Many mothers were faced with the fact that their daughters were not willing to play with dolls. This is due to the fact that they simply are not interested. All story games are replayed, factory clothes are tired, so the child either completely ceases to be interested in the doll, or asks for a new one. Not because the old one is bad, but because the new one has a different outfit.
What is the way out of this situation? To sew! All and a lot. Your favorite doll should have enough clothes so that you can play a hike, a ball, and a simple walk. And if for clothes you can use patterns for people with little adaptation, taking into account the anatomical features of the doll, then what to do with tights? After all, in the fall she can’t go outside with her bare feet, and her pants are already tired! How to sew tights for a doll? In fact, quite easy.
What to sew from?
It all depends on the size of the toy. To sew tights for both Barbie dolls, and for Monster High dolls, Russian dolls of the Ogonyok company or Chinese counterparts, you can use nylon socks, stockings or tights. If the doll is larger, you can use children's socks or adult socks with high elastic.
For large enough dolls it can be difficult to choose the necessary size of socks, so you can use any knitted fabric, including turtlenecks and thin sweaters, as well as pantyhose for babies (size 62-68). The main thing to remember, the thinner the legs of the toy, the thinner the material should be.
Kinds
Before you sew tights for a doll, you should decide what they should be. In general, there are 3 types of tights, they differ in the location of the seam:
- A seam between the legs. (Fig. 1, fold lines are marked in red, the seam on the belt is behind). It is convenient in the manufacture of golf or socks, with a suitable waist volume helps to avoid unnecessary seams in the belt. But at the same time, seams are visible, which does not always look appropriate.
- A seam on the sides. In this technique, pantyhose for Barbie dolls is made of thin material. This greatly simplifies the cutting process, since the doll is simply applied to the material folded in half, circled along the contour, then simply sewn along the lines, and cut off the excess. However, in this case, the trimmed edges shine through both the inside and the outside of the leg, which spoils the appearance of the product, so this type of pantyhose is not popular among needlewomen.
- Back seam. (Fig. 2, 1/2 of the product, rounded neckline - motney line).In this case, the tights are neat, the seam on the legs is visible if the doll is turned with its back, however, with careful execution, it looks only as a decoration of the product. There will be 4 seams in the zone of the belt: 1 in the front and 3 in the back.
Training
To sew nylon tights for the doll , the material must first be prepared. There are 3 ways, they differ in time and final result:
- Freezing Wet material is placed in a plastic bag, tightly closed and left in the freezer for 12-24 hours. Then thawed at room temperature and dried.
- Cooking in bleach. For 0.5 water you will need 100 ml. whiteness. Cook for up to 15 minutes, then immerse in water with air conditioning for 10 minutes, then squeeze with a towel and dry. In this case, the pantyhose will significantly brighten, acquire a yellowish tint, but at the same time they can easily be painted in the desired color.
- Activated carbon cooking. For 0.5 water - 20 tablets. Cook for 10 minutes, then rinse off the charcoal, soak in water with air conditioning to restore elasticity. To dry.
After such processing, the material will become more dense and comfortable to work with, arrows and puffs will appear less. This is especially true for dolls like Barbie. It is simply impossible to sew nylon tights for them without preliminary preparation of the material.
Stages
The choice of material, cutting and tailoring - these are the main stages in the creation of tights. You can, of course, still make complex measurements, a pattern, but it is necessary only if sewing products with a back seam. Classic tights are sewn without it. However, this does not mean that you can sew the tights for the doll “by eye”. Like any other product, they must be tried on several times during the manufacturing process, so that the final result could please the master.
Cut
If socks or children's socks are used, you must first make sure that the product will fit well without additional seams. To do this, simply place the doll inside the material. If you are lucky, you will have to measure only the desired length and cut in the center into 2 legs. In this way, you can sew tights for Paol Rein’s doll, as well as for any other, in which the difference between the waist and hips is negligible.
In case the difference is significant, it will be necessary to make bevels along the back seam (as in Fig. 1), which will make the whole difference. In this case, it is necessary to check that, in the stretched state, the belt passes relatively freely through the doll's hips line. The length of the legs should be equal to the length of the leg along the inner seam + foot length + allowances. It is better to make them longer, and cut off after the product is ready.
It is recommended that the fabric is not cut to the top by 1 cm so that there is room for a seam, otherwise the landing at the waist will become lower than planned. Do the maximum width without allowances, as the fabric stretches. The rest of the pattern adjustment must be carried out during sewing.
Sewing
First you need to sew the upper part - the zone of the belt. Then you can mark the seam by laying the doll on top of the workpiece, trace the contour of the leg and sew along the resulting line. However, this method is suitable for sewing “tenths” of pantyhose, for the first time it is better to put the blank on the toy and already mark the seams on it taking into account the anatomical features of the doll.
If the doll is Barbie, then the legs will be in the form of a cone, but if the toy has a pronounced foot, then additional seams may be needed. This is especially true for fairly dense materials. In this case, it is necessary to sew the tights up to the ankles, then measure again. Then there are 2 options:
- The first is the seam to the floor, vertical, then semicircular, repeating the contour of the foot (from the little finger through the inner side of the foot and to the outer edge of the heel).
In this case, there will be no seam on the foot, the toy will be more stable, and there will be no unnecessary folds on the rise of the foot. However, this method will not work if the shoes have only a small margin in width and length.
- The second method is to sew the side seam to the center of the foot, then sew the legs perpendicular to the side.
Since it will not work to sew tights for the dolls of the “big-legged” one, the second method is ideal for them.
After all the seams are made, it is necessary to try on, without twisting, if necessary, correct, then trim the excess material and turn it out.
Edge processing
So that the edge does not crumble, it must be processed. Despite the fact that the fabric used is mostly synthetic, it is extremely undesirable to melt the edges with fire. This is due to the fact that the product must stretch, and the fused edge loses this property. Therefore, it is better to use an overlock, a zigzag stitch on a typewriter, or manually flash an overcast seam. If you use a very dense knitwear (as in swimwear), then such material does not need to be processed.
The presented master class will help in the work.
Useful Tips
- If you sew pantyhose from a mesh fabric, it is better to apply a small “zigzag” seam type. So it will turn out more elastic and at the same time it will capture a larger number of mesh threads.
- The stitches on the products should be very small so that there are no large holes in the places where the seam line changes, through which the edges will turn out.
- When working with kapron, it is better to use an additional layer: a newspaper, to which parts folded in half will be pinned. So the edges of the parts will not get inside the sewing machine, it will be more convenient to work with them, and after the work is completed, the newspaper can be easily removed.
- Since it is quite difficult to sew tights for a small doll, it is necessary to cut the fabric between the legs after the legs are sewn, but before the material is detached from the newspaper.
A variety of items in the doll’s wardrobe: dresses, pants, sweaters, tights, shoes and outerwear will not only return the child’s interest in the toy, but also develop a sense of taste and social responsibility. After all, it’s not very good when the “mother” - the girl walks down the street dressed, while she carries her “child” - a doll with bare legs and head, since it is in childhood that the foundations of a further attitude to her own children and animals are laid.