Maple Insists: Trends to Sew

Every year we have grand plans to show off trendy human clothing items on our blog as helpful hints for those who sew doll clothing (and possibly sell it to the masses).

And every year we do two or three (at most) posts about this. D'oh. We will try to do better in 2012. Maple insists that we need to do better about this, so she has taken over this campaign.

We know people's minds often go blank when trying to dream up what to sew next. Or perhaps they get a bit nervous, saying to themselves: "I think it's cute, but will people like it? Will they buy it?"

So with Maple's help, we are attempting to more firmly establish this series of posts -- "Trends to Sew"-- and each time we do create one, hopefully at least once per month, we'll address one clothing line and give you examples of clothes that we like. Yes, we will be getting on our soapbox. And no, there won't be anything pink shown in the "Trends to Sew" arena. Blues and greens are beautiful colors peoples, try them. ;-)

We will be exploring pre-teen, teen, and young adult fashions that we think would be awesome in dolly format. Some people might say -- "That looks a little mature for my doll/taste." That's fine, but other people are looking for that. There are a lot of older girls and collectors out there with AG dolls that don't want to dress their doll in younger-looking fashions. And they tend to have more on-hand moola than the average 8 year old. (We say this every year, but it begs repeating. There is a reason Liberty Jane outfits are so popular, y'alls.)

Maple suggested we look at Hollister this month. So we begin with a look at their recent offerings and point out items that we think have potential for dollies.

1) Contemplating outerwear options? Try jackets and hoodies with (fake) fur-trimmed hoods. We haven't seen any yet in dolly scale and we think they'd be awesome. (And yes we own some human ones ourselves because we love fuzzy things, haha.)

2) Jeans. A life necessity. Skinny jeans are very in right now. Liberty Jane offers a skinny jean pattern, fyi. http://www.libertyjanepatterns.com/

When creating yours consider using "destroying" methods, paint stains and smudges, and small embroidered accents like you see on the pair below. And the rolled cuff is in, btw.

White seems to be an in color for jeans -- it has a sort-of washed-out grey look to it. Just make sure your pair isn't see-through. No one wants to see dolly's beige or dark skin through their pants.

You can try these styles with normal "boot-cut" jeans as well. LJ also has a pattern for those.

Having a difficult time finding awesome jean fabric at your local retailer? Shop online for fabrics. Go to the clothing stores and find jeans to cut up and re-make into dolly jeans.

Having a difficult time finding jean fabric to easily sew with? The ones you have are super-thick? Try the thinner denims they make now for skinny jeans that are almost a cross between soft jersey and denim. They use a similar, stretchy fabric for jeggings a lot - so you might try cutting up a pr of those, or asking your fabric retailer for soft denim or jeggings/leggings denim. It might be easier to work with than the thick stuff.

3) Hoodies. We never see enough of these in the AG-size market. Not sure why. They must be a pain to make or something. But Liberty Jane carries a pattern for them, so we're not sure what people are waiting for... Hoodies are ubiquitous.

Try dark and bright blues, greens, and greys for your hoodies. Even a nice cream color. And if you are ambitious you can try making your own embellishments. But stay away from floral iron-ons, pink ribbons, butterflies, unicorns, etc. AG does enough of that. 

Create your own brand-name and add it just like Hollister does - all the major lines do it. You can too. Or even a symbolic logo, like Hollister's seagull, American Eagle's eagle, and the LaCoste alligator. Just don't make it pink...

Two varieties to try: With zipper...

And without zipper...

We wouldn't try the button-down hoodie -- it seems like a sewing nightmare -- but we do like the coloring of this example.

4) Tee Shirts. Yep, you should make some. We think more people should make shirts, cardigans, and hoodies to sell as separates. Some people are already doing that with great success. Keep it up!

Every top and jacket you sell doesn't have to be accompanied by jeans or pants. Once people own a couple prs of pants and jeans, they are more interested in getting a variety of tees, tanks, cardigans, and hoodies for their dolls. Trust us, we know.

Sure AG only sells complete outfits, but does Hollister, American Eagle, Justice, Nordstrom, and so on, sell complete outfits? Nope, not unless we are talking about dresses. They all sell separates peoples.

Let's say you offer just complete outfits - the average customer might buy one or two at a time. But if you offer smartly-priced tees, tops, tanks, cardigans, and hoodies as separates - the options are endless and you will probably end up making more sales. It's easier for a customer to put a bunch of $8 tees and $12 hoodies into their shopping bags than several $35 outfits. See? Hope this makes sense to y'alls.

