How to sew a Doll's Bed Sheets and Blanket

Hello dollings, welcome back to another sewing tutorial! Today, I will show you how I made three simple pieces in a doll's bedroom: a flat bed sheet, a blanket, and a fitted bed sheet.

This project is the first-ever part of my newbie tutorials series, where I teach the most basic projects, tips, and tricks for beginner-level doll clothing sewists. 

This series is designed to guide someone who has previously done simple stitches from non-miniature sewing projects and now wants to start making tiny doll clothes. This may also help those who previously tried doll clothes making, but felt the need to hone their basic sewing skills first.

If you've never touched a sewing needle before, don't fret, as this series will be just as helpful for you.

I apologise, though, for not preparing a basic sewing portion on this page. That's because there are already so many wonderful videos that teach better. Here's one I recommend. And after learning about the basic tools and straight stitching, please come back here, and let's learn basic doll clothes making together.

Today, we will work on three pieces to strengthen our skills in straight stitching, hemming, making sharp corners, and a little bit of measuring.

To save time, I used my sewing machine in this tutorial, but you can work either with hand-sewing needles or a sewing machine.

As for the rest of the tools and materials, they are as basic as they can get:

woven (not stretchy) fabrics for each piece

matching threads

hand-sewing needles or sewing machine 

thread cutter or scissors

fabric scissors

measuring tape

fabric marker/s (I used pencil for light-colored fabrics and dermatograph for the dark one)

seam ripper

tweezer

dressmaker's pins

... and a box to be used as a doll bed.

Like all sewing projects, we always start with measuring and preparing our fabrics.

Today, we'll take the base measurements of our doll bed. 

Mine has the following:

Bed width - 16cm

Bed length - 28cm

Bed height - 6cm

Go ahead, measure carefully, take notes, and as the old folks say, measure twice, cut once.

--- Making the Flat Bed Sheet ---

Our first item is the simplest to make - the Flat Bed Sheet.

For my doll's flat bed sheet measurements, here are the additional details I used:

Hem allowance = 1cm 

Bed height divided by 2 = 6cm / 2 = 3cm 

For the hem allowance, I used 1cm because it is easier for doll clothes beginners to start with.

For the bed height, I used half the base bed height because I wanted it shorter than the fitted bed sheet.

 To prepare the fabric for the Flat Bed Sheet, I got both Total Width and Total Length using the formula in the image below:

Here's how I got my final numbers:

My flat bed sheet's TOTAL WIDTH = 1cm + 3cm + 16cm + 3cm + 1cm

= 24cm

My flat bed sheet's TOTAL LENGTH = 1cm + 3cm + 28cm + 3cm + 1cm

= 36cm

Okay, let's cut the fabric to the size we need for our flat bed sheet. 

Up next, let's first fold the hem allowance from the two longest sides. Secure with dressmaker pins.

Then, we fold the hem allowance from the two shorter sides. Secure with dressmaker pins.

Once all folds are secured by the pins, let's start hemming.

Here's how our flat bed sheet looks on the right side of the fabric.

And here's how it looks on the wrong side of the fabric.

Tip: You can iron-press this piece now for a neater look.

Let's try putting it on the doll bed, and voila - we have a flat bed sheet for our doll!

--- Making the Bed Blanket ---

Up next is our Bed Blanket.

This piece is a bit bigger than our flat bed sheet. We also used corner hemming and double-fold hems - just to challenge ourselves a bit from our little project earlier.

Alright! Let's grab the fabric and start measuring.

In addition to the base bed measurements I noted, below are the additional numbers I will use in the formula to get the total fabric area of our Bed Blanket:

 Hem allowance = 1.5cm 

Bed height = 6cm 

For the hem allowance, I used 1.5cm this time because I wanted to fold the hem twice. The first fold is 1cm; the second is 0.5cm. 

I'm also keeping the original bed height at 6cm since I wanted a wider blanket so it could cover the whole bed space.

Below is the formula to prepare the fabric size for the Bed Blanket.

