I have been working  hard on getting out a long-requested basic dress, slip and panty pattern for the 1950s hard plastic girls, Toni and Sweet Sue, and those with the same body shape and size like Nanette, Alexander Maggie and Margaret, and others.  The pattern will be a well fitting basic pattern that can be used many ways— which I will cover in future blog posts after the pattern is released. It will come out in four sizes, actually five because the 18″ Sweet Sue pattern will have a sleeve pattern for the regular arm and an additional sleeve pattern for the doll with vinyl arms.. If there are requests I will add sizes later.

This pattern will  be less expensive than some of mine that are more complicated, and will be great for anyone who sews who is just a beginner or someone with lots of experience who just wants a good, handy basic pattern to create  dresses from.

Unlike the makers of the old commercial patterns, which claim to fit “Toni or Sweet Sue” in varying sizes– my pattern is made to actually FIT,  and since Toni and Sweet Sue have completely different body shapes, for the dresses to fit well each has to have their own pattern. If you look at the pictures of the dress, you can see the fit is very nice, not loose or sloppy. Unhappily, if you buy the Toni pattern and try to use it for Sweet Sue, it will be sloppy. If you buy the Sweet Sue and try to use it on Toni– it will be much too tight!

I wish I could print it on tissue but that is prohibitively expensive, but the patterns are clear and very easy to trace off on tissue for ease of use.

 Once the pattern is available,  I will be doing posts on ways you can take the basic pattern and make fancy or plain dresses, long or short dresses, how to change the sleeve and so on.

I have it close to going to press and will post when it is ready, but this process takes some time so it will be at least a couple of weeks. I am anxious to get it done and get back to sewing! My next batch of dresses for these dolls will be made using this pattern, with alterations to make it look different.

The pictures on this post are of the dress I am doing the pattern for.  I welcome your comments or ideas! Thanks for visiting!