What method for patterns do you use?

Depending on the complexity, I’ll might look for an existing pattern and scale it/adjust it as necessary or start from scratch by taping over the body and creating the different pattern pieces and adjusting.

With both methods I usually create at least one muslin and adjust as necessary. Sometimes I have to make multiple muslins for things to fit just right.

 

Belló, when I'm not buying your wonderful creations and I have too much time, I also try my hand at sewing
I am very successful with patterns for clothes for people. But that only works well with Iplehouse BJDs because they are closest to human nature. Otherwise it's called freestyle. Tailoring experiences to the doll's body. Whatever you like is allowed

 

I look on Pinterest for basic pattern shapes similar to the style I want then adjust them to fit

 

@whooganana yes!! I forgot about Pinterest. If I don’t know how a garment should be constructed, getting a visual for seamlines helps me a ton.

 

I can drape (and draft patterns from scratch) but, frankly, it's a lot of faff I can't often be arsed with. I'm not into starting from scratch and "reinventing the wheel" so, I frequently buy a pattern that fits my doll body and adapt it to whatever style I want, or I adapt one of the patterns I've previously created or altered to fit that body.

Once I have a bodice that fits (preferably princess-seams that go up to the shoulder rather than curving into the armhole), I can adapt it to almost any style of dress or jacket for that doll.

I don't see the point of resizing human sized patterns for speciic garments down to doll scale, then spending even more time altering and adapting them to fit the actual doll body. In most cases there are already patterns available that fit the body, and just need the style changed to the specific garment, which is a lot quicker and involves fewer stages of adaptation,

Teddy

 

@Teddy thank you for sharing! Is there a reason why you prefer shoulder princess seams rather than arm hole?

 

a) The curve (especially for busty dolls and women), to accomodate the fullness of the bust is far easier to nfit smoothly together when it doesn't also contain extra cuve to get it to go off to the side and meet the armhole instead of heading straight up to the shoulder

b) An existing shoulder-to-waist seam arou d mid wayy between centre-front and side-seam is a very handy position for adaptations and changes to the pattern, and doesn't interfere with/alter the size and shape of the armhole so doesn't mess with how well the sleeve-head fits into it.

c) it's much easier to adapt a to-the-shoulder princess seamed bodice to fit a flatter-chested girl or a boy body than dealing with flattening out that curve-to-the armhole seam that a lot of BJD clothes manufacturers stil include on boy clothes but scream "girl's style" at me whenever I see it.

d) It's easier (for me - YMMV) to draft out that seam entirely if it runs straight up to the shoulder

e) Coupled with a similarly positioned seam on the back of the garmentit allows for a lot of adaptability. - for example if a side front and side back seam meet at the shoulder, they can be treated as one continuous seam for setting piping into or sewing an over-the shoulder ruffle into (like this Hannah (RML K-02/Volks SD10 long-limb modded boy body) tries on her new Sunday dress ) or used as the edge of a squared-off neckline (like this Phige (RML R20J/Custom House Ai) tries on the pinafore of her new suit ), or used as the join between the bodice and a sleeve tht is cut as one with the side-front and sice back piece so there is no armhole (Don't have an example of my own, but here's one from my favourite dolls clothes manufacturer: https://boneka-tradition.com/1411-thickbox_default/red-dress-with-embroidery.jpg)

f) I like the look of it much better than a seam curving into the armhole

Teddy

 

Oooh you are so right. I’ve used armhole princess seams and didn’t realize I was making extra work for myself by making it harder to line everything up with that intense curve haha.

good point about not having to change the armhole for alterations... you just convinced me to switch to shoulder princess seams thank you for the insight!

 

Then my Evil-Bunny work here is done.... {swirls cloak dramatically and stalks off into the shaddows, laughing maniacally}

Teddy

 

My usual method is to find a pattern that's close enough to what I want to make and roughly the correct proportions/silhouette for the doll I want to dress. E.G. a child's pattern for my SD10, vs an adult pattern for my Fairyland F60. Though their measurements are similar in a lot of places (chest/shoulders/arms/overall height/etc. not so much the legs) their proportions are different because the F60 is more mature than the SD10, so the same pattern isn't always appropriate for both.

So I start with a pattern that's in the ballpark of correct shape, but probably has nothing to do with the correct size (usually I use human patterns rather than doll patterns), and then I start scribbling on some scrap paper. I draw out the basic shapes, not worrying too much about scale, and write down all my numbers alongside their relevant seam lines so I can make sure the math works out. At this stage I generally maks some alterations to the construction of the garment either for aesthetics (because I'm picky) or for practical reasons (because dolls don't squish like humans do.) Once I know how I want everything to go together, I get out the Actual Drafting Tools (compass/ruler/French curve) and draw the pattern out to scale; usually on old newspaper with a sharpie marker, because I'm classy like that. Then I use the paper pattern to cut out a muslin. Baste that together, check the fit, etc... Once I know it's fitting properly, I fray check the hell out of the muslin's edges and wash it (by hand, gently) to make sure there isn't any newsprint or sharpie ink still lurking. Then I use that muslin as the actual master pattern. I like making multiple iterations of basically the same garment but with different details/embellishments and fabric choices, so having a muslin pattern rather than a paper one is easier for me because IME it holds up better over time. (So long as I thoroughly fray-check the edges, lol)

I've done this enough times in sewing for myself (I'm rather short and very busty but also have slim hips and not much rump, so a lot of clothes take a bit of fiddling to not wind up looking like potato sacks on me...) that it's become kinda second nature. Sometimes I use drafting instructions instead of base patterns, but generally the patterns are easier for me.

