Chapter 9. Doll-Dressmaking and Designing

Costume design and dressmaking for dolls is one of the most exciting and fascinating of crafts. Great skill and ingenuity in using and combining materials grow as you practice the craft. Your eye and hand become so trained that the tiniest gown turns out to be an artistic creation of considerable merit. Satisfying as that may be, it is not the primary reason for putting your best workmanship into doll-dressmaking and designing.

There is something about a doll, so perfect and lovely and small, that demands our very best work. It is an unconscious demand that we obey almost automatically. Every time you make a stitch as tiny as possible, a hem that is extremely narrow, a seam that is fairy like in its daintiness, you are obeying that demand. Artists and professional doll-makers call this "keeping the work to scale" and the old-time doll-dressmakers were past masters of that art. They knew that careless sewing, too large stitches, or fabrics too stiff or large in design destroyed the perfect proportion. It took so little extra time and effort to make the gown "just right".

Fabrics

The modern doll-dressmaker and designer starts in by collecting fabrics and trimmings. No piece of material, if it is lovely in color and soft in texture, is small enough to be passed over. Tiny scraps can be turned into enchanting fashion accessories, while larger pieces, of course, are collected for making the garments.

In collecting fabrics, the smaller the printed design on the material the better. Soft, thin fabrics sew easier, drape better and therefore are preferable for general use. A good test of a fabric's suitability to doll-dressmaking is to crush it gently in the hand. If it forms quite a number of soft folds, it can be worked easily. If, however, only two or three folds can be held in the hand and, when released, those folds spring out and flatten, the material is not suitable. Discard it, no matter how beautiful it may be. Such material will prove difficult to work and will probably look very awkward and stiff when finished.

Old or used fabrics, particularly silk and cotton, are usually excellent for dolls' clothes. They must be fresh and clean, of course. It would be silly to put a lot of work into a faded or streaked piece of material or one that had worn spots or broken threads. Fine lightweight cottons, handkerchief linens, and very sheer woolens, particularly if they have been used, are fine for miniature dressmaking.

Velvet, velveteen, heavy silks, and satins are used most effectively for fancy or foreign costumes, especially when the costume design calls for smooth ungathered surfaces such as in trains, cloaks, or circular skirts. Stiff rich-looking fabrics give a regal air to the costumes of doll royalty.

Plaids, stripes, and floral or geometric patterns should be small and fine. On the doll, such designs seem to grow in size, looking much larger than they actually are. The so-called pin checks are just right.

Trimmings

Trimmings, too, must be kept to scale. Braids, ribbons, laces, buttons, and beads (which can often be used to give the effect of buttons) should be of the smallest. Rickrack braid, for instance, comes in three widths. The narrowest, which is about 1/8 in. wide, should be used. Lace ruffles and lace edgings add a dainty note to dolls* underwear and to some dress designs. It is possible to find exceedingly narrow lace edging in the variety stores. Wider lace edgings may be cut down in width. A single row of tatted rings makes a charming trim, as does a narrow and delicate crocheted shell edging.

A Dainty Workbox

It is so much more fun to work with your materials and trimmings if they are kept nicely. A man's hatbox, covered with wallpaper or a pretty fabric, makes an excellent container. The covering strengthens the box as well as beautifying it, and it is not hard to put on.

Measure the height of the box and the distance around it. Cut the covering material 1 in. larger than those measurements. Put a thin coat of wallpaper paste or vegetable glue around the entire outer surface of the box. Smooth the material on it so that 1/2 in. extends at the top and bottom. Allow the side seam to overlap by 1 in. Rub a coat of paste 1 in. wide around the inside top edge of the box. Slash the material which extends above the edge, making the cuts about 1 in. apart. Turn these tabs over and smooth them down inside. The bottom edge is turned the same way.

The box cover or lid can be covered with matching or contrasting material. Trace its outline on the fabric. Measure the lips or side of the cover and add that measurement to the drawn circle. Cut it out. Apply paste over entire top and lip of the box cover. Smooth on the fabric and slash its edges so it will fit down along the side. Decorative braid or ribbon may be pasted or stapled around the lip of the cover to conceal the overlapping tabs. A pretty box makes it easier to keep things orderly and clean.

A fitted container for all your paper patterns is also very useful. To make this, paste a large envelope, such as magazines are mailed in, on the inside of the workbox. Mark each pattern with its name so that you'll know just what it is. The patterns can be used over and over again, you know, and it's so much simpler to be able to identify them immediately.

A small box for pins, needles, thimble, and scissors, plus a box of cleansing tissue, completes the equipment.

Patterns

All professional dressmakers and designers cut their patterns in muslin to test drape and fit. Corrections are made on the muslin before the actual garment is cut out. For doll clothes, cleansing tissue is your designing muslin. It is soft, fairly strong, and acts just like material. With it you can test out and correct your ideas before starting ahead with the actual material. After the corrections have been made, smooth out the tissue and trace its outlines on heavy paper to make the master pattern.

