Making New Outfits for Baby Born Dolls

Since I make dolls clothes you would think my own dolls have a large collection of clothes to wear, but they end up with prototypes or clothes that go wrong. They don't really have anything nice to wear so I thought I would fix that.

I decided to make some overalls using the Wollyonline Garden Baby pattern. The pattern is written in Dutch and I don't speak any Dutch at all but I was able to figure out what to do without too much difficulty. I wouldn't normally make such an involved pattern, all the topstitching and making pockets and the faux fly detail takes a lot of time, but it didn't take me as long as I thought. I was able to make two pairs of overalls one day and two the next. The overalls turned out a bit on the large side, despite printing the pattern to the correct scale. The straps were a bit long and the overalls had a lot of space at the sides. It's good to have slightly too big overalls to give space to wear over a nappy or a bulky knitted jumper or fleece, but these had maybe just a bit too much.

Each doll needed a t-shirt to go under their overalls. I had one already made that matched Violet's overalls so I only needed to make three. I wanted to use the orange and yellow stripy fabric to go with Harry's overalls because I've used it before to match with denim jeans and I liked the way it looked. I found a brown striped fabric that matched nicely with Ricky's overalls. I had already asked my mum to knit him a jumper because I didn't think I'd have anything to match. For Kirsty's top I decided to be different and make a long sleeved top. I wasn't sure if the fabric I'd picked was more for underwear or pyjamas but I thought it looked nice enough. I used the long-sleeved top from Wollyonline's Boy Basics pattern, but the sleeves turned out too long. I'd only half assembled it so I decided to unpick and shorten the sleeves. I don't think it looks so good now I've shortened the sleeves. I should have also brought the sleeves in a bit too.

Then I found the new Big Sister doll on clearance at Argos and the new Big Brother doll for sale on another website, so I bought them. Of course they had to have clothes too. I didn't want to make more pairs of overalls so I decided to make some jeans using Wollyonline BD1604. I felt like the new Big Brother and Sister doll were a bit older looking than the previous ones so I thought they probably wouldn't wear overalls. Making the jeans was very similar to making the overalls. Again I felt they were a little bit on the big side, like maybe they needed to be about a cm smaller all over. If I was to make this pattern again I would add a bit of length to the legs as well so that I could have them turned up. The Big Brother and Sister dolls do have slightly longer legs than the Baby Born dolls anyway.

Violet's outfit consists of light blue denim overalls with a floral facing and a cotton jersey t-shirt. I believe the colour is 'orchid'. I added little labels to the pockets. I've had the labels for years but never found anything to use them on. The denim I used was 'real' denim. Often I'll use a very lightweight denim for dolls clothes but this was proper jeans weight, so the seams were quite thick and difficult to sew through.I probably should have ironed all these outfits before I took photos. They're all a bit creased because the dolls had been wearing them for a couple of days.

Ricky's overalls are made from a lightweight beige corduroy. I wasn't sure what I'd use this fabric for but I think it turned out great for these overalls. I did the topstitching in brown, but I didn't really love doing that because it's a dark colour on a light so any mistakes or wonky stitching really shows. I think brown was probably the right colour to use with the beige though. Ricky's overalls facing is made from cotton with a camper van and caravan print, so I added a little camper van label to the back pocket. I think the t-shirt is fabric is a cotton lycra because it's very stretchy. Unfortunately topstitching the neckline made the stripes distort right in the middle. I decided not to unpick it and try again because it is kind of hidden when the t-shirt is on, but it is annoying!

I made Harry's overalls first, so they were the test pair. The facing is made from a sailing boat polycotton, which really doesn't match the t-shirt I decided to make. Since Harry's overalls were blue and the fabric I used inside was red, blue and white, I thought I'd use a little flag label on the back pocket.

Kirsty's overalls are made from a baby cord in a pretty mauve colour. I really like this fabric and had been saving it for something. I used a cream and pink heart label on the back pocket. I had considered putting some kind of applique on the front pocket, but in the end I didn't bother. I topstitched in lilac thread and I don't think that was the best choice. It doesn't really pop but it also doesn't really match. I decided not to do the faux fly opening on Kirsty's overalls, since they were for a girl. I was going to do the same with Violet's but since hers were made out of traditional denim I kept it. I made this cream long sleeved top to match.

Chloe's outfit consists of light blue denim jeans and a hooded top. I thought I would stitch the bar tacks in red thread like the pattern suggested, so I had originally picked a label for the back that I thought wouldn't clash with red, but in the end I decided red wasn't the right colour and just used the gold thread instead. I wish I'd picked a different label for the pocket now, something a bit more vibrant. The hoodie is made from one of Wollyonline's newer patterns, BD1622. I had attempted to make this hoodie before a couple of years ago but it didn't turn out very well. I don't think I will make it again because I absolutely hate sewing with foldover elastic. I did buy some from Amazon that was a much better size for sewing dolls clothes, but it was awful to work with. I ended up using some that I used when I was sewing nappies for babies. The stuff I used I'd actually hand-dyed quite some time ago and luckily it matched pretty well with the print. I think because it's such a lovely and vibrant print, it distracts from the awful sewing of the foldover elastic. I think maybe I would sew this hoodie again if I could figure out a way to eliminate the elastic, maybe have cuffs at the sleeves and hem the hood? It's an odd shaped hood so I'm not sure hemming would work.

My new Big Brother doll hasn't been given a name yet! I can't decide on one. His jeans are made from a darker denim. My mum gave it to me in a bag of scraps. I think she might have used it to make dog beds. There was just enough for the jeans. I did the red bar tacks like the pattern suggested on this pair and I think they look really good. The top was also from BD1622 and again, the sewing of the foldover elastic was awful. I used the Amazon elastic this time. It's not too bad on the sleeves because they're a straight line, but doing the curve of the neckline turned out horribly. I obviously had the tension all wrong because it's pulled too tightly right in the middle of the neckline, making the fabric puckered. I ironed it and blasted it with some steam but that didn't help at all. At least it's at the neckline so it's not so obvious. I thought using foldover elastic for the neckline and sleeve hems would speed things up but I actually think it's slower. That's probably because I'm not very good at it.

Despite the challenges and mistakes I made, I'm really happy with how these outfits turned out!

Here are the links to the patterns I've used:

• Overalls: BD1615 Garden Baby

• T-shirt and long-sleeved top: BD1612 Boy Basics

• Jeans: BD1604 Baby Jeans

• Hoodie and long sleeved shark print top: BD1622 Casual Baby 1

Most of my fabrics come from Pound Fabrics or Oh Sew Crafty. I also buy quite a lot of fabric from different sellers on eBay, but I don't think any of these fabrics are eBay fabrics.