McCalls 2123 View D Coat, plus a baby quilt

The View D coat has been on my Habitica do-to list all summer, but quilting took precedence for a while, first to finish my Craftsy Block of the Month quilt and then to make a baby quilt for a neighbor's new grandson.

So here are Tammy and Misty, who wear the coat very well, straight from the pattern with no alterations.

Originally I bought this pattern because I wanted to make the coat out of plaid wool. That would be difficult, needing a lot of fussing with the pattern, adding turnings and facings.

In felt it is very easy to make: all cut in one piece, except for the collar, which lays flat to cover its own seam; and the belt, which is just top-stitched in place. For style there is a pretty kick pleat in the back.

View D is shown with a felt hat and boots, also to be made of felt. 1960s felt must have stretched more than today's does, because this hat does not fit. I thought of re-designing it with four gores instead of two, but there are so many Barbie hat patterns in the world, it doesn't need doing immediately.

The boot pattern is very unusual: it is cut all in one piece, including the sole, and all the seam allowances are on the outside ("public" side) of the boot. Someone was really thinking outside the box when she designed this! Unfortunately I couldn't make it look good at all. Looked like the doll had cardboard boxes on her legs.

If I were going to design a boot pattern, I'd make it out of swim-suit material--that would look shiny like a nice 60s vinyl boot, and would fit closely to her leg. But not today--maybe after the wedding dress is done. Still have that to go!

And here's a wee look at the baby quilt I made. My neighbor had bought the print fabric to make table runners for the baby shower. Afterward I offered to make a quilt out of them.

This design is from the book Sew, Slice, Spin, and Sash by Theresa Ward. Hers is a simple concept--just cut fabric strips, sew them together in one long strip-set the whole desired length, then cut them "block width," Then you just turn every other column upside down before adding sashing and sewing together. So you never have to work with blocks as such. But I couldn't do it that way: my print fabric was "one-way" and had already been cut to smaller widths. So I ended up making blocks anyway.

Vintage pattern sewing: McCalls 2123, the underpants

It isn't obvious from the pattern front, but McCalls 2123 does include an underpants pattern, which I think is nice. Somehow I always want my dolls to be wearing underpants, and I'm always on the look-out for a perfect pattern.

This one wants you to sew elastic around the waist, but I don't like that method for fashion dolls. For one thing, it's very difficult to slide them up the legs--especially bendable legs--and over the hips. I put them on Midge because her rigid legs are smooth and make dressing her a little easier.

But look how they gap around the waist, even with the elastic. And I even used clear elastic, which is much stretchier and more resilient than braid elastic.

Pos'n Tammy is wearing a pair with my modifications. Really, only one modification.

In this picture, you can see how the pattern piece is cut--how there's an allowance along the top to press under and a seam up the back. McCalls wants you to sew elastic on top of that turned-under allowance, then sew up the back seam, catching the ends of the elastic in it.

But you get a much nicer fit if you sew the back seam only partially--leave 1/2 or 3/4 inch open to the waist, then sew on a dainty little snap at the center back.

The waist will be too loose. So take them off the doll and put them back on her inside out. (The snap will still work.)

Run a gathering stitch around the waist.  I used a doubled thread, plus ran it through the waxer for extra strength.

Tammy doesn't have her underpants on inside out in this picture--but the stitching will be easier to start and end if you do reverse them.

This ends up with a rather customized fit for a particular doll. (Hah! Tailored underpants!) I think using elastic thread for the gathering thread would provide a little more flexibility to fit different dolls. But really, these are so quick to make, it isn't much trouble to make each girl her own.

This is the kind of underpants I like best for dolls, though here it appears as a bikini bottom. I worked out the pattern using methods learned from some Gene Marshall doll clothing.

I like them underpants to fit lower, around the hips, so that they don't add bulk to the waist. Also, I like them to close with a snap, with no elastic or even gathering. It creates a sleek fit that will look better under her outfits.

I like to line them, too, so that I don't have to topstitch around the leg holes or the waist--just looks more finished that way. When I started lining underpants, I had to redraft the pattern to allow for less stretch in the doubled fabric. I should try experimenting with knit lining sometime; maybe that will work better.

The bikini top is actually from an old commercial Barbie doll pattern! It didn't even need many adjustments. This doll is several inches taller than Barbie, but she's petite around the shoulders and bust.

