Sewing/ Material/Clothing Construction Questions

I am not sure if this is the correct sub category to put this in, if it needs to be moved then hopefully the mods move it. I have a few questions about cloth choice when it comes to making things for Dollfie dreams.

 

Fabrics

1. What fabrics are best to use when making clothes?

2. I have seen comments on white lining, what type of fabric should the white lining be for effective stain prevention.

3. Should i vinegar wash all new colored fabic before make clothing with it?

3.Where do you purchase mini prints from, like small prints that would like normal sized on DD's (i cant find anyhere and would import some)

4. Sweaters, cardigans ets....can i purchase a fabric like that or would i have to knit?? :S

 

Materials

1.Anyone Know where i can order some clasps, hook and eyes, buttons, and other notions good for doll clothing?

2.I saw a comment on threads being able to leave stains, so should i stick to using white thread on my bobbin for underneath and a colored thread for the upper threading?

Advice

After researching the DDdy i became aware of the sewing challenge for this body, so can any owners who sew for their girls offer any advice on sewing for them? I am getting ready to capture- uh ask kai to stip down and just trace her body to help make patterns >.<

 

If you can answer any one of these questions please dont hesitate!

1. There is no best, it all depends on what type of clothing you want to sew? For a pair of jeans, you need jeans fabric, for a sweatshirt you'd need jersey, for an evening gown silk might be appropriate and so on. The fabric that is the easiest to sew is imho basic cotton, but this isn't a fabric that would make nice clothes. It's better suited to make your doll bags, totes, quilts and things of that kind. If we take the aforementioned fabrics, each has it's difficulties. Jeans is rather thick and you might want to use a jeans needle when sewing it. Also I'd recommend to get the thinnest quality they have and probably slightly stretchy, too, otherwise it will look very strange on a doll. Jersey on the other hand is extremely stretchy. You need again a special needle for it and depending on how good your sewing machine is, it might happen that the machine will try to eat the fabric. Silk finally is very unforgiving. If you sew something wrong and need to rip it apart again, you'll always see the stitch holes, because it's so delicate.

 

I don't know, I'd probably go with some jerseys or polyester mix fabrics first. Nothing that is too stretchy or too thick or fraying like crazy.

 

2. The fabric doesn't matter, it just has to be white and preferably thin enough as to not add to the bulk and not badly fraying. Also if you work with a stretchy fabric, you should make sure that your lining is stretchy as well.

 

3. You should generally wash all new fabrics, even the white ones, before sewing it. It won't hurt to vinegar wash the darker fabrics, but I'd recommend to stay away from staining fabrics as much as possible.

 

4. Finding small scaled prints is the most difficult thing. Whenever I'm in town, I hunt all fabric selling shops for new material and prints that would fit. However, since most of the time I cannot get what I'm really looking for, I've started to create and print my own fabric. It's the only solution to really get exactly the print you want in the perfect size.

 

5. Are you referring to knitwear fabric? Yes, you can purchase knitwear by the yard, too. However there again, it can be a pain to find fabric that is thin enough for it, so you most probably will have to knit it yourself, if you want it to be in size.

 

 

2.1 you could try pages like zippermydoll.com and hunt ebay.

 

2.2 yes.

 

3.1 not a bad idea acutally. You could definitely try to make a duct tape model of her body that way you won't damage her accidentally when trying on clothes or developing new patterns

Thank you for the quick response, Also when it comes to making darts, should i cut the frabric off or ironing them down work well enough? Am thinking about the bulking problem.

 

BTW, How do you make small printed fabrics??

Depending on the thickness of the fabric and the size of the dart I'd say. If the fabric is thin, then pressing it really flat should be enough.

 

About the printed fabrics, well, I first design the prints. I'm using a vector based graphic program for this, because I want to be able to scale the prints without losing any details. Once I'm satisfied with my pattern I upload them to one of the various fabric printing services (like spoonflower) and have them print the fabric for me. The only problem with them is only that they do have a very limited amount of fabrics available for printing, I'd wished they'd give us more choice.

Thanks so much Juanita,

 

Your very very helpful

Stay away from thread made out of cotton, at least if it's dark. It's apparently one of the major stainers. (I have a black outfit that doesn't stain at all, except for the cotton threads used)

o.o there are different types of threads :/ well i am gonna stick to keeping the bobbin thread white, those threads would touch the skin, thanks waha sewing is fun

With most sewing projects, always wash the fabric a few times before using it - and I'm not sure about thread.. but maybe you can soak it as well. I've made cotton black socks and they don't seem to stain, but I washed them in the washer/dryer about 2 times before actually cutting/sewing the fabric.

