Sewing What are your favorite fabrics for doll sewing?

I've been buying cuttings of thin polyester with fun prints from a local cheap crafts/dollar store equivalent that are probably meant for quilting - they are a bit less stiff than cotton at the same weight and drape pretty nicely. I've also found a couple of cotton blend (I think?) fabrics with a bit of elasthane/stretch in it that worked great for pants. Small stripe thin corduroy has also been fun to use for pants and jackets and I've cut some old thinner t-shirts apart for socks and doll shirts that look pretty okay in scale. Socks with fun prints make great raglan sweaters in MSD scale if you know where to cut the sleeves from.

What I recommend staying away from (after a lot of wrestling with the materials) are satin (frays like hell) and denim (stiff, thick, cut slightly along the wrong weave and the seams spin around the legs) also polyester that is made to be wrinkle proof because it's very annoying to iron the hems etc

 

Hi, I just so happen to be a textiles nerd so I also have some suggestions While I'm not of the opinion that polyester is the devil, I think there might be some easier fabrics to try first. Cotton viole, cotton lawn, and cotton batiste iirc are good, the lighter you can go in terms of fabric drape and hand, the better. Of course as you go lighter, fraying may be an issue so fray check is your best friend.
I don't personally like the idea of satins, silks, chiffons, jersey knits, or heavier weighted fabric, as they are either a pain in the ass to work with, or will not drape in a flattering way. Quilting cotton is very hit or miss for doll clothes in my experience because the drape can really vary.
So with what you have, just hold it and mess around with it and see if the folds in the fabric are too sharp especially held up to the intended doll.
(I'm so sorry this is an essay I love talking about fabric if you can't tell )

 

I've got a whole hoard of fabrics set aside just for dolls xD most of the sewing I've done so far has been for fashion dolls, but I've used a variety of different fabrics. In terms of drape, a lot of that is going to depend on the specific garment you're looking to make. I've found that chiffon, habotai, fabrics sold as linings, and some that have a little spandex in the blend tend to work very well for what I've made. I like silk- it's lovely and has a gorgeous sheen, but if you want to use it, you'll definitely want to draw your pieces out on the fabric and fray check or seal the raw edges before cutting because it frays if you look at it wrong, and suddenly your piece that was definitely laid out and cut right is now too small because you had the audacity to move it.
Organza and taffeta are both, imo, too stiff for doll clothes unless you're going for something with a very full skirt or very poofy sleeves, regardless of what fiber they're made from. Dupioni and shantung are in kind of a similar boat, especially for smaller scale dolls, though it's working out fine for my 70cm boys so far, and works ok for pants or a suit jacket at smaller scale. It's got a softer hand than taffeta so it drapes better.
Unfortunately, a lot of it is just trial and error for what works for what you want to make, since the fabric isn't woven to scale. Like I want to use matka SO badly for a couple of projects, but i know the weave scale is too off to look right for anything smaller than human scale.

 

I understand why 100% cotton is so popular, and I've used it a few times, but I'm autistic and the texture is just so rough and weird to me! I prefer t-shirt fabric type materials like cotton/poly, or stretch fabrics like polyester. I tend to work with kinda light-gauzey stretch fabrics for making art sculpture plushies, so I have a lot sitting around I use for dolls pretty often.

 

I cave a couple of crates of mens second-hand cotton button down shirts from charity shops. They're small paterns you don't find in shops, enough fabric in a large or Xlarge shirt for at least two SD sized dresses, and ofdten worn to a much softer drape than new fabrics.

I have a collection of silk scarves and drapey sikl habotai and lightweight silk taffeta "lining" fabrics which drape nicely for doll scale things

Cottons I prefer are finer lawn to heavier weight cottons, though do use some quilting type cottons too. My favourite, however, is from a UK supplier called Whaleys (Bradford) Ltd. Their LRK88 cotton ins beautifuly fine and drapey. It only comes in white but can be dyed easily. I buy it in 10 metre lengths (the price per metre is lower once you hit 10 metres) and use it for all sort sof things (full sized costumes as well as doll clothes) from Medieval veils to dolls shirts, shifts, and floaty skirts.


There are also some nicely priced thin silk/cotton blends in a wide range of colours available on Etsy ( https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/529372109/26-multi-solid-colors-9-momme-silk?ref=user_profile&pro=1 )

Teddy

 

Cotton jersey fabric, I love making shirts for my boys and the knitted soft stretchy fabric is perfect for it. I also like cotton for dresses, dress shirts and pants. I get the fat quarters, or by it by the yard depending what I am making. I also like working with muslin because I can get creative with it. I find all three of these fabrics fairly easy to work with. Poly/cotton knits is another favorite of mine this drapes really well and is light enough to look good on dolls.