When designing your tees, try fabrics and colors that you won't find in the AG catalog. Soft jerseys that you could layer over tank tops. Heathered fabrics. Subtle patterning. See the top below for a great example of this.

And then there is the graphic tee. I believe we say this every year as well. Make your own graphic tees. You've gotten to the point where you can sew Liberty Jane's Free T-Shirt pattern in your sleep? Well, spice it up. Try applying your own graphic to it.

Want to try your own iron-ons? You can design them on your computer and print them at home on iron-on transfer paper. See here for more info: http://h71036.www7.hp.com/hho/cache/344461-0-0-225-121.html 

Not sure what kind of iron-on to make? There are clip art and photos online, both free and for sale, check that stuff out. Design your own if you are Photoshop or Illustrator savvy. Or try to use your own pic, maybe as sepia toned or black and white. You could even do a black and white, or color tinted pic with a single color accent like the Hollister tee below. Again, browse the mall or online shops -- look at what they are putting on human tees for inspiration. AG's giant floral iron-on with the word "Happiness" underneath it is not what you find on human clothes. :-/

And Liberty Jane offers several types of shirt patterns you can work with, adding graphics to them or just using modern, trendy fabrics. Baseball tees, polo shirts, off-the-shoulder drapey shirts, one shoulder tanks, and even the new Cortina shirt with the ruffly sleeves. Plus much more. Explore the options peoples!

5) Tank Tops. The tank top has evolved. Yep, you can still make the normal rib-knit tank and offer it up to the buyers. That is cool. But there are a bunch of new styles you can experiment with. Ruffles. Bows. Sashes with bows. Lace accents. Dual-layering with lace. We have seen some of these out there - but we think y'all can go further. They might be a pain in the butt to sew. But you guys are smart. We know you can do it.

The key to these styles is light-weight, thin, soft, supple fabrics. Don't use the rib-knit on these puppies -- they will look bulky and your ruffles won't drape as they should.

You might be saying "I can't find these fabrics in my local fabric store!" to us. Go to H&M or Forever21(or local equivalents), buy some clothing and slice it up peoples. Who says you can't deconstruct human clothes to make into dolly clothes?

6) Cardigans. The cardigan has also evolved. We have seen progress in the AG cardigan world -- but there could be more. Try simple, same-color embellishments like the flowers and sashes you see below.

And look for boldly striped fabric options, like these navy and cream, and turquoise and white examples. And note how these puppies are slightly longer than those above. The longer "boyfriend-style" cardigan is very trendy. Pockets are also nice, but you don't need to make them.

If you are looking at these cardigans and crying because of the buttons and the button-holes (yes we know those are a pain to create) -- Just make your knit cards sans buttons. Yep, that is totally doable and many lines have cardigans without closures.

7) Shorts and skirts. Yep, Hollister makes short shorts and short skirts for the Bettys. This is a fact of life. For dolls, we'd make them longer. Trendy shorts should come to about mid-thigh on your dolls and skirts should fall slightly above the knee. No need to make things Hollister-short - then they will just look like they don't fit right on the dolls.

But we include them here because there is still good design going on with the Hollister garments (despite their brevity). For instance, this dark denim pair of shorts with gold thread seams, and rolled up, gently frayed cuffs: very stylish.

Going the more casual route - sweat pants in shorts format. Hidden elastic waistband. White drawstring bow - which can be non-functional and just sewn on to the front. Rolled cuffs to show off the soft underside of the sweats fabric, and a logo accent. Just make them mid-thigh length and dolly is good to lounge on the couch, jaunt to the beach or gym, or go for a bike ride down to the ice cream shop.

This is a nice style of skirt to try with a lighter-weight, soft, supple fabric. Something you can easily bunch up at the waistline seam where all those wrinkled little pleats are hanging out. This is made from a super-soft cotton corduroy. Might be a little tough to make it out of the same fabric in dolly scale. But again, you might try looking for non-see-through jerseys and fabric designed for leggings and jeggings to use with this style skirt.

Alright, we've come to the end of our first "Maple Insists: Trends to Sew" post.

Hope this was helpful!

AGPC loot reveal posts coming soon.
Don't worry, we haven't forgotten about them.


The pics are currently being prepped. :-D