The secret of good doll-dressmaking is to keep everything as simple as possible insofar as the actual construction and sewing is concerned. The fewer seams required, the better. This is especially important when working with small dolls. If you can get the effect you are after by cutting the sleeves in one piece with the bodice, that is the best way to do it. There are many cutting tricks that entirely change the final effect of a sleeve or a skirt or a bodice.

Sleeves

Shown opposite are a number of changes that can be used to transform a plain kimono sleeve into a variety of different-looking styles. As you can see, the kimono sleeve can be wide or narrow, long or short, full or tight, tapered in dolman style or puffed at the shoulders in peasant style, yet all of them are cut in one piece with the bodice. By eliminating the armhole seam, you cut down on work both in fitting and sewing. Also you produce a softer and prettier drape across the shoulders.

However, some special costume effects simply demand a set-in sleeve. It is not necessary to cut a curved armhole and a sleeve top that is curved correspondingly as one does in grown-up clothes.

	BASIC KIMONO SLEEVE turns into four distinct styles. Top left: short loose sleeve. Middle: long, tight sleeve. Right: dolman. The middle row shows way of cutting. Lower: full peasant sleeve.

ONE BASIC PATTERN FOR TWO DIFFERENT STYLES. Separate sleeves, different necklines and skirt lengths create entirely different styles. "The peasant costume above combines two colors and adds a bit of embroidery to sleeves. Schoolgirl's dress below looks like a jumper over a white blouse.

A simple trick makes it much easier to set in a doll's sleeve. The armhole edge of the bodice is just a continuation of the straight side edge. The top of the sleeve (cut from folded material) is also straight. When set into the armhole the seam is flat and easily ironed, which, of course, is always done before the side seams are sewn.

Above are two dress designs that illustrate the effectiveness of a set-in sleeve to create a special effect. The first design is of a jumper dress. The sleeves are made of sheer white cotton and are sewn into the dress, which is made of a contrasting fabric. This creates the effect of a jumper and eliminates the necessity for making an entire separate blouse. The second design is of a European peasant costume. Again the sleeves are sheer white, set in a black, low-necked bodice. A full red skirt is attached at the waistline. It is the same skirt used in the jumper design.

Bodice

Study the bodices in these two designs. Actually they are cut from the same basic pattern, one with a high neck, the other with a low neck. In each case, the top of the pattern is laid along a fold of material. This eliminates a shoulder seam. If the doll's shoulders slope, causing the shoulders of the bodice to wrinkle or sag, use small flat bits of absorbent cotton to pad the shoulders under the bodice. The peasant-design bodice looks as if it opens in front, but it doesn't. That effect is created by sewing a double line of small white beads up the front and lacing them together with thin contrasting yarn.

The basic bodice design is also capable of several changes. By increasing the width of the bodice at the center front and back, you get a full blouse for a square-dance frock. It is shirred at the waist and neckline to fit. When the bodice is made snug and form-fitting, it is suitable for a modern school frock, a period costume, or the top of a party dress.

Skirt

There are three main types of skirts used in dolls' costumes: the circular, the full gathered, and the flared. They can be long, medium, or short, depending upon the design being created. The circular skirt, for instance, can be very short for a skating costume, knee length for a daytime dress, ankle length for period and fancy-dress costumes. It can be cut as a full circle, which gives great width around the bottom, or as a partial circle when a not so wide skirt is desirable.

The full gathered skirt is simply a straight piece of fabric gathered to the desired waist measurement. There is one thing to be said about it: if the skirt is to be full, have it very full.

BASIC BODICE PATTERN. l. Easy-fitting bodice for average modern clothes. 2. Tight, form-fitting bodice for period costumes. 3. Square-dance bodice of considerable fullness.

ONE-PIECE DRESS PATTERN. By cutting it in various lengths, the one-piece dress pattern can serve for a number of different styles.
	WAISTLINE COSTUME, or EVENING DRESS
	CHILD'S DAYTIME
	WOMAN'S LENGTH

A daytime or evening coat as well as a housecoat can be cut from the same basic one-piece pattern.

A skimpy skirt is never attractive. The length of -the full gathered skirt depends upon the design of the costume. It is the type of skirt usually used for period costumes. It may be made to stand out around the bottom by facing the hem with organdie, or by using a number of rows of braid trim around the bottom of the skirt. Ruffled petticoats underneath also help to hold it out.

The flared skirt is simply a modification of the circular skirt. It is generally used when a very simple silhouette is desirable, and when working with fabrics such as velvet or satin. It is cut in two pieces, wider at bottom than top. Its length, of course, is determined by the design.

One-Piece Dress

The one-piece dress pattern (bodice and skirt cut in one) is extremely useful for many costumes and daytime outfits. By a few variations in cutting, it can become a nightgown, a housecoat, a daytime dress, an evening frock, a period costume, a daytime coat, or a jacket. The drawings illustrate how easily the basic pattern is changed to suit your purpose. Naturally, the kind and color of fabric play a large part in determining the final effect.

