March 3, 2022

New Pattern Doll Castle Magazine

Several months ago I was asked to submit an exclusive pattern for the publication Doll Castle News. If you haven’t heard of Doll Castle, they have been around for a long time, since the early 60’s, and publish such an informative and delightful magazine, all about collecting and creating for dolls, with a bunch of projects each issue. I’ve always loved subscribing to crafti-magazines. I’ve made many a gift from various subscription patterns over the years. It’s fun to have happy mail with projects, yeah? I was thrilled to accept and to create something that arrives as happy mail across the country!

I had so much fun designing this dress for the March/April issue. I wanted to do something a little different this time. First I designed it specifically for the Ruby Red Fashion Friends (ball-jointed doll), using those slopers.

I had already designed 4 dress patterns that I included in my latest book: Doll Studio Boutique, and those have more fitted bodices and weren’t specifically designed for just one doll. In addition to being designed to fit the RRFF doll, I was also looking to design something more unique, change things up a bit. As I was working through my ideas, I really wanted to draft a dress pattern that had a more gentle silhouette– a slightly looser fit, so it could drape softly. These Ruby Red dolls have a great body type for draping different designs and I wanted to explore that.
I love how it turned out. The bodice isn’t as fitted and drapes so beautifully on the RRFF doll.

I used a light-weight cotton, designed for clothing (Fabric Finders brand fabric). In other words, not a quilting cotton. You can find Fabric Finders fabrics sold in heirloom sewing and fabric shops online that specialize in smocking and children sewing fabrics, notions and what not. I also buy baby/mini piping and tiny buttons from these shops, which work beautifully for doll clothes this size.

The lining is a French batiste, a very light weight (semi-sheer). This also enables the dress to drape loosely and not look too wide for the doll’s body either because it’s not adding much in terms of bulk or shape. It looks comfortable to wear and natural on my Stella doll.

The other cool aspect to the design is the back closure. I wanted to make this a little more special, so I added a hidden placket for the closure. This gives the bodice back, which is slightly scooped, a very clean and neat finish, allowing for a softer drape in back as well.

Here are some photos I took mid project, so you can see what it looks like without tying a ribbon around the waist. I was trying to decide which shoes I liked better with the finished dress. Ultimately, I liked the light taupe shoes better, a little more subtle.

I tend to collect trims and laces, and I buy them not always knowing what they will eventually become. I really wanted to use some lace or special details, so I brought out the stash and browsed for inspiration. After awhile, I wanted to add this specific one, an insertion lace (cotton). The lace can be left off, but I do think the sleeve makes a statement with the lace added, makes it a little more extraordinary.