Hi everyone! Lomi here.
So I've shared a lot of patterns lately and one question keeps coming up.
What do I do if I want to use this pattern for a different size of doll?
If you have access to a printer, it's pretty easy to get a rough fit.
All you need to know is the doll's height.
How well this works varies from doll to doll and size to size, so you'll want to practice
with scrap fabric and make adjustments to the pattern before cutting your good material.
Most requests I've gotten fall into four size categories.
60 centimeters, which is pretty much standard SD size, 45 centimeter slim mini, 26 centimeter
YoSD, and 16 centimeter, which fits Pukifee and LaTi yellow.
YoSD and smaller sizes sometimes need to be made a little wider for a good fit, but the
only thing you have to do is print the pattern at a smaller percentage size.
For example, since 45 is 75% of 60, to fit a 45cm mini, you'd print a pattern for a 60cm
SD at 75%.
Scaling a 60cm pattern to 44% is a rough fit for YoSD, and 27% is a rough fit for 16cm
dolls like Pukifee and LaTi Yellow.
To use a pattern designed for a mini for other dolls, you'd print at 125% for SD, 58% for
YoSD, and 35% for Pukifee.
To use a pattern designed for a YoSD for other dolls, you'd print at 231% for SD, 173% for
mini, and 62% for Pukifee.
Printing in different scales is easy in most browsers by selecting Print Preview and then
scaling the page to a custom percentage.
This can be applied to any size of doll if you know the height.
Another option is resizing a printed pattern by hand.
It's a lot more challenging, but it can give nice results.
Here I have a shirt pattern I made for my old Zaoll Luv before I sold the doll.
It's a bit smaller than SD, so I'm going to use measurements from a Volks SD13 to enlarge the
pattern. If you know how to draft patterns, you probably want to look away, because everything I know
is self-taught and I'm sure it's not technically correct, even though it works well.
Especially if you don't have a lot of experience working with patterns.
So on this piece of newsprint, I've already traced a copy of a pattern piece and drawn
a line down the middle.
Since this pattern is the same shape on both sides of the piece, I only need to modify
one half and then fold it.
I'll begin by marking the seam allowance on the shoulder seam, since that will let me
line up pieces for resizing the sleeve later.
Then I'll increase the length of the piece.
If you're going off measurements listed on a doll company's site, you probably won't
know how long to make the shirt.
For the length on this, I'm using the arm length measurement, since the bottom hem of
my tee shirts usually falls around my wrist.
I mark the seam allowance on the side of the original pattern so I can get a better idea
of what the dimensions of the original garment were.
The SD13 bust and shoulder measurements are both about 4 centimeters larger than the Zaoll
this was orignally drawn for.
So adding one centimeter to the side of the pattern will be enough to enlarge it to fit.
Since the SD13's arms are larger, I'll need to drop the arm hole about the same amount.
The neck is only a little larger, so making that half a centimeter larger is plenty.
I'll double check my measurements before moving on, but I sketch the quarter inch seam allowances
in for easy reference.
Like I said before, I'll need that to enlarge the sleeve later.
Once this first pattern piece is done, it gives me some standards I can refer to when
enlarging the other pieces.
So instead of redrawing from one measurement to another, I can just take the knowledge
of how much I increased the width and arm hole depth, and how much length I added, and
then apply that to the piece for the back.
A couple centimeters to the bottom, a centimeter to the side, and a centimeter or so to the
bottom of the arm hole.
I check the length of both sides to be sure I did it right.
I'm a little off on my measurement of the arm, so I fix that.
I personally like shirts that can be pulled on over a doll's head or even those that require
a head to be removed, but if you prefer a back opening, you'd add a half inch to the
line denoting the middle of the back.
This gives you a quarter inch seam allowance, and a quarter inch overlap for adding fasteners.
Now it's time to see how much I need to enlarge the sleeve.
I cut out the back piece, and mark quarter inch seam allowances on the shoulder and the arm hole.
You can tell I do this a lot because I can eyeball a quarter inch really well, apparently.
I lay the pattern pieces with the shoulders overlapping to the seam allowance, simulating
the size the pieces will be when sewn together.
I weight it down with my ruler, then measure along the seam allowance drawn in the arm hole.
This measurement is how long the top curve of the sleeve needs to be.
This gives me a measurement of 16 centimeters, where the original sleeve was 11 centimeters.
So I need to add two and a half centimeters to either side.
Again, since this pattern piece is a mirror image, I'll only modify one side, then fold
it in half.
Then I extend the top curve.
I'll make the sleeve a little longer, too.
No particular measurement here, just eyeballing what I think will look good.
Then I close the side.
You don't have to taper your sleeve if you don't want, it's perfectly okay to draw it square.
I like it tapered, so I lay my ruler parallel to the original line and draw a new one to match.
For this enlargement, that's all I have to do--the next step is testing the pattern and
finding someone with a standard SD to try it on.
But what if you want to make a pattern smaller?
The same principle applies.
I'll shrink this side to MiniFee size, just because I maybe have Fairyland's site bookmarked
on my phone and can get the measurements easily.
I don't think I'll need the waist or hip measurements, but I'll write them down anyway.
The shoulder width, I divide in half, and the circumference of bust, waist and hip I'll
divide into quarters to get the sizes I need for this.
This whole process is pretty much exactly the same as what I just showed you for enlarging
a pattern, except drawing on the inside because my new measurements are smaller.
To help preserve the shape of the original pattern, when reducing the length, I find
the overall difference--which is about five centimeters--and then split it between top
and bottom, shaving two and a half centimeters off either end.
Referring back to what I said before about shrinking using percentages, I know I need
to make the arm holes and neck line roughly 75% of the original size.
Zaolls are a bit smaller than SDs, but MiniFees are a bit smaller than the typical slim mini,
so the conversion stays about the same.
And that gives me a rough resize for a smaller doll.
I don't know anyone nearby who owns a MiniFee, but I do have a masking tape dress form I
made from a friend's slim mini, so I can compare my pattern to that.
Holding the pattern pieces to the dress form shows me it's just a shade too small for her
slim mini--which should be just about right for a MiniFee.
So for this pattern too, it's time to draft a test garment and try it on for size.
And that's all for today.
Thank you for watching! Bye.