Use the tissue to experiment with, in developing various designs. If one piece of tissue is not large enough, baste another piece to it by laying an edge of one piece flat on top of the edge of the second piece. Cut the patterns as you think they should be, then fit the tissue pieces to the doll. Actually shirr the tissue, where called for. Sew in the sleeves and sew the skirt to the bodice. This is the only way you will be able to get the perfect fit which contributes so largely to the beauty of the finished garment.

Once the tissue pattern has been corrected, carefully remove any sewing that was used. Smooth out the tissue. Lay it on heavy paper and trace around its edges to make the master pattern. When cutting out the material, be sure to allow 3/8 in. beyond the edge of the pattern for seams if you have not already made a seam allowance on the tissue. Write on each piece of the master pattern exactly what it is. This is done to guide you the next time you want to use the pattern.

Trimming

When the costume is ready to be trimmed, stop and think twice. The entire effect can be spoiled by using trimming that is too large or "just something I had and I thought it would do". Plan the trimming, then find just exactly the right thing for that particular design. This may take a little searching, but it more than pays for the trouble involved. If buttons are to be used, choose only the very tiniest. The ones that used to be used on infants' dresses twenty-five or more years ago are just perfect for dolls' things.

PERIOD COSTUMES ARE EASY TO MAKE. The one-piece dress pattern can become a party dress of the 1830 or Empire period, as shown at the right. The belt is placed up very high, almost under the armpits. A very full ruffle, shirred top and bottom, trims the bottom of the skirt. By placing a wide belt down on the hips, adding a train, and a narrow edging of fur to the neckline, the one-piece dress becomes the Medieval Queen's costume below.

Long kid or suede evening gloves that Grand-mother and Great aunt wore when they were girls frequently had tiny buttons on them in colors to match the gloves. Old-fashioned button boxes sometimes produce charming treasures for dolls' clothes. But no matter how pretty these treasures may be, don't use them if they are too large.

You can test the appropriateness of the trimming to the doll's dress by laying it on the garment. Put the untrimmed dress on the doll, then test your choice of trimmings. What seemed quite small in your hand will show up much larger when tested on the doll. Very soon your eye will become so trained to recognizing this matter of "scale" that you will automatically discard many things that used to seem all right.

It is often possible to create the effect of buttons by using beads, as was done in the peasant design (first design in this chapter). The same thing is true of braid. Often it is impossible to get braid in the color or narrow width you want. The effect of braid can be created by crocheting a single chain with six-strand embroidery floss, then tacking it in place just as you would real braid.

This fussy attention to detail is what makes the difference between just a nice doll's dress and a really beautiful one. Professionally, it is called "scaling" which means keeping everything in perfect proportion to the size of the doll. It takes only a little bit more trouble to be professional. The results are so fine that, once having acquired the knack of it, you'll never be satisfied with any but the most perfect work.

Designing

After you have mastered the workings of basic patterns, try playing around with them to create entirely different-looking costumes. For instance, the jumper dress (first design in this chapter) can be turned into a gown for a Dresden shepherdess. Use pale pink, blue, or yellow fine cotton for the bodice and skirt. Make the sleeves of white lawn or batiste. The side draperies on the skirt in the drawing below are called panniers. They are cut from material that matches the sleeves. The shape to cut them is shown in detail on the drawing. The size of them depends on your doll. Cut them first in tissue and test for size. Sew them to the waist-line as shown, add a large brimmed flower-trimmed hat, and there you have a darling little costume that is quite different from the original.

A Martha Washington gown may be created from the same basic pattern. Cut the bodice with short kimono sleeves and low neck in front. Cut the panniers from the same material. The long skirt could match, but is more effective if made from a contrasting fabric. Sew little lace ruffles in the sleeves.

DRESDEN SHEPHERDESS or LITTLE BO PEEP. By adding panniers to a jumper dress, you transform the design. The panniers, cut crescent shape as shown below, are shirred along the dotted line and then attached to waistline.

Add a lawn or batiste "fichu" folded around the neck with its ends tucked into the front of the dress. A fichu is a soft, sheer neckpiece or shawl cut in a triangular shape, which ladies used in the eighteenth century to protect their necks and shoulders from chill drafts.

By changing patterns in this way and experimenting with colors, combinations, and details, it is quite possible to create an enormous number of distinctive and beautiful designs.

In fact, you could create enough for a Doll's Fancy-Dress Ball. How much fun that would be! Invite your friends to bring their collections of dolls to the ball, which could be staged on a Saturday afternoon and followed with a tea party. Mothers would be flattered if they were invited, and how proud they will be of the truly lovely designs and workmanship you have produced.

Doll-making itself is so easy that each costume could have its own doll, rather than having a lot of costumes for one or two dolls. The clothes look and fit so much better if they are made to stay on the doll permanently. The wire skeleton doll is by far the best to use because its limbs can be bent into natural poses so easily. This makes it possible to group and pose the dolls in interesting tableaus. This is especially effective if you pose them with miniature furniture or make suitable stage settings for them.

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