Everything was going just fine. However, the last month has been difficult. I had the coat all ready except for some of the instructions and I just couldn’t get my act together.

This is the coat I will publish later this year. The problem is I was just getting used to the extra mental and emotional capacity that I was creating by adjusting my life systems. But life is unpredictable and I now have a few other things that have popped up and are demanding that extra capacity plus a bit more.

I am working around this by deciding that I have to publish some of my past patterns into the Pattern Club over the next few months. I’m hoping I will get a chance to sew up some variations of them but I’ll see how that goes.

The important thing is that I feel more capable of recognising that I need to make mental and emotional space for the new situation. Apart from putting new designs on hold I am also reducing:

• My journaling routine

• My 1000 weeks newsletter frequency

• My business planning time

• My reflection time

• My jewellery production

These things take up a lot of my mental space and there is room to cut back and open up time and capacity.

I am doing my best to maintain my routines for morning and evening as well as making sure I keep up my healthy eating and exercise. So often these routines are the first to go when something goes awry.

I am committed to adding designs to the Pattern Club each month and this month I am adding the cute outfit I made a few years ago. I saw a nice human blouse and made adjustments to a dress bodice to recreate the design for the doll.

You will also find the pattern for the play shorts that have a slightly shaped hem that gives them a nice look and the bow headband from my free pattern collection.

Since one of the models wore the paper bag shorts that I designed a while back I have also included that pattern.

The blouse and the paper bag shorts come with photo tutorials as instructions. You can download the PDFs or access the tutorials on my sewing blog.

So this month paid subscribers will be able to download:

• The ruffled button down blouse

• The play shorts

• The paper bag shorts

• The bow headband

These designs come together to make a very cute summer outfit for 18” dolls.

My publishing schedule will be reduce a bit over the next several months. The Pattern Club Edition will go out as usual.

Cheers,

Val

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Those of you in the Northern Hemisphere should still have enough time to dress your dolls in coats. I am excited to present my first design with a hood. I have been dancing around the idea of a hood for a while but could not decide on a style for the hood.

I have gone with the simplest hood style to start with - a seam across the top part.

I did a quick look around the internet for hooded jacket patterns. I was surprised there were only a few.

I am eager to develop hood designs that can accommodate ears and zips for more variety. I have created some videos to help with the sewing of the coat.

I will be putting them on the blog and YouTube soon. I will provide links once I get them published.

I had to look for some clothes for my doll to wear under this month’s coat coat. I have been making so many designs lately that my collection has become a bit of an exploded bomb. I couldn’t find just the right classy garments that I wanted so I have gone with jeans and a knit top. I wish I could have found a nice turtleneck top. I think that would look great with this coat.

I will be offering the collar jacket and different shapes and lengths. I will also be designing a variety of pocket styles and I really want to play with putting seams and gathering in the back for some fun fashion looks. I won’t be withholding these extra design features as new month designs. I will be working on them over the next few months and I will upload them to the Pattern Club folder as I make them.

I have just received a gift of Christmas fabric scraps from a market friend who makes totes and bags. I am excited to try some on a reversible jacket with binding around the edges.

The reversible idea will work with any simple jacket style. I already have a short jacket in my shop. It would make a good basic shape for some variations. I’ll probably offer it in the Pattern Club in the next few months along with that cute v-neck dress design.

The bodice comes from this dress…

…and I made it v-neck. Then I put a gathered skirt on it. The v-neck pattern piece is floating around somewhere on the internet from years ago but I will be making the jacket and v-neck dress with the gathered skirt as a set for the Pattern Club. The challenge will be to make it with the Christmas scraps.

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The Pattern Shop

The hooded coat is not on Etsy yet but I have the same coat with a collar. You can also find the reversible jacket on Etsy. Club members will be able to download both of these designs over the next few months.

Paid Subscribers

Members of the Pattern Club can download the coat pattern below.

Cheers,

Val

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#@!&#@! The lining doesn’t fit into the seam!

I was so disappointed that this gorgeous design was not going to meet my standards of sewing perfection.

The minute I noticed that the edges of the lining were not going to be caught in the side and armhole seams I altered the pattern pieces to make sure it never happened again. I’m not exactly sure why it happened this time except that my batiste has a very loose weave resulting in the edges fraying away a bit.

This design is one of my favourites even though it is not a typical Valspierssews design. My aim is to design garments that are either quick to make or easy to make or sometimes both.