 

Google tips on washing fabric for 'quilting'. As quilters have the best suggestions against color locking on fabric. : ) vinegar is said to work with only specific fabrics. cotton and nylon are two different things apparently when it comes to removing excess dye.

 

Cottons are easier to sew, nylon/lycra are harder to use in a machine b/c of stretching, and dear god.. velvet/veleur? either do that by hand or get a specialty sewing machine foot... >__<

 

Not sure if you have a fabric store nearby, but I'd always check the remnants section. Cheap scraps left over from the bolt and you never know what you'll find int here

You know I did notice a tin like that at home fabrics, so hopefully my brother doesn't come here today and I will go back to home fabrics and look in the tin and get some white cloth for lining clothes.

Fabrics

 

1. I mostly use either silk or cotton as other fabrics tend to get a little thick. But as Juanita wrote, it does really depend on what you want to make

 

2. I do prefer cotton for lining on dresses, or thin felt for lining corset/stiff bodice types. And I try to get my hands on either white (bleached, not colored white) or natural (non bleached)

 

3. I have never used vinegar to wash fabric, I prefer a mild hand-wash (same type I use for silk/wool) and I finish with a little salted water before giving it one last wash (salt helps to bind the color, I use the same hint when washing my jeans)

3.Mostly the local hobby shop, since I do not have a lot of options where I live. I hunt along the shelf's of quilting fabric

4. I can get pre knitted sweater sets in Norway (for a trad. black/white knitted sweater) and tubes of pre knitted fabric (we use them to make "sock" snowman/chicken/Santa)

 

Materials

1. I use zipperthatdoll.com or minidolls.com/

2.I can't say....I always use synthetic thread (it's stronger then cotton) And I do give the clothing one extra wash before adding any trims and decor (if it still have a little color bleeding problem then it will bleed over the thread making it more invisible)

 

Advice

If you want to make a corset or tailor look alike you have two options, either take the dolls measurements and draft the pattern (it may take lot of failing, I usually have to make 3-4 different drafts before I'm happy with it) or make a paper mache body form (doa have a tutorial for it)

One mistake that I see a lot of people make is not using "fashion" or "apparel" fabrics. Your clothes will look much better and less handmade if you use fabrics that would be used on real clothes. Avoid "calico cottons" or "broadcloth" or almost anything in the quilting section. You'd never see these kinds of fabrics used in human clothes with the exception of Nurse's scrubs. Though, there are exceptions to the rule as always, it's just been my observation that these kinds of fabrics don't look AS good. Other than that, go crazy! I usually just browse around the fabric store with no real project in mind and buy a yard of whatever catches my fancy

You mean like these?

 

 

Or these?

 

 

Or even these?

 

 

I guess it is all just a matter of preference. The backdrop fabrics in all my pics are fabrics I bought to make clothes for myself out of and just hadn't gotten around to it. It is really more dependent on skill and patterns I think. In the first pic Naiomi and Yuriko's clothes are entirely from "quilting" fabric. Granted Tama's clothes in the last pic don't follow this rule. The coat is from one of Raven's old work shirts, the turtleneck is from a 2nd hand turtleneck, his pants are flannel, and his shoes are made from part of a fleece scarf from the dollar store.

 

As always though, to each his own.

 

~Sister Kyoya

Indeed, to each his own.

 

This outfit's top and obi were made using fabrics that came in 'fat quarters', which are typically used for quilting. You just have to be careful with the design.

Mali's hoodie by dolladdict92, on Flickr

 

Untitled by dolladdict92, on Flickr

 

I kinda understand now, these two are things I recently made, I was afraid of getting it wrong, I didn't understand how the clothes went together, so I bought baby clothes from Salvation Army and took a look at how smaller clothiers were constructed, the hoodie is a resized baby hoodie I don't know how to sew zippers yet, but I added the bows for a pop of color and am fine with it not closing lol. The second photo I resized a baby's pants used the scrap pieces and lace from another shirt to make the top, resized and remade the bow on the head band and called it a night ^.^ am getting the hand of it, am now making a pleated grey skirt in hopes of making a nice school skirt and I have some fabric for the yellow sweater vest I want to make, it's a process figuring it out thanks

And there are flaws in the jacket, I didn't make the arms long enough, so the cuffs are pretty long, put you live and learn I guess lol and learn to measure right

I guess it is all just a matter of preference. The backdrop fabrics in all my pics are fabrics I bought to make clothes for myself out of and just hadn't gotten around to it. It is really more dependent on skill and patterns I think. In the first pic Naiomi and Yuriko's clothes are entirely from "quilting" fabric. Granted Tama's clothes in the last pic don't follow this rule. The coat is from one of Raven's old work shirts, the turtleneck is from a 2nd hand turtleneck, his pants are flannel, and his shoes are made from part of a fleece scarf from the dollar store.

