Sewing Doll Clothes With Commercial Patterns

Well hellloooo and how are you? I make no excuses for absence because my busyness has been very much sewing related! I'm working on photos to show you of the costumes I worked on for the dance production, so stay tuned. The show is amazing, by the way! If you're local, you should go see Creation this weekend! 

Anywho. Last weekend, my son started golf lessons so the girls and I took advantage of the girl time to pull out some doll clothes patterns and sew! This was their first time using real patterns, so they were excited. 

They chose a fun romper pattern and they turned out super cute. 

I have so much fun sewing with them and I have a couple tips to share if you have trouble getting up the courage to sew with your kids. First, be patient!! Sewing with kids requires a lot of patience. If you get frustrated with them, it really sucks the fun out of it for everyone. Sometimes it's hard to get in the mood to sew with kids. It qualifies as what we in the sewing community call "unselfish sewing", but it's always fun and rewarding once you get started. I find it really helps if we set aside a time with a specific project planned. I love to sew with my kids when we have planned on doing it, but don't love dropping everything when they feel like sewing on a whim. This realization has helped us a ton. Second, if they're struggling with a part, offer to do it for them. Yep, I said it. Don't get so caught up in it being a "sewing lesson" that you make them do it all themselves, even if they're frustrated. They'll get there, and will be able to do more and more on their own each time. 

Back to doll clothes! I love the Big 4 pattern companies for doll clothes patterns. They go on sale for so little money and come with so many great little pieces on each pattern. For these rompers we used Simplicity 8191. 

Simplicity's American Girl line has soooo many cute choices. We also have this one, which is in Natalie's to-sew pile: 

Today we were at Target and the girls spotted this Our Generation sewing set in the doll aisle. Oh my goodness, I LOVE it! I wish there were a good reason for me to buy it for myself, ha! (affiliate link). 

Are you sewing any doll clothes for Christmas stockings??