Denim/canvas, and faux fur can be alright to work with the only problems can be the thickness, my sewing machine is not terribly expensive so I have to not use that thick of fabric or it can be a struggle.

I find velvet and satin a pain, because they tend to be more slippery. My skill is improving but, I am not there yet, when it comes to these fabrics.

 

I tend to prefer fabrics that can take a bit of heat, moisture and starch. This way I can manipulate otherwise difficult fabrics with ease while sewing and then force them to drape and behave the way I want them to.

You can do a lot worse than quilting cotton, it's very versatile. Since you are already familiar with how the cotton fiber work a good next step may be thinner weaves such as voile to try your hand at thin flowy stuff, or if you want more structure, a bit of thin cotton flannel is a good thing to have in your stash. It can mimic the look of brushed wool in small scale for warm coats and such and can also be used as a structural element when you need to pad something out. (I do this all the time for fitted things, as the hard doll body just doesn't squish and fill out fitted bra cups or dress bodices the way a human would.)
Knits are another new area that you may want to look into, especially if your dolls wear contemporary clothes. Knits do have a bit of a learning curve to them, but when they are right for the job there is now way around it. Thin cotton jearsy is a starting point as good as any. Good for basics like socks, underwear and t-shirts.

I'm a big believer in "training" the fabric to behave the way I want it to. I'm not sure if there is a proper technical term for it in english, but basically the same idea as when blocking something knitted. It can be done by wetting or steaming the finished garment after sewing and sculpting it into shape. Or it can be done by handling and intentionally introduce small amounts of wear into the right places. Sometimes it's just a matter of a good ironing.
Starching before cutting to make the fabric easier to manage and then wash the starch out of the finished garment is also a lifesaver at times.
It all depends on the fibers and the desired outcome and may require a bit of experimentation, but few garments look finished and in scale right after the sewing is done.

Spoiler: Same skirt before and after doing this.

Note especially the difference in how the hem behaves and how much flatter the waistband lies. This is a 25cm tall doll, for reference.

With that said, I use whatever I think will work. Sometimes a lack of drape can work to your advantage. Sometimes something intentionally out of scale just looks adorable. Sometimes it's easier to just paint a bit of fabric yourself rather than hunt for the perfects in scale print.

 

I do this too - I learned it from a Blythe dress pattern by TirinAndKatten, which called it "wet shaping". It makes cotton skirts/dresses hang in a more natural, pleasing way.

 

It really does make a difference, doesn't it? In small scales, gravity need a bit of help, sometimes.
It works just as well on other cellulose fibers as well, such a linen and rayon/viscos.
On wools it works too but behaves a bit differently.

 

It largely depends on the size I'm working with, since my biggest is on a 75cm Spiritdoll body and my smallest is a Pukipuki.

I mainly go for thin knits, with linen or flannel mixed in now and then. For dolls YoSD size and larger, I use shirt-weight denim to make jeans. I also occasionally use quilting cotton, though that's mainly for the tinies.

At one point, I used real silk georgette on an MSD lolita dress. Never again--that stuff is extra-slippery and hard to control.

 

One fabric I haven't seen mentioned yet is Illusion mesh or 4-way stretch mesh, which is what is used on most modern ballet and figure skating costumes. Drapes on a doll the way that silk drapes on a human, is not too bad to sew (I'd use tissue paper or tear-away stabilizer if I was sewing on a machine to avoid the fabric getting sucked into the feed-dogs), and you don't need to hem it. Three or four layers are nicely opaque, one is nicely etherial and floaty.

 

I just thought of another fabric worth considering.
Soft tulle, preferably a fine mesh one.

The beauty of this fabric is that it has very little mass. This means that it can be gathered down a lot without creating a lot of bulk, fabulous for dramatic, light and voluminous skirts. Both for petticoats and top layers.
Another use is as a lining fabric. Especially for very tiny dolls, lining something like a dress bodice is sometimes easier than getting the tiny curved hems right at the neck and sleeve openings. Because the tulle adds so very little bulk it may also create a thinner edge than a double folded hem in the main fabric would.
It does tend to be incredibly cheap, so that's a nice bonus.

The most commonly available tulle is usually made from either nylon or polyester and can not take a lot of heat, so that does need to be considered when planning your work.
It does have a little bit of a learning curve to it, but not too bad. It can be tricky to mark, because there is so little for the chalk to grab on to. It can also be a little bit tricky to pin, for the same reason. Thread marking and basting can fix that, though.