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While the girls are compiling their fashion month reports, I thought I'd do a quick tutorial on zippers. In the world of doll fashion where most designers use snaps, hooks and velcro, a dress with a zipper is a luxury item. It's not that they are difficult to put them in. The problem--and expense--lies in finding doll sized zippers. Not an easy task. And when you do find them---well....even though they are 1/6 the size of a normal zipper--they certainly are not 1/6 the price! Yes, they are small, but they are ever as complex as the real thing. I have been to fabric and notions stores everywhere looking for 1/6 zippers.  I will tell you now, you will have to order them online. For this post, I bought metal separating and metal regular zippers at I Sew For Dolls. (Located in the US, they ship fast. My order was perfect.) There are three other online sources that sell them as well. (Their websites are listed under Tutorials-Fab Favorite Resources.)  Prior to buying 1/6 scale, I...

Over the past five and a half years, I’ve had the pleasure of sharing my ventures into doll fashion creation with all of you. When I start this blog there was very little Information on 1/6th scale clothing construction so I found myself often making things up as I went along with nothing but basic dressmaking to back me up. As I quickly discovered, many of the rules for making full sized clothes must be modified for the doll…particularly when it comes to specialty items like….leather wear for example. In 2013, I did two posts on the subject: “Warm Leatherette,” working with vinyl, then two months later, “Leather Weather." I explored working with real leather and literally glued each garment together. This exercise gave me a clue as to why doll companies do not sell leather clothing. And while those two posts satisfied my dolls’ appetite for full-sized women’s leather goods, it was far from perfect. Over the last few years, however, my leather work has improved! One fine day, whil...

Prior to joining our crew in Milan, I wanted to pause for another tutorial on neckline treatments. For a long time, there hasn't been anything special (aside from one shouldered gowns) with necklines. Increasingly however, I'm beginning to see dresses and tops sporting a variety of necklines. What really prompted me to do this project was the sublime gown by Balmain worn on the Oscar red carpet by the iconic actress, Jane Fonda. This dress is really super simple....a body grazing sheath with a two eye-popping details: square shoulders and a sharply cut neckline. Before we get to that dress, let's first look at how different necklines are designed into a garment. We must go back to our basic slopers. Whatever happens in the front will impact the back in most cases. Square Neckline. 1. Place the front and back slopers end to end at the shoulders. 2. Make a mark at the mid point of the shoulder line, another on the center front (as far down as you want) and another on the cent...