This 50s style dress has princess seams in the front bodice and a sash at the waist that makes a big bow in the back. You will need to take it slow and you will need to have patience to add the collar and get the sash inserted correctly and the gathered sleeves sewn in neatly. Finally you have to take the time to add those cute little buttons to the front.

I have changed the instructions a bit to make them easier to follow and I have changed the lining pattern piece so there is no chance of it not being the same size as the pieced main bodice.

Below I have added a link to a blog post with more photos of the construction. (Unless someone wants to buy the movie rights, there will be no movie) (That sounds humorous when I say it in my head)

This is probably the sort of dress that you help your little one put on her doll when you are going out somewhere special. The bow takes several minutes to get just right. That’s why my pictures on the doll don’t have buttons. I just couldn’t bring myself to untie and retie the bow after forgetting to add the buttons. I did add the buttons later because I think they really add to the cute factor.

You can see some helpful tips and progress photos on my blog

Paid subscribers can download the pattern file from the link at the bottom of the post.

This pattern is also available in my Etsy shop. You can see it here.

Just realised that I haven’t cut the head off these pattern pictures. Don’t dob me in. Enjoy seeing the full doll until I get around to editing the images.

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Are you looking for something cute to make for your doll?

What about a sweater shirt? A sweater shirt is a sweater pattern with extra pieces from woven fabric that include a shirt collar and some truncated shirt tails that are attached to the hem of the sweater.

I have spent the last few weeks designing just that.

My design parameters are as usual.

The design:

• has to be easy to sew (intermediate).

• has to not take too long to sew.

• has to use fabrics that are not difficult to sew.

• has to look nice on the doll without much effort.

• has to generally be easy to put on the doll.

• has to have the potential for various options like different sleeves

These are just some of my guiding rules. I don’t have a written document of rules but I try to stick to a general theme of intermediate or beginner.

A lot goes through my mind when I am designing. Sometimes I just have to throw the idea away and try something else. I was determined to make this design work because I loved the finished look on the doll.

My first design was pretty easy to make but it looked a bit raw. Because I had the collar stitched into the shoulder seams I had to do the neck stitching on top of the collar so it looked a bit odd. To me anyway.

The second version I thought I had it beat. However, I could see the ends of the collar over her shoulder and it just looked wrong.

With only a few days to go before I had to publish the pattern, I had to make a new collar piece and sew a whole new sample. I extended the collar to the back facing and I decided to make a folded bias tape to cover the neck seam. I ended the tape at the facing fold. There is less bulk and the facing covers to end of the tape.

I’m so happy with how it turned out. Paid subscribers can download the pattern.

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These steps have made the sweater shirt harder to sew but I don’t think it was worth spending time sewing it in the original form.

I had just decided that I wasn’t going to spend any more on anything for at least 4 weeks and my mind went to sewing the really pretty sash dress in a new fabric. Well, you know where I am going with this. Just like a cat that can’t help itself when it sees a laser dot on the floor, I thought of sewing a dress and was immediately thinking about where I could pull some funds from for new fabric without affecting my savings.

I forced myself to look in my stash, and I did find some suitable fabrics, but I just had my heart set on new fabric.

When has Spotlight not had a sale?

I thought I was very restrained and constrained as well. I stuck to pink and I bought the sweatshirt fabric, the sash dress fabric and a beautiful Liberty print and a plain pink just to round it out.

I’m talking about the sash dress because that is the pattern for next month. I really want to have another go at it. It is one of those designs that I wanted to make but realised afterward that it was more complex than my mission statement allowed. I know you will love it. The challenge is worth the result.

The sweater shirt pattern can be downloaded below if you have a paid subscription. I intend to get this design into my Etsy shop during February. I will put a link to it in the next Pattern Club Newsletter. I am also going to do a blog post with some construction photos on the valspierssewsdolldesigns.blogspot.com blog. I am able to add a lot more photos to the blog so that is where my photo tutorials live.

I have decided to separate my Doll clothes pattern club newsletter posts from the How I design my life posts. I have just made two sections. I will put some more details about how it works in later posts, but essentially it means that if you are only interested in the Doll clothes pattern club editions you can untick the other section or vice verse. This means that I can get a bit more detailed in each section.

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Cheers,

Val

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This week I went through all the patterns I have published in the newsletters. I have them all filed in a single folder inside the Substack Pattern Club folder. In the newsletters, I usually provide links to individual patterns and links to whole folders.

