My process of designing and sewing a period style shirt for an Izannah Walker boy doll.

Materials/tools for pattern drafting:

paperbased shop towels (or pliable paper towels)

marking pencil (I use a chalk pencil in a dark colour)

sticky tape

scissors (the ones you use for paper)

Materials for shirt:

fine white cotton fabric approx. 0.25 m

white sewing thread

small buttons

hand sewing needles

When I drape a pattern for doll clothing, I make sure that all the underclothes the doll will be wearing are on the doll, so that my final pattern will accommodate all the thicknesses under the outer garment.

These are instructions for the first stage of making an outfit.

For this boy doll, I decided that he would only be wearing a collared shirt, which would tuck into his fashion fabric pantaloons. I searched the internet and found a very good blog post about the design of men’s shirts https://witness2fashion.wordpress.com/tag/mans-shirt-1800s-1700s-1900s/

Noticing that the shoulder slit didn’t allow for the extreme slant of an IW doll’s shoulder area, I modified the historical method and made front and back pieces that were sewn together with a slanted seam. I also made the front neck opening deeper and more curved.

Because this is only a doll, and wear and tear from the stress of everyday movement isn’t an issue, the underarm gusset is incorporated into a slanted sleeve, which is gathered into a buttoned cuff.

Every handmade Izannah doll will be slightly, or greatly, different in size. This doll was made using Dixie Redmond’s pattern from her workshop, so if your doll was made with her pattern, there is a good chance that my measurements will be fairly close to yours. DON’T TAKE THAT FOR GRANTED! Take your own measurements!

My workbook plans.

After basting the basic pieces together- front to back at shoulders, sleeves to armhole, and up the sides- I discovered I was unable to get the shirt onto the doll. His head and shoulders were not bad, but the shirt would not go over the hips.

Time to add side gussets! I also made the neck opening bigger.

For my next shirt, I will be making the shoulders/body just a bit wider to make it easier to put on.

When the time came to design a collar, I made several attempts, none successful! I wanted a round collar, to look like John Thayer, but the slit opening wouldn’t accommodate that, so I cut it round, lower in front than back.

The front opening was turned in with my version of a rolled hem. Instructions for this can be found on Threads: Sew a hand-rolled hem Youtube. Mine is a bit more visible.

I know now that a Peter Pan collar has the bottom piece cut slightly smaller than the upper AND is cut on the bias. The upper piece is cut on the crosswise grain.

After the 2 pieces were cut out (5mm seam allowances left all round) they were sewn right sides together around the outer edge and turned and pressed. I hand sewed the inner edge of the lower piece onto the neck opening, right sides together, then turned in the seam allowance of the lower collar. The upper seam allowance was turned in and whip stitched to the lower, at the neckline.

Alas, the collar sticks out, and somehow it is off centre too! Corrections need to be made! It would have been easier to make a straight collar as shown in the witness2 fashion post. In the next version, perhaps.

With collar installed it was time to sew the sleeves. For small clothes it is easier to gather the cuff edge, turn in the seam allowance of the opening with a rolled hem and sew on the cuffs before sewing the sleeve to the armhole edge.

Next, pin upper sleeves to shoulder area right sides together and sew in place. Centre of upper sleeve matches shoulder seam of shirt body.

Fold right sides of sleeves and body together, matching edges and sew along inner sleeve seam and then down the side seam for .5 cm. The gussets need to be inserted in this lower part of the shirt body. Match lower edge of gusset piece to lower edges of shirt body and stitch in place, right sides together, along edges of shirt side seam.

Once gussets are in, even up the lower edge of the shirt and make a rolled hem.

Sew buttons to cuffs, loops to opposite side of cuffs.

You can close the neck with a button and loop, or make ties from string or embroidery floss.

For a larger image of my diagrams, send me an email and I will send it to you as an attachment.

Detachable Broderie Anglaise Collar

After all the hassle of making an attached collar, I tackled making a detachable collar from linen and embroidery floss. This website was very helpful, https://www.craftingcommunities.net/broderie-anglaise

Using my collar pattern and a pencil I drew a design on stretched linen.

 The work in this image is done with three strands of floss and a very thin embroidery needle. However, I have been told that only one strand should be used after being separated from a cut length. All thread should be used going in the same direction, with the end cut threaded into the needle first.