Vintage Pattern Sewing: McCalls 2123 View A Jumpsuit, Scarf and Vest

And now we come to the only view with legs! This jumpsuit pattern shares characteristics with others in McCall 2123: sleeves cut-in-one with the body rather than set in separately, a self-faced jewel neckline, and a long bust dart that starts near the waist.

My favorite part of this view is the scarf. The instructions said to fray the edges for about 1/2 inch to make a fringe, and I enjoyed both the process and the way it came out.

The vest was designed for felt or vinyl--no facings at fronts or armholes and no edge-finishes. The white vinyl I had on hand was flannel-backed, but the extra thickness didn't cause too much trouble. Going through my stash, I really didn't see many suitable fabrics for the jumpsuit, or for the scarf either. If I were shopping at my favorite fabric store, I'd have chosen differently, but these cottons work well enough and didn't cost extra.

Pos'n Tammy in View A McCalls 2123

Pos'n Tammy gets to model it first because she has the best figure to wear all three pieces. It's a little too short through the torso for Misty, and TNT Barbie looks dwarfed in it, and poor little Francie just swims in it.

Tammy could use a little extra sleeve length, but other than that it fits her well.

If I were making it again, I'd use a silkier, drapey-er fabric for the scarf, and for a special outfit, maybe some ultra-suede for the vest.

TNT Barbie, my pretty Coco, in View A, McCalls 2123

For Barbie, I've adjusted the jumpsuit in back to look good in front! In reality, the neck and shoulders are too big for her, and the neckline doesn't sit well. But sometimes beauty is the art of illusion.

And for that matter, if I were a mom sewing this for my child to dress her Barbie in, I'd just make those adjustments permanent with my needle and thread instead of with straight pins.

The pose is making a great deal of difference here too! It's not so graceful-looking straight-on. I'm thinking the jumpsuit might hang better in a really silky, drape-y fabric too... I might just have some in my stash somewhere. 

The pattern pieces for View A jumpsuit, vest, and scarf from McCalls 2123.

McCalls 2123 View B: modified version

Here is how View B looks with my modifications. It's pretty much the silhouette I wore all through high school and I still love it.

I felt that my first version of this dress, made exactly as directed, had way too much fabric gathered into the waist. The pattern piece for the skirt was 19 inches long; I cut five inches off from it, so the version you see here has only 14 inches in the skirt. It looks much more natural to me!

I wish all the people who complain that Barbie is unrealistically thin would take note: When dressed up, she looks perfectly normal!

Whenever I work on gathered skirts in the future, I think I will just whack off  5 or so inches right from the first, and not bother making a version that's too puffy. I learned doll-dressmaking from some very talented women who dressed porcelain dolls; they felt strongly that a very full skirt, gathering up as much cloth as you can manage, was the sign of quality costuming. Anything less looked skimpy to them. They were sewing for a very specific look though--not Barbie's look.

My other modification was to the sleeves: instead of making a casing for elastic, I left the last inch of the seam open, folded the seam allowances back and sewed snap closings in, and then hand gathered the sleeve edge with a doubled, waxed thread. You can't really see much difference, but it is a lot easier to get on the doll! Especially on Maxie and Misty, who have larger hands. When I make this dress again I will trim off some of the turning--don't need a full 3/8 inch when finishing it this way, and the gathers will go in better on a single thickness of fabric. I could even move the gathers up the sleeve a little and get a frilly cuff effect.

Here's a look at one of my new Christmas dolls: Pos'n Tammy. You see her face has been redesigned; stylistically she fits much better with her friend Glamor Misty. Her redesigned figure is also much like Misty's--just a little shorter through the torso.

A nice feature that this Tammy, Misty, and Maxie all share is "rubbery arms," for lack of a better phrase. When dressing them, you can easily squeeze their arms together to get them into the armholes. They also all have very pretty hands.

Tammy here has an unexpected feature: if you move one arm up or down, the other goes with it! Same with her legs! You can push them out of sync a very little bit, but judging by the resistance you can feel, it's probably better to keep them aligned. And of course, they bend at elbows and knees--flexibly, not with wires that click, like Barbie does.

She is a pretty addition to my Tammy collection, and I just happen to have the Pepper that matches her, so maybe there will be some big sister/little sister sewing coming up soon.