I wanted to make sure the number of patterns matched the months I have been running the Pattern Club. I know I have had to change publishing days sometimes.

I counted 22 patterns that include several variations on the pinafore and the rompers. The others include a dress and shorts and tops and now the gathered skirt and the peasant blouse. I will show off the patterns in my notebook as well as do a collage of the design images in a future newsletter.

The skirt design history

This skirt pattern is something I designed as a petticoat. The idea is that the almost flat yoke sits neatly under the waist band and gathers of the top skirt.

I have tried the closed design as a skirt a few times but it is too hard to get things tucked in. It is great if you just want the top to go over the yoke.

I tried a couple of times to make a skirt that opens down the back with basically the same pattern pieces but it was too bulky at the back with both sides folded in. It was mainly the elastic folded in with the back facings that created bulk but the yoke is also a double layer of fabric.

The latest version has only the overlap edge folded in and the under lap edge finished with pinking shears and left flat. No facing folded in. This excludes a whole layer of elastic and fabric from the back closure so it lays flatter. The skirt back with the underlap can be gathered a fraction more to take up the allowance for the 1/2” facing on that side.

I found some fabric with just the right pattern but it is crinkly fabric and a bit tricky to sew. You can see that even cutting it out was difficult. The pieces are bigger than the pink skirt. It was also a bit stretchy so the yoke edge sewn to the skirt is a bit wavy. A good press helped with that.

My first instinct when I saw the nature of the fabric was to give it the flick and try to find something else. But one of my goals for 2026 is to challenge myself as much as possible so I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best with this difficult fabric. The shape of the skirt is not perfect but it still looks great in that fancy blue stripe and was well worth the extra effort.

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Making adjustments

You can adjust the waist size by making the elastic length shorter or longer. There is a little bit of extra length in the waist to make it bigger. The yoke is meant to be almost flat against the doll body.

You can overlock the underlap raw edge or let the elastic slip inside by a 1/4” and turn under a 1/4” to finish the edge. If you can trust yourself not to loose the end of the elastic you could let it slip back in by 1/2” and turn under a 1/2” facing. You will need to pin and stitch across the end of the elastic first. You won’t have to change the pattern for these adjustments. The 1/2” facing is built into the pattern.

If you want the skirt to reach mid calf you can add 2 1/4” to the depth of the skirt pieces.

I have included a 1/4” single fold hem allowance that will require you to serge the edge before hemming. If you want a double fold hem or a 1/2” hem you will need to add what you calculate. The skirt pattern pieces are near the side of the page so you should be able to add the extra hem length before cutting out the pattern pieces.

I love the white peasant blouse with the patterned skirt. I’m going to make the blouse with the same patterned fabric to see if it will look like a dress when worn with the skirt.

I discovered that it is probably easier to put the blouse on from the feet and tuck the hands into the sleeves. The back gets caught up on her bottom so you have to get it over her bottom to continue pulling it up.

An adjustment I made

I found that the pink skirt was a fraction small around the waist so the velcro closing pulled a bit and didn’t sit flat. I added 1/4” to the elastic, making it 11 3/4” long, and this has helped.

You should really try this skirt design. It is very easy to make and is perfect with the peasant blouse. If you want the skirt to be a pull on skirt you can stitch a 1/4” seam down the back. The pull on skirt is great for wearing under t-shirts and untucked tops.

Cheers,

Val

Paid subscribers can download the skirt pattern using the link below.

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When I started writing my newsletter and called it 1000 weeks I knew that there would be times when I just didn’t feel like working on something to share online. My goal wasn’t to get to know new people and make special friends. I just wanted to share my journey with the world.

However, the people I write for are real to me. I look up who my subscribers are and I think about how you might react to my writings. That’s why I am starting to feel awkward and a bit guilty of late. I haven’t lost interest in the newsletter or creating patterns to share. I have just been more interested in designing new things and thinking a lot about connecting with my market stall customers. It’s like marketing and being excited about what I love are coming together in a joyful sharing of my expertise and productivity.

I am almost bursting out of my skin with purpose and joy. This is partly due to it being the full moon but also due to lots of other things happening around me.

I am having so much fun designing printable things. I use Canva a lot. I have made sets of Christmas tags, desk top calendars for 2026 and various items for my market shop and displaying the gemstone jewellery.

I am being so productive with my designing because I have come to terms with the fact that I am not an artist - I am a designer. I think it has taken me nearly a lifetime to get comfortable with this because both my daughters are artists and I always felt like I had to be an artist so I could use all my own art in my designs. Not any more. So what if my tags and calendars look like many others out there. There is a lot of skill required to get my purchased clipart to look like tags and calendars.

