When I was designing my Fun ‘n Frilly Top I had so many variations swirling around in my head and this one just wouldn’t go away. So instead of working on my new pattern, I pulled out my Sports Shorts pattern and my Fun ‘n Frilly Top pattern and started to play.

And I can’t believe just how easy it was to get the cute little Playsuit that I was dreaming of. With only one trial outfit, a few adjustments and the result was perfect!

Rather than create a new pattern to sell on my website, I wanted to show you how easy it is to adjust patterns to create something new and encourage you to get adventurous with your existing patterns. You’ve got to love a ‘free pattern’!

The following shows you exactly what I did to create this super cute Playsuit.

Wow, it’s been wonderful to see so many of you enjoying my new Fun ‘n Frilly Top pattern and I’m so glad that I included the bonus dress pattern as it seems that many of you have been making the fun ‘n frilly dress.

Within hours of the pattern being released, Joan had bought the pattern and made her first dress. She then made another 3 dress I think it was that day and the cat print one shows how she has added a pretty pink belt made from Fold Over Elastic to complete the look and the next one shows how she has substituted wide lace for the frill. This makes it a lovely feminine dress.

‘Purchased your pattern a few hours ago….love the style. Very easy and quick to make. – Joan’

March Madness was so successful last year that I have been encouraged to do it again.

‘Sew’ that means that for the whole month of March you will save a huge 20% on all purchases….Yes, that’s 20% off my How to Make Doll Clothes Video Course – either online or DVD set, and 20% off ALL my 18 inch American Girl and 18 ½ inch Cabbage Patch Doll Clothes Patterns….absolutely EVERYTHING in store!

I’m so excited to be releasing my new Fun ‘n Frilly Top for 18 ½ inch Cabbage Patch Kids. The feedback from my 18 inch American Girl size pattern has been awesome with everyone agreeing that it is a super easy pattern to make.

The top has an elasticized neckline with a pretty frill, or ‘ruffle’ for my American friends. It can be worn with the frill around the neckline or off the shoulders and looks a little like a peasant top. There are 3 Top Options for you to choose from and a BONUS Dress Options too!

I had so much fun creating this Fun ‘n Frilly Top that my daughter had to tell me to stop playing around and get the pattern finalized!  I was constantly coming up with different options and then mixing up the look by adding trims and embellishments and using different fabrics and color combinations.  My last count was 15 tops….I think I was getting a little too carried away!

‘Sew’ the final pattern has an elasticized neckline giving it a feminine, peasant look but without the sleeves.  It can be worn with the frill around the neckline or off the shoulders and I’ve provided 3 Top Options for you to choose from.  Which one will you make first?

Option 1 is the short top that finishes at the waist with an elastic casing for a clean, cool look.  Or you may prefer to leave it loose.

Welcome to the new year and welcome to my first Share and Tell blog for 2018. Hope you have all recovered from the Christmas rush and managed to get everything sewn that you needed to.

The first photo is from Helen, an active Australian member of my Facebook Sew and Share group. She was super busy leading up to Christmas sewing for a friend’s two beautiful granddaughters who live in America. She’s not sure how many doll clothes she made but there were two of everything, plus shoulder bags, beach bags and headbands. As someone in the group said, ‘Looks like the girls hit the motherload!’ I agree Helen, it sure looks like a lot of clothes and I’m pretty sure they were a hit.

The second photo shows a dress that Helen made adding extra to the skirt piece of my Summer Dress pattern to make the skirt fuller and omitting the hem and waist trim. Notice how she carefully cut out the bodice to ensure the pretty mermaid is the central feature.

I’ve found an awesome way to use up some of your fabric scraps and create the most amazing pair of shoes, slippers or boots. For the last couple of weeks I’ve been trialling my new 3 Way Shoe Pattern for Cabbage Patch Kids and apart from having heaps of fun, I’m being continually amazed at the fantastic results. I’ve made some canvas look runners by adding ribbon laces, some cute slippers with fleece and fur, and a pretty pair of party shoes by adding a sweet embroidered heart to the front toe piece…and this is only a few!

Oh boy, have I been having a ton of fun lately! I’ve spent the last two weeks playing around with different fabrics to make my new 3 Way Shoe Pattern and the results have been amazing!

This 3 Way Shoe pattern for 18 inch American Girl size dolls can make a pair of shoes using vinyl, faux suede, felt, fleece, pinwale cord or any medium weight woven fabric. Then by switching out some, or all the top fabric pieces for faux fur, you can instantly create a pair of warm and fuzzy slippers.  If that isn’t enough, the pattern pieces also allow for you to create a groovy pair of boots with or without a fur trim.….the options are endless!

Does anyone else feel like Santa looks? I’m not sure he’ll get through Christmas night if he’s looking like this after just helping the girls (dolls) and I set up the Christmas tree and wrap the presents……
Although I didn’t release any new patterns this year, I have certainly been busy experimenting with reducing my 18 inch American Girl doll clothes patterns to fit the 14 inch Wellie Wisher and Disney toddler dolls. This was an enjoyable project and I’m ‘sew’ happy with how all the outfits turned out. I can honestly say that sewing these smaller doll clothes is still super easy and lots of fun! I hope the four-part blog series I wrote will save you all having to buy new smaller patterns and that it shows you just how easy it is to resize your existing patterns. You can find this blog series on my Free Resources page.

Wow, I can’t believe how many members my Facebook group, Rosie’s Doll Clothes Patterns Sew and Share has already and it’s wonderful to see so many of you sharing your creations, asking questions and helping each other out. So for this Share and Tell, I’ve asked some of my members if they mind me sharing their photos and stories. It was certainly hard deciding which ones to include and after I made the decision, it turns out most of them are based off my Summer Dress pattern! Cindy has been busy making a winter nightie, several pinafore and blouse combinations in both Christmas prints and this sweet blue gingham, creating a cute ‘Dorothy outfit’ and this absolutely gorgeous Christmas dress using my popular Summer Dress pattern but by adding extra length to the skirt piece she has made it a fuller. She also makes all the shoes as well.