 

I use human or doll patterns found online and use my printer to scale them to fit the chest, hips or bust of my doll. I cut out the printed scaled pattern on the seam line then tape together to fit the doll. I alter the paper with cuts and tape. Then I flatten the taped alteration and trace the pattern with seam allowance added. Then I am ready to cut and sew.
I like to use the vintage Victorian patterns too but they have different scales for each piece. For the different scales I plot the inch scale pattern illustration to quarter inch graph paper. The quarter scale pattern usually fits my "close to human sculpted" MSD doll. Another way to scale each pattern piece--measure the pattern with a quarter inch architect ruler and the enlarge the copy to the ratio of the illustration length number over the the number of quarter inches measured.

 

I have used the Aldrich book myself, the key is having a doll that is close to human proportions, otherwise it's a pain. The only way is to draft basic pattern slopers for your doll, that's time consuming to say the least, but once the basic bodice, skirt, and pant blocks are made and fitted it gets easier from there.
Unfortunately there are so many variations in doll bodies and sizing that apart from patternmaking for Volks doll a lot of pattern sellers will just stay away from the non standard dolls there just isn't enough of a market.
There is no easy solution, no matter what you will have to make a muslin of the pattern and check the fit before committing to the final fabric, you have to be patient and like the process.

 

For me, part of the fun is the puzzle of figuring out the pattern. I know HOW to do it, technically, but it's more fun to me to make it up as I go along. For something simple, like a Tshirt or simple leggings, I cut the rough pieces in muslin, drape them on the doll inside out and baste the seams. Trim to 1/4 inch and use the muslin to cut the final fabric. If I'm doing something more complex, I use past knowledge of sewing for myself to again, rough cut the pattern pieces in muslin, etc. Wiishu likes to cosplay for SF conventions, so for something like his Dr Who outfit, I found pics of my favorite Dr Tom Baker frock coat and just tried to figure what the shapes needed to be. I actually never made pockets until I made his six pocket cargo pants. I learned a lot about making pockets with that one. And the frock coat needed a couple of different types. I did use the online instructions for the original scarf. I didn't know knitting needles came that small til I made that thing....

I really like the result of tailoring specifically to the doll, especially where it comes to pants. You can make them both fitted and flexible so they move with the doll and don't, er, display body parts best kept covered when they sit down.

 

I draft most things flat, at least as a first step. It's faster than draping, once you get the hang of it.

Once I have a basic pattern I do a toile in fabric and fix any issues on the pattern and that's it.

I have made basic bodice, sleeve etc. patterns for all my dolls. It's very easy to adapt them to other things later and if the original pattern is good I rarely need to make a toile for the finished garment, unless ther are any completely new features (usually it's thing like collars and lapels that need a test run).

 

I use narrow masking tape to tape along dolls: neck, under bust, full bust, waist, hips, and sometimes center front and back.
I then use the same tape to outline the pattern. Sometimes I will fill the shape out with washi tape. With washi tape method, I carefully cut off pattern from doll. I personally dont use this a lot because I think tape has terrible "memory" but mostly things can get wobbly.
What I do instead is keep my main horizontal and center front tape and grab copy/sheer paper. I then draw out pattern pieces on paper as it's on the doll. Marking panels is very important. I then do a rough paper fit test and see if I like it. It's then best to mock up the pattern piece and refine from then on.
It's not a bad process, but it's not recommended for an "afternoon sit down project" because it requires drawing, re-drawing, re-cutting patterns out of paper and fabric.
This method also is time consuming if the garment is loose fitting or complex. This pattern drafting technique also doesn't help with drafting sleeves and armscye.

I also like to follow step-by-step pattern drafting tutorials for human scale clothing. I will divide any "standard" full size reference points by the scale of the doll (1/3 1/4 1/6 ). This method uses a bit of math, which may not be a fun time for everyone. HOWEVER, this method is best for in-between doll sizes like Soul Doll Vito. I was able to make an excellent fitted pant pattern that doesn't require to remove the doll's big feet.

 

I've been experimenting with sites like sewist.com for drafting patterns according to measurements. They let you make measurement profiles so I go through the list of measurements they ask for by taking my dolls measurements and writing them down on a piece of paper. Then I use the doll's scale to determine how much I need to multiply those measurements I just took, so for a 1/4 scale doll I will multiply my figures by 4. These "humanized" measurements I then put in the digital profile, save it under the doll's name and begin creating whatever pattern I want. When I print it out I scale it down by percentage, so for 1/4 I print at 25%. I haven't figured out how to conserve more paper when doing this, but it's worth it to have a pattern I truly love.

For human digital patterns you can't customize like that, you can also print those at a percentage as well. You'll need your doll's "humanized" measurements so you can check them against the pattern's measurements, and then just proceed to print out at a percentage as well. So again you could just print at 25% for a 1/4 doll, for instance.

It's by far the easiest and least frustrating way I've found.

 

Oh dear. They have vintage style patterns - I may have to experiment, despite my resistence to bringing anything involving the horror of maths in to spoil the joy of sewing.

Teddy