I have had to drag myself away from designing printables and jewellery and spend some time designing doll clothes. I kept putting it off but once I got into it the peasant blouse came together so well and I even have the perfect skirt design to go with it. Because my time is spread so thin at present I took advantage of the simplicity of the peasant blouse to write some brief instructions this time instead of doing a big step by step file.

I have included a some photos on my blog to help you put it together.

Visit the blog page

The skirt is the same as the half petticoat but I have made it open down the back so you don’t have to try to tuck in the blouse. I will publish the skirt design in a few weeks.

This blouse pulls on over the head. You have to stick the arms inside and work them into the sleeves after you get the neck over the head.

For paid subscribers

I have included a link to the blouse pattern and just for fun I have included a link to the little garden desk calendar. I have had great success printing these cards out on 250gsm card with my basic canon 3660 pixma colour printer. I then cut them out with scissors. I don’t have any pictures of the garden calendar on the easel.

This size looks really cute on a little easel. Naturally I have more than one design. I will continue to include them in the newsletters as I make them.

Cheers,

Val

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This week

I’m excited with the latest developments of being invited to have a market stall at our local markets. Because friends I made bracelets and earring for have been showing off their jewellery more people have become aware of my jewellery making. I don’t want a busy market business. I am happy to only attend the local markets twice a month and hopefully make enough to add to my savings.

I have to point out that I don’t have aspirations to continually grow my income streams. It is more about adding to my savings so I can travel or buy books as well as have time and energy to enjoy what I do.

🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵

I am having a Labor Day sale in my Etsy shop from 27th August to 7th September (AEST). I have a good selection of 18” doll clothes patterns and some 17” baby doll clothes patterns. A good chance to try out my patterns if you are thinking of joining the Pattern Club.

Look now

🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵

Some background

Almost as soon as I retired from working a job where I worked for someone else I started to think about starting up my own business. There are so many online businesses perfect for people who are getting older and don’t have the physical strength required for other jobs. Retirement these days doesn’t have to mean the end of earning a regular income.

My little online business doesn’t require me to stand for hours or lift heavy boxes or get up early everyday and travel for hours to work.

My first business idea was to create doll clothes patterns and sell them online in a market place. Another income stream that I am very gradually working on is selling gemstone bead jewellery. This is also a job that doesn’t require physical strength so I can see myself continuing with it for many years to come. My third income stream has evolved from my doll clothes pattern business and is the paid subscriber Pattern Club that I offer through my Substack newsletter.

The doll clothes pattern club is something that I really wanted. I feel highly motivated to create pretty, easy to sew designs that make people happy. I love the idea of building an income from my newsletter paid subscriptions but I am not chasing it. My life goal is to create things that I love and make them available for other people to buy and enjoy them. I am doing what I love and happy to let the income increase organically.

I didn’t start my micro business until my early 60’s. I spent nearly 5 years working out what I could do and how I could do it. By not chasing the dollars and remembering that I want to “be retired” I think I have managed a good balance between productivity and leisure.

My latest pattern for paid subscribers

This week I have been finishing up a variation of the classic pinafore. It has cute pleats in the front. I have one more variation I want to explore with a yoke and gathers in the front that I aim to put up in a few weeks.

I have lots of the floral fabric so I will be trying to come up with designs that look good in floral. I was thinking some pyjamas or underwear or a skort design and I would like to do some gathered skirt dress styles as well. I am aiming for something new at the end of September.

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I have decided to print out my instruction sheets on disc punched B5 paper and store them in my Happy Planner. I have an 18 month planner with lots of dividers that I can use to divide the patterns. I found that I can leave one flap of the envelope unfolded when I sticky tape up the envelope and use it to punch holes in and add to the folder.

It’s a bit fiddly to print double sided on the B5 because you have to print and turn each page. At least all I have to do with the A4 file is select B5 for printing and it shrinks and fits nicely. I like this size better than A5 because it is a bit bigger. B5 is a good in-between size.

Cheers,

Val

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I have been a bit laid back this week. I attribute it to the new moon phase. It’s convenient to attribute my tiredness to the new moon and it makes me treat myself a bit more gently than if I had no excuse at all. We all have our ups and downs and I like to recognise mine as part of the moon cycle. I like order and continuity and using the moon cycle to create a feeling of order works really well for me.

