Notes On This Project

This page goes into more detail on a few points in this project. These notes are not necessary for the successful completion of this skirt, but they are useful to know.

• If you are choosing a patterned fabric, you may want to be sure that the pattern is "in scale" with your doll. This means that smaller patterns look better on dolls because the ratio of the pattern to the doll's size is the same as the ratio of human patterns is to human sizes. This tends to give a doll clothing a more realistic look.

  This is not a hard and fast rule; some larger patterned fabrics make beautiful doll clothes. But if you're not sure, it's safer to stick to smaller patterns.

• If the pattern in your fabric has a definite direction, choose the side that you'd like to have towards the bottom as the edge to sew your hem along. If you have an all-over pattern, you can choose which side you like best, like I did with the skirt in the pictures.

• If your sewing machine has a lot of trouble with sewing over the elastic, and none of the techniques in your sewing machine manual are any help, there are still several options. First, you can get a "Seam Buster" or a "Hump Jumper" or any one of a number of small sewing gadgets that are designed to help your sewing machine sew over thicker seams. Ask the staff of your local sewing shop for suggestions.

  The other alternative is to hand sew the back seam through the elastic, and then machine sew the rest of it.

• If you do not have a sewing machine, of course you can sew this project by hand. I would suggest using a blindstitch on the hem, because it gives a very neat finish. Please consult your sewing book about finishes for the back seam.

• Varying The Length/Fullness Of The Skirt:

  If you would like to make a shorter or a longer skirt, you can simply change the dimensions of the short side of your initial rectangle. Using your finished skirt as a guide, figure out how much shorter or longer you would like the next one to be, and either add or subtract that amount from the "short" dimension.

  If you would like the skirt to be less full around the waist, you can subtract some length from the "long" dimension of the fabric rectangle. I would not suggest adding more than an inch or two of fullness if you would like it fuller; the more fullness you add, the more fabric you have to pull the elastic through, and that can become quite difficult.

• If you are sewing for a ball jointed doll that is approximately the same height as a Super Dollfie, but has a narrower waist, you can use a shorter length of elastic. If you do, be sure to test to see if your new length of elastic can slide up over the doll's hips, or you'll never be able to slide the skirt on!

• You probably noticed that most of the steps in "sewing" this skirt weren't sewing at all, but measuring and pinning and ironing. That's because actual sewing is the activity you spend the least time doing when you're "sewing" a garment! But all those other activities are as important as the actual stitching in the quality of your final result!

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