 

As always though, to each his own.

 

~Sister Kyoya

 

It's a pretty hotly debated subject that's been rehashed a thousand times by fashion sewers. Quilting fabrics are fine I guess if you are sewing for a doll because it's not a human body that moves and bends as much. It is a fact that those types of fabrics don't drape the way that apparel fabrics do so it can make your clothes look stiff. A lot of times though I don't use patterns so drape is very important to get the look or fit I want. It may also be harder for a beginning sewer to make fitted clothes with such a stiff, unforgiving material as opposed to something with a bit more give (especially with the curvaceous nature of DDs where you might need more give to fit over big boobs or butt). Bonus tip, you can make things stretchier by cutting them on a diagonal or "bias".

 

So, I guess it falls down to what you like and what works for you but I've always liked the look of fashion apparel items better. Sorry if I offended anyone, it's just my personal experience and opinion. I also know my professors would have mocked and scorned me if I ever showed up to one of my fashion classes with quilting fabric

I think another thing is too I grew up in a cattle ranching town in the 80s and fashion "fabrics" could be broken down into flannel, denim, leather, or cotton. I don't count jersey because that was just for tshirts. Anything other than that pretty much wasn't durable and therefore didn't matter. I was remembering that on pattern packets (McCalls, Simplicity, ect.) that more often than not recommend cotton fabric for the patterns. As far as I know broadcloth and quilter's cotton are the only things I can think of that would be in the cotton category. I personally find cotton to be the easiest fabric to sew with. I have to be careful with stretchy fabrics because they don't like to behave, sheer fabrics fray if they are even looked at, and a lot of fancy fabrics are just unforgiving. When I was taught to sew we always used the quilting fabric because it is so easy to use and frankly inexpensive in comparison.

 

As for using quilting fabric for clothing on real people, I have really sensitive skin and I can't wear much fabric that isn't cotton or it feels like my skin has been rubbed by sandpaper all day. I also wear dresses every day too very similar to what Yuriko and Naiomi are wearing in the first pic I posted. That's one thing Naiomi and I have in common, ankle length skirts are the shortest I'm comfortable with wearing.

 

I never intended for you to think that you were offending me at all, quite the contrary. I've been having fun with our little debate because I'm curious what new info I can learn. And as for my fabric (and fabric print) choices, I know they look silly especially for a 34 year old. I figure if I buy fabrics I like I'll be more motivated to make the clothes that they are intended for (and can use the scraps for DD clothes.) I have no misconceptions about appearing normal, I pretty much think I look like a cartoon and I'm perfectly fine with that.

 

There are so many ways to learn to sew, and fabrics to start with that its hard to know what to recommend sometimes. For me I don't like draping (what I know of it) and I'm bad at it. So it doesn't surprise me that fabrics with a significant amount of drape take a lot more work for me to figure out. More than once I've gone to the dollar store and second hand stores and bought clothes just for the fabric to make into doll clothes. Sometimes it takes a little more work to get the patterns to fit and get the outfit you want, but there's no big rule anywhere that says that doing that is against the 'rules' of sewing. I would rather see someone make something they are happy with and it being imperfect than giving up before they are done because it was too hard. Even when they are making things that need improvement, something is still being learned. Heck, even Naiomi's Halloween dress was made from dollar store socks! She is the only one I've ever seen so happy to get socks for Christmas. Alright, I'll quit rambling now...

 

~Sister Kyoya

I have done a lot of sewing and patternmaking for my dolls in the last seven years ( if you follow my Flickr link you can see a lot of stuff I have made for my BJD ). I have found that the most important consideration is the thickness of the fabric and the scale of the prints. Thickness is your enemy when you are sewing doll clothes.

If I'm making jeans for one of my dolls I don't use my old jeans because its denim too thick I will instead buy shirtweight denim fabric which will drape better on the doll. Same thing for woolens, fleece etc...

Another pet peeve of mine is the size of buttonholes, when they are too big they ruin the look of the garment, DD's are 1/3 size, so the buttonholes/buttons should be one third the size of the human ones.

 

Using the proper thickness of interfacing in collars and cuffs is also important. But the most often overlooked thing is pressing your seams as you go along, it makes all the difference in the world in the finished look of your garment. I tend to use mostly natural fabrics ( cottons, silks, pure wool ) because they take steam well when ironing, synthetics usually don't take to ironing as well. Of course stretchy fabrics are a completely different thing, and I have got the feeling I am going to use a lot more of them for my DD.

 

I don't have a problem with quilting cottons ,it's easier to find small prints, some of the quilting cotton is really of superior quality, but I certainly wouldn't use it to make a ball gown. I wash them before sewing to preshrink them if they need it and I find that it often soften the cotton.