According to my self imposed schedule, I am late posting my newsletter this week, but I have softened the deadline and will post before the end of July.

I read and listen and think a lot about the world in crisis and I am pleased to see Anthony Albanese (Australia’s PM) using language and expressing emotions that are more gentle than the typical hard hitting bully leader. Something he often says is that showing kindness is not a weakness.

I would love to see more women in positions of power but getting power is not a big driver for women and when they get there they have to suppress their feminine traits or quickly lose their place. It is still a man’s world, where only masculine traits are considered useful. I hope that our prime minister is able to leave a legacy for both male and female members of parliament, now and in the future, so they feel comfortable using a combination of male and female traits.

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I am happy with my feminine socialisation. Luckily I live in a country where women are respected as people, if not equals. Looking back on my working years I can see that I would have benefited from some training in how to deal with men in a way that combined my feminine traits of cooperation and humbleness with some more masculine traits of speaking up and not succumbing to intimidation. However, successful women shouldn’t have to act like men and suppress all their feminine traits just to get ahead. Since it is women who are fighting for their say in world affairs it is women who need to uplift other women by pointing out women’s roles in successful negotiations or women’s roles in creating healthy and productive societies. Being the best country in the world is not just about stopping an attack by another country it is also about the standard of living for the people.

What’s the use of having a huge defensive army if it is not balanced out by a high standard of living? I think women are better equipped to create both. Will the mothers of the future be able to socialise their little girls to speak up and have their ideas taken seriously. I can only hope, though I may not be around to see it happen.

I can’t help adding here that Ursula von der Leyen now president of the EU had her university thesis examined in 2015, 25 years after she wrote it. In 2015 she was the Minister for Defence in Germany and she has some ‘interesting’ ideas about how things should be run that were not very popular. Ideas such as daycare for soldiers, recruiting soldiers from any EU country into the German army, suggesting Ukraine and Russia should negotiate rather than send arms to Ukraine. I’m glad she survived the attack on her character. She is obviously a great person to have as a world leader.

I used Wikipedia as my source.

In the mean time I am all for continuing to instil traits of nurturing and cooperation in little girls and doll play is a great way to do that. I have a new classic doll dress design this week. It is a classic pinafore dress with straps and snaps. I will also be including the open neck blouse with short gathered sleeves that I have extracted from my 1806 shirt combo pattern.

You will need to be a paid subscriber to download the pattern files. Adding doll clothes patterns to my newsletter is my way of continuing my Doll Clothes Pattern Club alongside other lifestyle topics and resources that interest me.

Cheers,

Val

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Free subscribers can read about my latest published design and what I am looking at doing next to fill my life with important things. Paid subscribers also get:

• A new doll clothes pattern for 18” American Girl style dolls.

🧵 A new sewing project for you

Paid subscribers can download the pattern file.

This is a cute outfit for the 18” doll. I played around with the scales a bit so there are two sizes of scales. These are the small ones. The large ones overlap a bit and stick out a bit more.

I have created a photo tutorial with photos of steps that I thought could do with a bit more clarity than just the written instruction sheets.

Anyone can access it here and I will be archiving it under a Tutorials tab on the dashboard.

I have been watching When Calls the Heart and part from being sad that I can’t watch any seasons past season 5 and a bit of season 11 I have fallen in love with the outfits on the ladies in the show. It is set in the 1910’s so the clothes are feminine and elegant. I have already started putting together some skirt and blouse ideas from the show that will look great on the doll.

🥾 A new challenge

The reason I have been goofing off is that I have started training for a pack free hiking trip next year. I need to be able to walk 16km three days in a row and do some hills and scrambling as well.

So far I have set up a schedule to gradually increase my distance. While on holidays I have managed to walk 8km and one day I did 4km and 30 flights in the caves.

The first week I started with 5km then 6km. Then M W F the next week I did 8km. I am just about to start the 3rd week at 8km then 10km.

The big thing is the time that it takes. 8km takes me a bit over 2 hours which is a big part of my morning. I am committed to increasing my distance so I also have to be committed to allocating 4 or 5 hours of my day 3 days a week on regular basis.

All this extra walking has made me tired. I hope that I get used to it soon. I am doing other things like eating plenty of protein and carbs and doing some stretching and strength training on the off days. I take Sunday off completely.

I really want to do the hiking trips so I just have to prove to myself scientifically that I can walk the walk. They are run by Auswalk. They do group pack free walks in Australia and in quite a few other countries. I am looking forward to a 3 or 4 day walk early next year and close to home.

