One of the best things about sewing doll clothes is that you can make some really cute clothes with a tiny bit of fabric. The problem arises when we are wanting a long piece to use for a skirt or the skirt of a dress and unfortunately a fat quarter or that perfect piece of fabric you have is just not long enough without joining two pieces together.
The most common thing people do in this situation is to join the fabric in the centre. The problem is that this means we have a join at the centre front of the dress or skirt and depending on the print on the fabric, it can look quite unsightly.
‘Sew’ how do we avoid this?
Easy! We simply make two seams instead of one and this way we end up with two side seams. Someone looking from the front, would not know you have joined your fabric. Let me show you how it’s done. I’ll be using my Pinafore Dress Skirt pattern.
1. If your skirt pattern piece tells you to place it on the fold, lay it on a single layer of fabric and add ½ ” (12mm) to one end. This gives you ¼” (6mm) seam allowance for each side seam. Cut and place to the side. If you pattern piece is the complete length of your skirt piece, fold it in half and then add your seam allowance as above.
2. Now, fold this pattern piece in half. Double your piece of fabric if it is big enough (or do this step twice), lay the pattern on top and add ¼” (6mm) seam allowance to one end. This will give you what you need for the side seam.
3. Sew the short pieces to both ends of the longer piece.
4. Ta da! You now have a piece long enough for your skirt without a centre front seam.
Hope you find this tip helpful and you can now use all those cute fat quarters to make some pretty little dresses for your dolls.
Happy sewing
Rosie
Happy sewing