Here's how I got my final numbers:

My bed blanket's TOTAL WIDTH = 1.5cm + 6cm + 16cm + 6cm + 1.5cm

= 31cm

My bed blanket's TOTAL LENGTH = 1.5cm + 6cm + 28cm + 6cm + 1.5cm

= 43cm

Okay, let's cut the fabric to the size we need.

Now that we have our fabric ready, let's mark our corners to prepare for the mitered-corner hems.

Okay, as I stated earlier, my hem allowance is 1.5cm, right?

Now, in the first two inset photos below, you see marks of 3cm on both sides of the corner edge in addition to the 1.5cm. I did that because we will connect these two points (third inset photo) and use them as a seam line guide later.

Just remember, whatever your hem allowance is, multiply it by two, mark it like I did below, and connect the marks to create a seam line.

The middle point of this seam line is the mitre joint.

Now, fold this fabric corner from the mitre joint to the tip.

Secure the fold with a dressmaker's pin and sew the first 2/3 from the mitre joint. Once done, trim off extra seam allowance, but leave enough at the unsewn side.

Let's flip the mitre corner to the right side.

I used my trusty tweezers for this.

Now, facing the wrong side of our blanket, let's do a second fold using that remaining unsewn 1/3 of the hem allowance. Secure this second fold with a dressmaker's pin.

As always, do the same procedure for the rest of the hem.

Run your stitch to finalize the hem.

Ta-dah! We now have a simple doll blanket ☺

Tip: I would recommend making it a habit to press your doll garments made from woven fabrics once they are finished, or even in between stitchings. Your make can instantly look pro, trust me :)

--- Making the Fitted Bed Sheet ---

And now, for our last piece in this project - the fitted bed sheet.

This fitted bed sheet is basically shaped like a lidless boxy container. It will cover the bed before we put on the flat bed sheet and blanket that we made earlier.

Okies, let's get started with this fitted bed sheet, shall we?

Measuring for this piece is super simple - we just add our usual hem allowance to the actual measurement of the bed. I use 0.5cm for this. 

Here's how I got my final numbers:

My fitted bed sheet's TOTAL WIDTH = 0.5cm + 6cm + 16cm + 6cm + 0.5cm

= 29cm

My fitted bed sheet's TOTAL LENGTH = 0.5cm + 6cm + 28cm + 6cm + 0.5cm

= 41cm

Okay, let's cut the fabric to the size we need.

Now that we have our fabric ready, let's mark our hem allowance and bed height measurements.

My recommended hem allowance this time is 0.5cm, and the bed height is the actual 6cm bed height. Thus, I have a total of 6.5cm mark from each side.

Draw corner squares connecting these marks.

Then, fold along the line from the square corner tips, making sure the measurement marks align, and secure with dressmaker's pins.

Sew the yellow seam line guide.

Trim away extra seam allowance.

Repeat for the rest of the corners.  

Then flip to the right side.

To prepare for our hemming, take your outermost corner seam and cut a slit on your hem allowance mark (0.5cm in my case). Then spread/press the cut seam allowance on opposite sides (see middle inset photo below). Fold and secure the hem with dressmaker's pins.

Repeat this step for the rest of the corners.

You may need to also secure the rest of the hem folds with dressmaker's pins.

Now, let's hem our fitted bed sheet :)

Done! Here's a closer look at my hem.

Yay, our three-piece project is complete!

Congratulations on making it here, dolling!

So, how did you do? Was it easy? A bit challenging?

I hope it was as easy as I thought it would be, even for the super beginner miniature sewist.

But do let me know in the comments below, okay?

I would love to hear from you so that I can make better beginner tutorials in the future.

But for now, let's pat ourselves on the back as we present this set to our lucky doll.

Oh, and for our next project, we will make pillows, pillowcases, and other cushions so that we continue to get better at straight stitching, as well as start filling in our doll bedroom with items we are proud of making.

I'm excited! 

Comment below if you have suggestions, too, okay?

Thank you so, so much for spending your precious time with me here.

Take care and stay creative,

shasha