💭 The heavy weight of a creative mind

Something that always gets me down is that I can think of lots of design ideas and even draw them quite quickly but it takes me days to make a sample to fit the doll.

Sometimes I will lose interest in a design before I get it sewn properly and I just have to move onto the next design. I have lots of half done pattern files and lots of different half done sewn up samples. They all look great and will make wonderful saleable designs but I have trouble focusing long term when I have new ideas swirling around.

I have tried drawing them to get them out of my head but somehow the drawings just get put aside. I have several books with lots of drawings but I don’t think I have made any of them. Somehow, drawing them kills the spark.

Most of my designs are things that I see images of online and I get excited about the challenge of making the style look good on a doll. My skills lie with scaling and sewing and then transforming my work into step by step instructions.

My latest effort has been to come up with a way to make the 1910 era skirt with the gathers and pleats in the centre back. Earlier experiments tell me that it can’t open in the back so I am working with separate front and back and making a side opening. I’m really excited to see where it leads me. I also have some great ideas for making the blouses to go with the skirts. Look out for updates over the next few months.

🧠 I love to think about thinking

Metacognition is something that fascinates me.

I have just started a book about money management for ADHD people. The author described some basic ideas about neurodivergent people. It seems that when I am in a creative cycle I behave the same as an ADHD person. I can’t sit still. I can’t focus on one thing. I only want to do what is interesting to me at the moment. I don’t care about the long term goal. I may get depressed or be on a high. I get short with people. But at other times I can be highly organised and focused on tasks that lead to my goals. I can sit for hours to read and study. I can stop and do things that need to be done because I like to put things in order. I don’t need to gamify things to get them done and I can easily stick to my plan for my credit card. I can control my emotions in most situations and follow the ideals of the Stoics. Apparently these are things that are difficult for people with ADHD.

I am starting to think that my mind is capable of operating in different states and I think that neurodivergent is probably a lot bigger group than the one considered normal. I think that humans are meant to have many ways of thinking and there is no normal. How we deal with knowledge and how we cope with the digital world may bring on a new stage of evolution for humans and hopefully with such a diverse group of thinkers there will be some groups who will thrive and bring the natural world back into balance.

I am also an optimist.

In the following section, I provide paid subscribers with:

• The Dino rompers pattern for 18” American Girl style dolls.

Cheers,

Val

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It takes you through the main steps for cutting and sewing the Dino gathered rompers.

Cutting out

Once you have made sure your pattern pieces are printed at 100% by checking the 1”square cut out the pattern pieces and pile them on the fabric that you will be using for each piece. This helps avoid getting your fabrics and pieces mixed up.

I use pinking shears to cut seam edges that will be visible. This saves me using the serger/overlocker.

Here you can see that I have cut some edges with the straight scissors because they will be covered up.

Before getting my backs and fronts mixed up I have added a pin to the right side of each front facing and each front trouser leg.

I have not pinked the straps at all. I have pinked the lower edge of the facings and the ends of the leg bands. I have pinked the side seams, centre and inseams of the trouser pieces.

These pieces are the bib pocket and the flap scale with the coloured leg scales and pocket flap. I cut the scales with pinking shears just for convenience. They will need trimming once they are stitched in place.

Pocket pieces first

I make up the pocket pieces first so they don’t get lost.

Leg scales next

Next is the leg scales so you don’t lose track of them. I have used the larger scales on this red romper. The yellow romper has the small scales.

Sewing on the pocket

You can measure where the pocket goes or you can use the diagram. I put the romper front on top of the diagram and folded it down so I could see if my pocket matched up. Make sure it is centred.

My tail horn is very rough but you don’t notice the details when it is part of the overall affect.

If you place the flap where it should go then carefully fold it up you will get the right angle. Keep it in place and pin it down.

The red thread is my stitching. It is just above the white stay stitching so you won’t see the stay stitching when you fold the flap down.

Trim the seam allowance and fold the flap down so the scale points up. Stitch the flap in place.

Continue with the facings and side seams. Press the side seams so the scales stick out.

You need to follow the leg band instructions so you get a bit more band at the back than the front. First decide which end of the band will go to the front and mark that end with a pin.

Measure 3 1/4” from that end and put in a pin.

Then pin that place to the side seam of the rompers. Continue following the instructions for adding the leg band.

After pinning the strap at the right length I trim it with the pinking shears. I stitch the square from the right side. It is easy enough to feel where the strap is.

