Sewing How to make an MSD sock jacket, top, and skirt with six socks

I noticed a new [thread=408979]'sock dress' thread[/thread] in the discussion area today and it reminded me that I was going to post the instructions for the outfit I designed for the [thread=318333]DoA 5th Anniversary Sock-Couture contest[/thread].

It is true, fabulous outfits can be constructed using socks (just look at some of the glamorous creations in the contest thread); however, I designed this as a simple outfit that a beginner could make with just some basic hand sewing skills.








1. Get socks




This a pack of extra large boys socks from Target, around $5.00 for three pair. These are the short sport socks with ribbing at the ankle. (The other is a black mesh trouser sock from the women's section.) The jacket will use four socks, the top will use one sock, and the skirt will use one sock.



2. Cut the jacket




The jacket body takes two socks. I use the socks woven pattern as a guide to cut straight lines (around the heel for the arm holes, about 1/4 inch into the woven toe to create a colored stripe along the bottom.

The sleeve takes two socks and looks almost like body of the jacket but is thinner and doesn't take up the whole sock. Be sure to include about 1/4 inch seam allowance.

*note: if you have not done a lot of sewing, you may want to practice first on some old socks before you cut your cute new socks.





This is what the actual sock looks like with my girl Mizu to show how the sleeve will look. The red lines are where you will cut the sock, the pale pink overlay with the blue stitch lines show how it will lay on the body in relation to the body pieces.

3. Sew the sleeves to the body and sew in the zipper




This is how you will sew the jacket sleeves onto body. In this picture, one of the body pieces has been cut down the center so a zipper can be installed. I used a separating zipper so that the jacket can be fully open.


4. Sew down the side seams



Fold the jacket in half at the center of the sleeves and sew the side seams from the end of the sleeves to the hem of the jacket.

You are done. You can hem the sleeves and bottom if you want, and add decorative touches... or not!

Next post: Tank top and skirt!

 

5. Cut out the tank top



Cut the heel of the sock out starting about 1/4 inch below the ribbing.


6. Sew it!



You do not need to bind the edge using a sewing machine, hand binding is fine



this is a blind stitch, but YouTube is a font of information when it comes to the crafty arts! Just remember that this part is going to have some stretch, so a regular running stitch will break when you try to put it on your doll.


7. Skirt

It is a tube. Cut off the toe, cut it straight across below the heel, put some elastic in the waist if you want.

I am going to skip the hat because it is a little complex, but the pattern pieces in the color coded diagram are in lavender. The leggings are on there too... cut the trouser sock to length, split it down the middle for the legs and seam it (I also took some darts in at the waist because of the way my trouser sock was shaped).

Tadaaaa!! You have now made an entire outfit for your MSD for under $10.00 (less if you already have socks). Now you have enough money for some $45.00 Dollheart boots.

--Strange Angels

 

Thanks, everyone!

Since a lot of people dress their dolls in socks because they have little experience with sewing or lack the funds to purchase doll clothes, I wanted to create something that would be very simple to make as well as take advantage of the inherent properties of socks (i.e., tube shape, woven ribbing and cute patterns) because honestly, if it wasn't for those things, I would not use socks as 'fabric'. Most of the socks I found that had cute woven patterns seem like too thick of a knit for scale clothing (including the ones I used). Too bad, cuz I found a lot of adorable ones.

This outfit was for an MSD, 40cm sized doll (in these pictures, Mizu is an Angel Region Little Fair Dana head on an Iplehouse JID girl body.) I used XL boy sized socks (because of the cool skull and Crossbones design) but if you get larger ones, you could make SD sized clothes using this method. Likewise, baby socks would work for smaller dolls: if you can use the sock to make a sock tube dress that fits your doll, you can probably make this outfit too (haven't tried it on a larger or smaller scale but if one sock fits around your doll and it is long enough, I don't see why not.)

The zipper I used is actually a normal sized metal separating zipper that I cut down to the right length, it worked out OK because the sock knit was heavy enough to support it. If you were to use a baby sock for a tiny doll, I'd definitely look to Tiny Zippers.
*edit* oh, I did use the crimp ends from Tiny Zippers at the top of this zipper after I cut it, to make it have a finished look, but you can just hand stitch at the top a bunch of times to create a lump so that the zipper pull won't fly off when you zip it up.


Have fun everyone! If you make something cool, post it here!

 

You are welcome!

Good luck!

Think positive, and I hope you try it.

One thing I want to say for beginners is that sock knit is not the easiest fabric to work with, so I will restate: if you are unsure, practice on old socks first before you spend money on new socks... it took me a practice try before I got the fit for my doll just right.

When sewing the socks together, try not to stretch the knit while you sew, or you will have seams that look wobbly. Lay your pieces in position, smooth them flat without stretching them, and pin them together before sewing.

I actually sewed all of these pieces together by hand before I sewed any of it by machine, because my sewing machine wants to pull the bottom layer more than the top, even when I loosen the tension.

Post questions if you have a problem, I will try to help.

 

Well, sock dresses are not the most exciting, but if you cannot sew, this is easy, and a little nicer than cutting a hole for head and two holes for arms...

Welcome

Good luck!

If you check out the 'DoA 5th Anniversary Sock-Couture contest' thread (link is in the first post) people made some really nice outfits from socks, and the winning outfit was pretty spectacular (entry #70); however, you need to be a pretty accomplished seamstress to make a outfit like that.

This outfit was designed to be simple but a bit more stylish than the typical tube dress, plus the jacket is good for boys as well as girls (not that I am saying your boy can't wear a sock dress... I dress one of my boys in skirts )

 

Very Welcome!

I have not tried an SD size, I also purchased some Women's sized socks, but really, their size is not much different than XL boy socks... I used the boys socks because of the cute skull design, so my boys would wear the jacket too (notice, I said 'would', not 'could' resin kids... so particular!)

I think I checked the men's section of Target and didn't find any interesting looking socks, but that is only one store, and maybe they get novelty socks in for the holidays (now would be a good time to look, maybe some stores will have Xmas socks in mens' sizes.)

If anyone does try this out, please post pictures!

Thanks so much! I don't usually make sock clothing for my dolls because I too am an experienced sewer, but yes, the allure of all those cute socks is very tempting!

 

The pattern and the sample outfit was made for MSD sized dolls (Mizu is an AR Dana Head with an Iplehouse junior sized body.)

 

So sorry! For some reason I wasn't getting email alerts for this thread!! Gomen!

Excellent!! Thanks for posting your picture! Jubilee looks very proud.

Check out the forth picture in the first post (the back view photo with the color coded dots), the bottom illustration in the left hand side is how I made the leggings, I used a mesh trouser sock, cut off the toe and split it up the middle to make the legs. This would also work with a tube sock, but I actually made some leggings out of one of the sports socks like the ones I used for the rest of the outfit... I used the heel part as the 'butt', then split the sock from the toe almost to the heel to create the legs (cut off the toe of the sock). They came out like tight sweat pants.

louisalee, Zakusay, joannecranston, Gothic-Flum, Virtualgigag, jennygrey... thanks for checking out the tutorial, I hope you find the time to try it out!

Nice!! It looks cute with the tank top and pleated skirt. I like the button pin, too! Thanks for posting your picture!