How to Sew: Halter-neckline Sleeveless Bodysuits for Fashion Dolls

Halter-neckline Sleeveless Bodysuits for Fashion Dolls

Warm greetings from the sunny Philippines!

Welcome to yet another doll clothes-making session with your little doll lady from the Philippines - Shasha!

Today, we're making this simple Halter-neckline Sleeveless Bodysuit.

As you can see in our photo above, I have created the bodysuit for today's demo with the Curvy Made to Move doll in mind. If you're sewing for any other doll size/body though, no worries, the following sewing instructions still apply.

Now, let's first collect our tools and materials for making this piece.

Stretch fabric

Sewing patterns and instructions

fabric-marking pen

pair of fabric scissors

sewing needle or machine

matching thread

basting thread (contrasting color recommended)

dressmaker's pins

thin cord for halter

other helpful tools:

tweezer

seam ripper

thread cutter or small pair of scissors

Crochet hook or anything to pull out the cord from the halter casing

Yep, I think these will do 👌

Alright, let's get started with the actual sewing, shall we?

Step 1. First up, let's cut out our patterns from atelierniSHASHA's pattern page.

Tip:

* Always make sure to follow the printing instructions on your pattern page to have the correct scale for your pattern pieces. Here's a video tutorial on my YouTube channel for a quick reference.

Below are our two pattern pieces for this project: the front and back.

We just flip the back pattern to trace both the left and right sides.

Alright, let's get started, shall we?

Step 1. First up, let's cut out our patterns from atelierniSHASHA's pattern page.

Tip:

* Always make sure to follow the printing instructions on your pattern page to have the correct scale for your pattern pieces. Here's a video tutorial on my YouTube channel for a quick reference.

Below are our two pattern pieces for this project: the front and back.

Step 2. Up next is we are tracing our pattern pieces to our fabrics.

Tips:

* Make sure you are using a fabric that both stretches lengthwise and widthwise. Pros call this a 4-way stretch fabric.

** Make sure to trace on the wrong side of your fabric.

*** I used water-soluble fabric pens, but for the longest time, I was happy just using a regular pencil. You can start with that for now, too, especially with lighter-colored fabrics. For darker-colored fabrics, you may use a metallic gel pen or light-colored tailor's chalk.

Step 3. We are cutting our two fabric pieces.

Tip:

* As shown below, I have added about 6mm or 1/4 inch for my seam allowance.

Step 4. Then we are cutting slits along our curvy edges like around the front panel, the sides and the leg opening seam allowance.

Tip:

* My slits have a distance of about 5mm or 1/4 inch between each other.

Step 5. Let's join the side seams.

Tip:

* I pin or stitch-baste to make sure the ends of the side seams align when I run the stitch on my sewing machine.

Step 6. Up next - hemming around our neckline.

Tips:

* When I sew this on my sewing machine, I usually stitch-baste before I run my final hemming just to be sure the folds don't move around.

** You can also cut the extra seam allowance after hemming.

Step 7. Now it's time to hem the leg openings.

Tips:

* Same as the previous steps, I stitch-baste before I run my final hemming just to be sure the folds don't move around.

** You can also cut the extra seam allowance after hemming.

Step 8. Then we are closing the crotch seam.

Step 9. Up next, we fold the crotch seam allowance flat on each side and stitch to secure their positions.

Step 10. Let's fold the top of our front panel and stitch to secure.

Step 11. And finally, we grab some strap and insert into the casing we created from sewing that fold.

And we're done, dollings!

Here's our finished garment from different angles.

I am taking the opportunity to show you my newest repainted doll Neecha. I think her vibe matches this Halter-neck Sleeveless Bodysuit and the other bodysuits in this series. 💘

And here are some of the photos we took.