If you have any questions just leave a comment.

Cheers,

Val

I don’t have any interest in coding or training an AI bot to do something specialised. Though I do realise my Chat GPT is getting trained to fit my style.

I am having a great deal of fun having ChatGPT solve all sorts of problems for me as though I have a creative team and a research team working for me.

I have spent months trying to work out how to get designing ideas out of Chat GPT that will work for growing my doll clothes pattern business.

This week I had what I can only call a break through. My latest prompt has given me something incredibly useful.

Free subscribers get my insights into using ChatGPT to create doll clothes designs. Paid subscribers get:

• A new doll clothes pattern for 18” American Girl style dolls.

• Ideas to restyle the design using various fabrics and tops to wear with it.

• The prompt I used to get the new ideas.

• A prompt with spaces to insert the design description and the variations you desire so you can instantly create custom styles.

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I have tried lots of different prompts and discovered that Chat GPT is not so good at writing instructions step by step but it has certainly improved from the first time I asked for instructions at the beginning of the year. I’m sure I can train it to keep improving if I keep going.

When I first started using Chat GPT I would write descriptions of what my business consisted of and ask it to give me ideas on planning and to dos as well as sewing methods and instructions. The more details I provided for what I was doing and what I wanted to do the better the responses became.

If you want to use Chat GPT to help provide design ideas for your doll clothes sewing I suggest you put some information about the styles of doll clothes you like, the dolls you dress and your sewing skills, into the prompts.

When I asked about Edwardian designs my prompt included “Include actual images of Edwardian and heirloom garments”. By using the word ‘actual’ Chat GPT gave me 3 sources for blogs that described how to sew Edwardian styles as well as a button at the bottom labeled Sources. When I clicked on the sources button, a panel opened with lots of sites that it used to help me.

This is something new that I have just learnt!

I now have a curated series of web sites and images that probably have what I am looking for rather than pages of Google search items.

One of the gathered rompers ideas was Gingham cotton + puff-sleeve blouse = country picnic charm. I love that it also gives me a descriptive name for the design.

I now have 4 styles and 11 fabric and tops ideas that fit into these styles. This gives me a great deal of order and control when I go to the fabric shop. Rather than just buy nice fabric. I like lists and order so the list of results makes me feel really good about creating cohesive doll clothes outfits.

I have already picked out my country picnic charm rompers fabric and blouse. I can’t wait to put it all together.

The latest pattern I am offering is the gathered rompers.

🌿 This fabric looks great on my Lea doll. I got it from the furniture fabric section of Spotlight.

👕 The t-shirt is a pattern that will be offered later.

The basic instructions are the same as the classic rompers with the exception of the gathered legs. You can see I use pinking shears to cut out most of the seams.

The back of the straps are measure and pinned then pinked and stitched on with a rectangle shape. This looks great from the outside and is so much easier than trying to put the straps into the bodice.

👕Latest Pattern (paid subscribers)

In the following sections, I provide paid subscribers with:

• A new doll clothes pattern for 18” American Girl style dolls.

• The prompt I used to get the new ideas.

• Ideas to restyle the design using various fabrics and tops to wear with it.

• A prompt with fill in the gaps to insert the design description and the variations you desire so you can instantly create custom styles.

  Subscribe now

I like Emily’s drawings that I get for subscribing to her paid newsletter

https://whileiwasdrawing.substack.com

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Introduction

I have been designing doll clothes since 2015. I love making my doll clothes patterns available to the doll dressmaking community. Substack, with its paid subscription feature, has enabled me to rebuild my pattern club. You can benefit from my many skills gained over the years and easily create and enjoy beautiful doll clothes for your 18” dolls.

💼 The birth of the pattern business.

I had just retired and found myself getting involved with blogging and patchwork on the internet. Some ladies were drawing patterns for patchwork and quilts and making them available as PDFs to download.

Fast forward a few years and I decided I could sell patterns because I loved everything about the “new” PDF download craze. All I can remember about choosing to design doll clothes patterns is that it came about gradually over several months. Then I was all out into creating patterns and sewing up the designs then writing instructions.

It sounds pretty straight forward but I spent about 5 years learning new skills. I am still learning!

I taught myself:

• Illustrator,

• Mailchimp,

• Blogger,

• Teachable,

• Keynote,

• Numbers,

• Pages,

• Google Docs,

• Dropbox,

• Doll clothes sewing of course.

