Houndstooth 50s Dress for the Doll Family

Recently I've been feeling really bored without some sewing to do, so I nipped across the road to the local fabric store for a look at the remnants, with the view of making a dress for my Pullip family. I found a perfect blue houndstooth fabric that is the perfect scale for making a doll dress, and not only that, but it only cost me 2 pounds for just less than a metre!
For Christmas I'm gaining two additional dolls to the family - two Dals; a make-it-own kit Dal and Dal Clair - and I thought I'd make the make-it-own doll as dress, seeing as she will be arriving naked!

I used a Barbie pattern from Herbie's Doll Sewing, Knitting and Crochet Pattern Collection and printed it out. It was very simple and I shall be using this website again, as there are some fantastic patterns there for free, most of them out of print! I really recommend it, as there are patterns for all sorts of dolls, including BJD, Dal, and Barbie.

Making the dress was rather hard, as I'm not very familiar with working with such a small scale. The sleeves were murder, as was the collar! In the end I rather like the results though, so I'm pleased I stuck with it. I've come a long way since making my first doll dress, as you can see here.

The lovely Celeste (Pullip Nella) was my model for the making and photographs, as Pullips, Dals and Barbies are relatively similar in size. I had the idea that if the dress didn't fit either the Pullips or the new Dal, then I'd buy myself a nice Barbie to fit it instead. ;) I have my eye on the Lady Tremaine Barbie from the latest Cinderella film, as her looks are rather vintage and I love the dress!

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!