Hey, everyone. This is Lomi, and today I'm sewing a viewer request,
which is a kinda floaty peasant dress for 65 centimeter dolls.
As always, there's a link to the pattern on my website in the description.
Construction of this dress is pretty simple because it's only four pieces,
and it starts with pinning the sleeves to the arm holes of the front
and back. This is just four simple curves that get pinned, so it's pretty easy.
Originally, I designed this to use georgette fabric, then I couldn't get any, so instead
I'm using some pretty chiffon that was actually a gift from VelvetbunnyBJD, so if you're watching,
thank you so much! It really saved me to have this on hand, and it works so well for this design.
Once the sleeves are pinned to the front and back,
each of these curves can be sewn. The pattern includes a quarter inch seam allowance.
I previously made a dress really similar to this for Littlefee, so making one in a size for larger
dolls is long overdue. Because of how loose the dress is, this will fit a huge variety of dolls,
and you could probably use it for 60 centimeter dolls too, and just adjust the length a bit.
Of course, you could also make the sleeves or dress longer or shorter for the 65 centimeter
dolls as well, if you want it to reach the floor or pool around their feet.
After the four sleeve seams are done,
we can finish the edge with a zigzag stitch to keep it from fraying,
which is really important for chiffon because it likes to just completely come apart.
So now that we've got the sleeves in, the next step is going to be finishing the ends of the
sleeves. Because the goal with this outfit is to keep everything very light, the sleeves get
finished with a bound edge. This is done by using a zigzag stitch set very wide and very short. So
my stitch width is 5 millimeters and my stitch length is half a millimeter. Sewing this along the
edge of your fabric will cause knits to ruffle up, and for woven fabrics like chiffon or even basic
cotton, it creates a nice, solid edge that's wrapped tightly in thread so it doesn't fray.
Not all fabrics work well for this, but for lightweight material like this, it's amazing.
Next up is attaching some elastic for the wrists of the sleeves.
This is optional, so if you like, you can leave your sleeves straight,
or you could even add multiple bands of elastic to give it a kind of puffed look.
I pin my elastic near the edge of the sleeve's side, about an inch from the end of the sleeve,
and start sewing it on with a multi-stitch elastic zigzag, stretching it out as I go.
Not all machines have this, but most do. On your stitch selector, it'll look like a zigzag
of dashed lines. This particular stitch works really well for delicate fabrics like chiffon
because it reduces the tension on each stitch and makes it less likely to tear up your material.
If you don't have this particular type of stitch, you can definitely use a regular zigzag.
Attach the elastic to both sleeves, should you choose to use it.
After the elastic is on, it's time to close one side of the dress. I start at the sleeve,
line up the end of the sleeve, the elastic, and the seam under the arm, then pin
everything together. You can start wherever you like, this is just how I like to do it.
Then, sew the side seam closed. Make sure to backstitch at the
end of the sleeve to ensure it won't come undone.
After the seam is sewn, finish the edge with a zigzag stitch. Don't close the other side yet,
though. We're going to come back to that for some decision making.
The next step is instead creating the casing at the neck. This dress is designed to use elastic
at the neck, so we have to create somewhere for this to go by folding the top edge of the dress to
the inside, then folding it down again to create a rolled hem that also serves as a casing where the
elastic can go. Make sure your hem is large enough for a piece of elastic to be strung through it.
Chiffon is super difficult to do tiny hems with because it's so slippery,
so if you're using a slick fabric, you may be like me and find that the best way to do
it is to fold the edge once, pin it place, and go all the way around the neck line like that.
Then, go back and fold it again and move your pins. This gives a much more uniform hem.
After the whole thing is pinned, sew the edge down, making sure to leave a big enough space that
your elastic will go through. I also need mine to be big enough for a safety pin to fit through,
so I keep that in mind while folding and while sewing.
Don't close the hem completely, though. When you get close to your starting point, stop and
leave a space open. An inch or two is plenty. This opening is needed to put in the elastic.
Now we get to make a choice. Originally, when I was going to use a more opaque fabric,
I planned to incorporate a second line of elastic under the bust to gather the dress close.
This is why we left one side open, so that casing can be created. You don't want to sew the elastic
on directly for that because it stretches out beyond what you want when sewing, so it wouldn't
fit as closely as elastic in a casing. To add a casing under the bust, you'd put it at the
bottom of the arm hole. For the waist, you'd come down about an inch and a half and put it there.
But as I started folding the fabric for the casing, I found I really didn't like how it looked
when the fabric was layered on itself. I felt like the way it created a more opaque band across the
dress's middle robbed it of some of the dreamy, floaty feeling. Maybe it won't bother you, but I
didn't feel like folding this to sew in a casing here was right for this particular fabric. If you
want to do it, I covered the process of creating a folded casing pretty well in the video of the
pants I made for Arrios, so I'll drop a link to that video in the description if you need it.
For me, it was time for plan B, which was simply adding a loop of ribbon between the two layers of
fabric, so I can slide a ribbon or string through it on the outside of the dress and use that to
tie it close. I decided to put it closer to the waist for this particular dress, but this same
method can also be used right below the arm holes to ensure your ribbon will stay high under the
bust and won't slide down the doll's body. Since mine's at the waist, I only need it on one side,
but adding it to both sides makes it stay in place very effectively.
The side of the dress and sleeve can be finished normally with the ribbon loop pinned in place,
backstitching at the end of the sleeve and zigzagging the edge
of the fabric after it's sewn to ensure nothing frays. Had I included a casing,
that would have gone in first and then the elastic would be pulled tight to sew into the side seam.
We're getting close to finishing, now. The bottom edge of the dress still needs to be finished,
and I do that the same as the sleeves, using a tiny but wide zigzag stitch to create an
edge binding. Chiffon is wonderful for this, and there's a fun trick for getting gorgeous
edges that I'll turn my camera so you can see. When sewing the zigzag along the edge,
I don't just feed it along straight, but at an angle, so the fabric's edge lines up with the
inside corner at the front of the foot and the outside corner at the back of the foot.
This means the edge of the fabric will still be directly beneath the needle where I'm sewing,
but the angle helps make the chiffon roll up on itself and get encased in the thread binding
for a really nice finish. I love the way this looks on thin fabrics, and it's so easy to do.
At this point, all the construction is complete,
so the only thing left to do is add the elastic to the neck.
I didn't include any cutting guides or measurements for this because it varies
from doll to doll, but you want use a piece of elastic that fits around your doll's shoulders.
If it's snug, you can also lift the dress up over the shoulders, and if it's looser,
it'll sit down off the shoulder. The fit is a matter of preference, so I'll leave it up to you.
For me, I slide a safety pin through my elastic
and feed it through the casing at the top, using that opening we left behind.
Eventually, it'll come out the other end, and then I can use a needle and thread to sew the
elastic to itself so it lays flat. If you use a wider elastic, you can do this by machine,
but mine's really narrow and doesn't feed through the machine well.
After the thread is knotted off, the elastic fits nicely up in the casing,
so the casing can be folded shut, pinned, and then sewn closed. I use a lot of pins
to make sure it's a really clean finish and sew this last bit of the neck closed.
After taking a second to straighten out the gathers across the elastic,
I turn it right side out.
The dress is now done and can be put on the doll, and I really enjoy the ethereal look. This would
be pretty in so many colors and materials. I added a simple ribbon to tie the waist, and that's it.
The dress is done, dreamy, and I can't wait to see how you make use of this pattern.
That's all for today, though. Thanks for watching!
Bye.