I learnt about:

• Craftsy,

• Etsy,

• branding,

• audiences,

• copy writing,

• SEO,

• title creation,

• blog outlines,

• time blocking,

• batch creating,

• Youtube video making,

• Facebook groups,

• Facebook Pages.

• hero stories,

• asking people to buy my patterns.

I learnt how to create:

• a successful newsletter with 2000 subscribers (closed because it didn’t match my vision anymore),

• My own FB group (now with 1000+ members),

• My own FB page (now with 1000+ followers),

• landing pages,

• header images,

• a book keeping spreadsheet.

I got an ABN and I hired an accountant to do my tax return. There was nothing slow about my life but I loved every minute of it until I didn’t, and I changed nearly everything about my business.

I realised one day that I had achieved all the goals that I had set out to achieve.

I had taught myself to be a business person. I had a steady passive income. I had an emergency savings account. I was no longer afraid of dealing with customers and my business was thriving. I was a self made success in every way I could think of.

The business was just starting to become ‘things I should do to keep my customers happy’. I took a good look at what I was doing and I decided it was time to make new goals!

🖥️ Somewhere along the way I had become a designer

I no longer saw myself as retired. I had a design business. I designed doll clothes and sold the patterns.

After about 6 years on the doll clothes I wanted to branch out. I liked the idea of designing digital planners and journals.

I know a bit about desktop design and graphic design and art. However, I’m not an artist in the sense that an artist draws original images. I can draw original images but it’s hard, slow work that I’m not prepared to commit to on a long term basis. I want pretty planners now! So I create a planner and use art that I buy for commercial use along with some of my own art.

I Love Designing Doll Clothes

Where do I get my inspiration?

How did we ever survive without Pinterest!

I get a lot of my inspiration from human fashions on Pinterest. I really enjoy making a human design look great on the 18” doll. I also get ideas for outfits from the doll boards and the human boards on Pinterest.

My latest design is a copy of a dress I saw on a lady on the Brisbane train station while I was waiting to get the train back to Bundaberg. I would call it a boho style with 3 tiers to the skirt and panels in the bodice and a tie at the neck. Hers was made from 3 or 4 different blue and white patterns. I had to use what I had so I used 2 patterns in pink.

This month’s sewing pattern

This month I have been working on the Boho Dress for the 18” American Girl Doll. I like the little panelled top so look out for more designs with this bodice.

I made the 3 tiered skirt and the sleeves using existing patterns. The bodice is more of a mish mash of several designs, making the dress original enough to go in my Etsy shop too for $9 Australian.

Tip for reducing bulk

I while back I decided that pinking the seams and seam allowances is the best way to reduce bulk and save on thread and it is a perfectly safe finish for doll clothes. Sometimes I forget and just use the overlocker (serger) that is next to my sewing machine but another good reason for pinking the seams is that it is easy to unpick mistakes. The overlocker is very unforgiving.

Same tip but it saves problems when you make a mistake

I made a mistake with the second sleeve because the bodice looks similar inside and out except for the seam of the first sleeve. Luckily I wasn’t planning to overlock this second sleeve seam!

A bias neck band is a good finish for lots of designs

I made the neckline with a bias band so I could slip the ribbon ties into the band as I folded it over to stitch down. If you are looking for different ways to finish the necklines of dresses and tops I have a set of simple designs that I made up especially for practicing different ways to finish necklines. Some of my oldest customers will already have this. It’s not something I will be adding to the shop anytime soon but it will go in the paid subscription later this year.

What are my plans for the future?

I can see that the demand for doll clothes patterns is not diminishing so I want to keep adding to my pattern shop. Since I will be adding all new sewing patterns and some old ones to the paid subscription (just like a pattern club) I will be adding all new patterns to Etsy at $15 AUD.

Now that I have the Substack platform to send out my newsletters I can have a special paid subscription where I will be adding a link for downloading my new patterns each month. I also like to make accessories like bags and underwear so they will go in the paid newsletter too. Some months I will do patchwork or appliqué patterns instead of doll clothes. But I will be looking for ways to relate them to the 18” dolls.

I have a good collection of free designs that anyone can access with the dropbox link if you want to check out my style.

Drop box Doll Dressmaking Tutorials folder

Along with the sewing newsletter each month I will be doing weekly newsletters about my life journey.

If you are only interested in the Doll Clothes Pattern Club you can select just that section of my newsletter when you go to the subscription page.

Happy Sewing,

Val

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