, Water, Shelter etc), things for work (if you're an artist like myself that means paints, sketchbooks, pencils, charcoal, alcohol based markers, various types of paper, along with canvases). And maybe a new doll or two.

 

Thank you for those links. Most helpful!

 

Thanks for all the tips

 

You for the information

 

Sewing folks. I know that there are jewelry pieces of thin metal that make pretty armour and dress accents, A LA Fireflypath on Instagram. Can someone tell me what they are called so I can search for them and buy some???

 

Hi DIY outfit creators. I have a Darak I Tiny Remy (with articulated torso) that I love and am trying to make clothes for, but can't find any patterns that even come close to her size. I have patterns for my Pukifee but Remy is larger (and a bit more chubby) and trying to enlarge the Pukifee patterns is sorely testing my patience! Does anyone know of a doll that is at least near the size of a Tiny Remy for which patterns already exist? Pleeeeeeeeaze help.

 

I'm still finding my way around the forums.. Thanks for these resources!!

 

Wow, very helpful thread consolidating information on sewing! Thanks (from a sewing neophyte)!

 

I know this is from a long time ago but I didn't see it answered I am fairly new and browsing the boards and came across the question. The PNB Doll Company sells hat forms for several different sizes of hat in many styles. Also today Jeanne from idreamofjeannemarie.com is showing how to make a dolls hat using a salad bowl as a hat form using the same method.

Hope someone may find this useful

 

Thanks so much! This is very useful!

 

This is very useful!
I wanted to start sewing but, didn't know where to start, thanks!

 

This is a great resource for draping, patternmaking, and general clothing design: Nick Verreo’s Fashion School