Buying clothes for a Barbie doll can be expensive. With basic sewing skills and some denim, you can use this tutorial and pattern to make a sweet little jean jacket that will probably outlast anything you can buy ready-made. If you like, finish it with polymer clay buttons.
Notes Whenever you are instructed to "sew", make sure you place your pieces of fabric with their front sides facing each other. If you use discarded jean hems, you can use existing seams to make one panel appear to be two, as shown in the photo.
Materials
1/4 yard denim
Beige quilting thread
Scissors
Sewing pins
Sewing machine
Sewing needle
Jacket pattern, printed to scale
Fashion doll (for measurements)
Pattern First, scale the pattern with photo manipulation software so that the jacket arms are 1/2 inch longer than the length of the doll's arms. Once you've printed it, you can either cut it into individual shapes to pin to your denim or just pin the whole thing to your denim. The latter is easier and faster, but will waste quite a bit more fabric. Regardless, once the pattern is pinned to the denim, cut out the pieces of the jacket.
Body Sew the three vertical back pieces together with 1/4 inch seam allowance, then sew the horizontal piece across the top. Sew the right front pieces together, then the left front, then sew each section to the back pieces, making sure to leave the arm holes open. Fold the belt section in half with the right sides facing out and carefully sew it along the bottom. Sew a second seam close to the folded edge. Carefully roll under all the raw edges except the arm holes and hem them. Sew the pockets to the front of the jacket by laying the long edge against the seam where the front sections meet and sewing around it.
Sleeves The sleeves are the trickiest part of the whole doll jacket. The first thing to do is sew a cuff hem on one end of each sleeve piece. After that, you can either sew them into tubes first and then sew them into the doll jacket or you can sew them into the jacket and then sew them into tubes. Try sewing them into the jacket first. If you find that too difficult, shore them up first. Use a ball point pen to turn them right side out.
Comments