All Dolled Up: Sewing Clothes and Accessories for Girls and Their 18-Inch Dolls

My seven granddaughters, ages 1-6, each has an 18-inch doll that resembles her. For birthdays, holidays, and Christmas, I love to give them matching clothes for themselves and their dolls. I'm a teacher and my husband is a truck driver, so we don't have a lot of money. When I give gifts (especially times seven!), I want them to be very special, but they can't be expensive. The book "All Dolled Up: Sewing Clothes and Accessories for Girls and Their 18-Inch Dolls" is just what I hoped it would be. The patterns are adorable and easy-to-make. If I remember correctly, I believe the girl sizes covered from 4 through 7, but I believe they would also be easy to adapt for smaller or larger sizes. There is also an amazing variety -- skirts, pajamas, dresses, tops -- everything I would ever hope to make. I would highly recommend this quality resource.

The book is great if you are not new to sewing. Know in advance that you will have to make photocopies of the patterns as they are double sided and doll patterns are superimposed on the girl patterns. Read all of the steps before buying or cutting. Not everything you need is listed at the beginning. I had to make 5 trips to the fabric store for things that I didn't realize that I needed. Get a little extra fabric for each one. On some I needed more on others I had lots left over. There is no allowance for width of the fabric so if it is narrow get extra. If it is wide get less.The clothes are adorable and my granddaughter loves them!

My big idea for my two girls (5 and 2) this year for Christmas was to buy a doll, make matching clothes for the girls and the dolls. Had to order this book! I love it because for me (new to the sewing machine and pattern reading) the added dvd of how to make most of the things in the book is so easy to understand. The only let down I had was for the pattern of the party dress on the front cover, there is no pattern for the girl only the doll. It instructs you to buy a certain pattern. Other than that I have no complaints. I have started making the tote bags that carry the dolls. It's so fun to pick colors and match things I know each girl will love. It takes time and effort to figure it all out but I'm certain on Christmas morning it will be worth it all! :) Thank you Mrs. Joanna for taking something that seemed so difficult and breaking it down for us beginners.

I have enjoyed using this book. I bought it for the doll patterns as I have no girls to sew for. I buy dolls and make them clothes, then donate them to different charities in our area. I have many of Joan Hinds books and really like them. Her patterns are cute and easy to use. I tend to like the ones with the patterns printed on pages instead of the large pull out sheets of paper. I don't mind tracing the patterns.

I saw this book at a local shop but the price was too much for my budget. I found it on Amazon at a much more reasonable price. I love the book. It is full of ideas for my granddaughters and their American Girl dolls. I used the matching apron pattern for Christmas presents. I even designed one for their mom. Now they have mom, daughter, and dollie aprons. The instructions are easy to follow and the photos are simply wonderful. Glad I found the book at a reasonable price.

The selling point for this book is the promise of matching projects to make for a girl and her 18" doll. But after reading through the patterns, there are really only about 3 or 4 which are interesting and attractive enough to make.With the dresses, the majority of the projects use a simple gathered tunic/skirt construction, so they basically all look alike. In fact, all of the dresses (except the cover dress) require a t-shirt for the girl and doll, which adds to the repetitive feeling. The cutest dress is the one on the cover, and (as others have mentioned) this dress' pattern is not included in the book.The casual outfits are more interesting, but again, the most interesting project (pajamas) does not have a girl pattern included in the book.The book is geared toward new sewists, and the intro section is a fun read for beginners. The author has a few tips and tricks to make sewing faster, but really those are tips that can be found in many places. There is little attention to finishing details, so for sewists who are slightly beyond the beginner level it can be a little frustrating.The included DVD is very short, and plays more like a commercial for the book. They do go into the construction of a few projects, but very superficially, maybe showing the cut pieces, referencing some specific feature (repurposed jeans, the order of sewing seams, ways to embellish, etc.) and then show the final piece. Since the book is so geared to beginners, I would have imagined that they would have shown much more step-by-step detail on an outfit or two. There are better YouTube tutorials out there.All in all, the book is fun to leaf through and I was inspired by a couple of the projects. It is not nearly as complete or satisfying as I was hoping, though.

I haven't made any of the patterns from this book yet but will be in the near future, the patterns look just as simple as, Joan Hinds "Doll Fashion Studio," I am waiting for my Granddaughter to go with me to pick out fabric for their matching outfits. All the patterns look easy and all are very cute.

When I was a child, my mom would never buy me store-bought doll clothes. If I wanted them, I had to make them myself. This book has been the perfect re-entry into the world of making doll clothes, as I begin sewing doll clothes for my own child. The dvd is helpful. The instructions are easy to use, and I love her philosophy of not spending more than 30 minutes making clothes for a doll.

Joan Hinds puts out wonderful ideas and patterns for"18 dolls

I bought this over a month ago to make presents for my daughter's fifth birthday: we had bought her a 'Petite Fleur' 18 inch doll and although I had made her a dres to match the one the doll came with, I wanted a few extra items for their wardrobe!First I made the doll tote bag, using a laminate cotton & contrasting print. It went together well and in the instructions were very clear. Second, I made the matching sundresses, which were a lot more complicated. Essentially you are directed to draw out many rectangles of fabric (at least eleven per dress!) and sew/gather/stitch. However, there is NO DIMENSION given for the pockets on the sundresses. It may well be elsewhere but in my sleep deprived state I could not see anything, so had to guess. Finally, I altered one dress to make a little sleeveless party frock to match my daughters.Overall I would say the pattern pieces fit well together, are on nice sturdy paper but once taken out of the back of the book, it would be good to have an envelope on the back to keep them nearby. I never cut mine out, always trace over, but still. There are no photographs of assembly, only line drawings which are pretty clear, but it is rather heavy on the written instruction with maybe one diagram per five actions. Not a big problem but to be aware of. Finally, I'd say that I'm happy I have this but have also bought and am waiting on the doll fashion studio and have a newly extensive collection of PDF patterns from Etsy, which are a bit more vintage as well as a few more modern ones. These are cute though and the presentation is nice - not patronising but clear. A good foundation and one that I will definitely use again (especially now I've worked out how I'd change the order of a few steps and traced out the patterns!).

Ci sono dei capi di abbigliamento che vanno bene per bimba e bambola, un bel regalo per entrambe :-)Alcuni sono decisamente belli, alcuni un po' andanti ma complessivamente il libro vale il prezzo che costa.

Great idea!The only problem was that my girls are bigger than the kid-sized patterns. Maybe it says that in the description; I don't remember.

Patterns clear and easy to follow.