Not one, but two retro outfits!

Wow you guys, how about the 60's! Thinking about the big, bold prints and sunny color palettes, every day must've felt like a summer picnic in the park. It's hard not to be inspired by those gorgeous fashion times, so the DressYourDoll-team got cracking with our very own retro fabric sets and fashioned not one, but two very stylish designs!

Oh my, look at those! Aren't they so cute? Looks like that inspiration sure sparked! 

The outfit on the left is so cheerful and sunny, with a geometric orange - blue - yellow printed fabric. It really is more a casual outfit, a simple dress you wear on a sunday picnic or as a throw-over at the poolside. 
What the outfit on the right lacks in casualness, it completely makes up for in style and class. It sports a pencil skirt with a strapless top and a 3/4 jacket with a bow to tie in the front. This is the outfit your dolls wears when she has an urgent business meeting to hold or an important client to see! Because who said your career outfits had to be dull, dark suits? Not us! With this outfit, your doll shows colors are back in business! 

The best news is that these outfits are so incredibly easy to make. Dare we say, one, two scissors at most? Yes, we dare say! 

The outfit on the left was made using a simple modification of one of our classics, the Twiggy pattern. The A-line dress just screams 60's! We simply took the front piece of the pattern and cut off the sleeves, and then copied the pattern to create the back piece. We just broadened the neck line a tiny bit, but you can do whatever you want! Make a V-neckline or lower it in the back.  Then you transfer both pieces on the fabric of your choosing, cut out and sew them together! That's all there is too it!

The outfit on the right is a bit more hands on, but very easy nonetheless. We used strapless Dolly pattern and cut it in two to make the top and skirt. Transfer both to your preferred fabric, cut out and sew! The jacket is a modified version of the Jacky pattern, with both the sleeves and the bottom cut a bit shorter. Top it off by sewing two ribbons in a contrast color to the corners for a fancy closure element! 

With these outfits, your dolls are ready for a trip to the 60's in no time! 

Both outfits were made using fabrics from the Little Birds fabric set (casual dress and pencil skirt), the Red Roses fabric set (blue jacket), and the Soft Tones fabric set (beige top). You can buy there here, here and here. 

How to make... a Mermaid outfit!

We all know DressYourDoll as a trendy doll’s fashion brand, with outfits suited to everyone’s taste. There are beautiful evening gowns and cute retro dresses, fun outfits with animal prints and sturdy overalls, stylish cocktail dresses, light spring jackets and colourful rain coats.

If you like to get a bit more creative (we sure do!), there’s our wide array of fabric sets to help you along! 

Now, a rainy evening is one of those perfect moments for a cozy sewing session, so we made ourselves some tea, spread out all the fabric sets we could find, and designed this very original, cute and fun outfit… to make your doll into a mermaid! 

Doesn’t Barbie look absolutely gorgeous? Like a fish, uhh- mermaid, in the water! And the outfit is so easy to make, too! As you can see, this was made with standard DressYourDoll sizes, but it all fits Barbie perfectly too!

For the “skirt” you simply need to modify a Dolly-pattern to make it longer, and for the top we used a pattern from a Vicky lingerie set. The fabric comes from the "Blue", "Mint", and "Pink" fabric sets, which you can buy here, here, and here.
Here we go!

1 - Cut out a Vicky top.
2 - Cut out two small stars from another color, and, with a few stitches on top of eachother, sew them on the top. 
3 - Now sew the back seam of the top shut. This is a top that you have to tie around the neck so don’t sew the upper strands together!

Next, take the Dolly pattern. Better make a copy of it (by going with a pencil around the edges on a piece of paper) because we’re going to cut it in two! 

4 - Cut the Dolly pattern as shown in the drawing on the left, in the middle at the narrowest part. We’re going to use the bottom half!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5 - Make it longer and narrower, so fits snuggly around the ankles. Sew closed with one long seam from top to bottom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6 - Cut out the fins. You can make these any shape you want! Just make sure to have about 1 centimeter or 1/3 inch extra on the top, where we’re going to attach it to the skirt we just made. 

 

 

If we do a bit of math here: the combined width of the two tail pieces should be as much as the width of the bottom of the pattern of the skirt. So, let’s say, if the skirt pattern is about 8cm (+- 3 inches) wide at the bottom, the top of one fin should be about 4 cm (1,5 inches). 
Now sew the pieces together at the sides. You can make the seam go all the way down, but we only went half way so they were still flappy enough. We didn’t close the bottom because we wanted Barbie to still be able to “walk”. 

7 - Attach the fins to the skirt like you would attach a circular skirt. For a how-to, look at our previous post!

That’s all there is to it! Now your dolls are ready for an underwater adventure! (Luckily our fabric holds up lovely in water, so don’t worry!)

How to make... a retro floral dress!

What do you call a blog that offers you inspirational sewing tips, beautiful fashion posts and fun DIY projects… all fit to a doll’s size? Well, the DressYourDoll blog of course! 

We as the DressYourDoll team feel like we want to connect more with our fans. We want to take our creativity, and yours, to the next level. Here on our blog, we will regularly post new content providing you with exclusive materials, tips, tricks and inspiration to get sewing and crafting for your dolls. There will be both entry level stuff and advanced, crafting tips for accessories, a cute retro outfit or funky 80’s style! Providing clear instructions for all outfits and crafting projects, we get you started or help you advance. You can ask us any question you want, through the ask box, via our Facebook page, or send us an e-mail! There’s so much we haven’t explored yet! And next to all that new content, keep your eye open the next few weeks for a BIG surprise…

For our first blog post, we thought we’d start of with a beautiful summer dress. This was made with one of our new floral fabric sets from the 2014 collection, a very inspiring light blue fabric with pinkish-red roses. The dress is as gorgeous as it is easy!

As you can see, this is a variation on our Peggy-outfit. We simply attached a shirt of the Tiny model to the skirt of the Peggy, so it has short sleeves and a closed backside. We didn’t cut into the neckline as we would with a Tiny shirt, but simply made the neckline a bit wider to the shoulders. Just put your doll feet first through the neckline to try it on! For a finishing touch, cut out a thin strap from a matching fabric and tie it around her waist!

You will need the shirt pattern of a Tiny-outfit and the circular skirt of a Peggy-outfit for this, and we used fabrics from the Red Roses fabric set, which you can buy here. 

1 - Cut out both patterns from the paper, then transfer them onto the fabric. It’s easiest if you draw on the backside of the fabric! Then you also cut out these parts.
2 - Adapt the neckline of the Tiny shirt so it’s a bit wider.
3 - Sew the two seams of the Tiny shirt, but keep the colors on the inside! When you have finished sewing, turn the shirt inside out. 

You’re already halfway! Now you have to sew the skirt to the shirt, which may be a bit difficult if you’ve never done that before! That’s why we’ve made a series of drawings to help you along:

4 - Turn the skirt inside out, so the color is on the inside. The shirt should have its color on the outside.





5 - Turn the shirt upside down, and put it with the bottom first inside the skirt, so it sticks out of the top. And still, the skirt should be inside out, but not the shirt!






6- Now, sew the bottom of the shirt to the top of the skirt. Leave about 1cm from the top. Make sure to make a knot at the end by sewing a few stitches on top of each other!







7- Turn the dress over, and there you have it: a beautiful retro dress for your doll! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To top it off, you can tie a little strap around her waist. 

Well, what do you think… are you inspired? Because we sure are. We have a lot of great stuff lined up for you to see, so keep us in mind!