Sewing For Miniature Dolls
TIPS AND TRICKS FOR SUCCESSFUL SMALL-SCALE SEWING:

If you sew for miniature dolls, or if you want to attempt sewing for antique all-bisque dolls and miniature dolls, the following tips will be helpful, since rules for sewing for people or large dolls do not always apply, and can in fact lead to out-of-scale costuming.

Natural Fibers:   Use only natural  fibers.  No matter what you do, synthetic fibers, and synthetic/natural fiber mixes will not  hang naturally on a small dollhouse size or all-bisque doll.  Use cottons, silks, maybe a fine linen, and for trim, use all-cotton laces, and all-silk ribbons.  Look at the little googly doll at the right--she is exactly 3 inches tall!!  Her dress is made entirely of china silk and very old, small lace trim.  She wears a bow of silk lace in her hair, and little silk shoes.  This dress would be impossible to create with a synthetic fiber; it would not fall on the doll correctly (it is hard to see in the picture, but her little dress is pleated!)

Stabilizer:  If you machine sew seams, it can be helpful to sew over a sheet of stabilizer (the lightweight kind, used for machine embroidery).   It will prevent your small garment from being caught in the needle opening on your machine, and it will give you more control over the seam, hem, etc.

Extra Seam Allowance:  If you need a really tiny seam, you can hand sew it, OR give yourself an extra-generous seam allowance when cutting out the pattern pieces, and then, after machine sewing the item, trim the seam allowance down.

Glue:  Sometimes, glue is the only solution for keeping the clothes of the  ultra-mini dolls in scale.   On the tiny googly, although the skirt is sewn, the sleeves are glued with a very small amount of tacky glue.  Also, the shoes are glued.  On the fairies, the trim is glued (the sleeves have sewn sleeves as well as a sewn back seam, but glue on the tight-fitting bodice.b  However, for long-term preservation and survival of any garment you sew for dolls, sewing is the safest method

Fray Check:  When you are sewing the ultra-minis, this can be the only solution for ravel control on unfinished ends of fabric.  I use a hypodermic needle to apply the thinnest application; and be careful, since fray check can stain many fabrics, like silk.  If fray check runs too much even using these tips, try nail polish remover applied to the very edge of the fabric with a small nail brush!

photos by Denise Van Patten

Previous Features