Doll's Overalls

I wanted to make a pair of proper overalls for a doll--not just pants with a bib and straps, but full vintage-style overalls, with the straps coming off of a narrow high back.

Years ago, I thrifted Simplicity 9563, from 1990. 

At the time, I got it mostly because I thought the extreme 1990-ness of it was funny, and I was also amused by the fact that the fabric store stamp on it had a literal UK High Street address.  What kind of life did that pattern lead, to get from the UK in 1990 to a Nashville-area thrift store in 2014?

I added the pattern to my pattern stash just to giggle at sporadically, until a few years ago, when I saw so many people online making overalls that I thought it might? be fun to make a pair, too.  Other than the short leg length, this pattern has everything I want in an overalls style, including the tall narrow back that the straps are attached to.

When I finally opened the envelope to have a look at what was inside, I discovered that a previous owner had cut the pieces in size 6, and they'd cut off the crotch extensions to make an overalls-style jumper (well, if they were British, I suppose it would be a pinny.)  Adding the crotch extensions would be easy enough, by using another pants pattern, but, the size?  Well...I noticed that the back description called these "Very oversized"--given how everything was already extra roomy in that era, if something was specifically noted as "very oversize," it was going to be enormous.  So, I measured the pattern pieces at the size 6 cut waist, and estimated it would even be generous enough to go on my body.

However.  I hesitated for years to make them, because the shape of my body would, honestly, end up making them look like maternity clothes.  So, I put the pattern back in the stash, figuring I'd never actually use it, but, if I did have a need for proper overalls, well, I'd have the pattern.

And then, when I had the idea to make doll overalls, I thought, oh!  I can use this pattern for reference!  I got my doll jumpsuit pattern (first one here), copied the pieces, and started trying to modify them, looking at the pattern piece guide in the instructions for the Simplicity pattern.  I quickly ran into the problem of not knowing exactly where one part on one side related to the other side.

Then I thought: I'm never going to want to make another pair of doll overalls again, so why put this much work into it.  Why not scan the pattern piece guide, enlarge it to doll size, clean it up by tracing over it with vector lines, then print and use that. So, I did, and it worked pretty well!

...but not without issues.

The biggest problem was that it was so big. Looking at the traced enlarged pieces made it immediately clear that there would be way too much crotch depth.

 

So I folded an inch out before cutting, which may have been a bit too aggressive, but still acceptable.

They were still really really wide, though.  I used the last of that fabric to make this pair of overalls, and it was exactly what I wanted to do with that fabric, so I really wanted to make them work.  I eventually decided to take some width out at the center back seam.  Since I didn't want to disassemble the overalls in any way, this got a little awkward

 

 But!  It was enough to take them from "These are simply too big" to "These are delightfully oversize."

Honestly, as-given, the default pattern would probably fit a Ken--or maybe even a 15" Tyler-type doll--with no problem.  And, even though I really went into this thinking I would only make this one pair of doll overalls, my brain wanted to see if I could fix the pattern to be more like I had envisioned.

I took out the crotch depth and narrowed the front and back pieces in the centers of each piece, instead of at the seams, and made this

 

 which in  turn made this

 

 

I did leave the legs on the patterns at the original knee length, but I don't know if I'd ever make a pair at that length, so I added length to the legs as I cut the fabric.

And, although I do have some very lightweight denim, this is made from chambray, because I am not confident I could turn those shoulder straps in anything heavier than this.  I did go look at the overalls patterns in the Japanese sewing magazine scans, and those have straps that are all done in a single layer, with the raw edges folded under and stitched.  I'd rather deal with turning the straps than trying to get those edges folded evenly--that's also why I made facings for all of the pockets, because I did not want to try to press those curves.  I don't even want to do that in full-size garments.

And then my brain was like "Well, those Japanese sewing publications have overalls in Blythe size, why don't you?"   I left some parts--like the straps and side pockets and leg loop--the same width, and narrowed and shortened everything else to make that pattern

 

I sewed that test pair with much less care than I had the Barbie-size versions, including replacing the doll-size overalls buckles/studs with just snaps (which is also what the Japanese doll publications do.)  The result does indeed fit Blythe fine, but I've been in a Mod Era Barbie mood lately, so Malibu Skipper was chosen to model these.

 

I think I cut the straps too short, but that was all on me, not the pattern (I cut off an inch of strap end on each side.)

Now it might be accurate to say I'll probably never make another pair of doll overalls...but...they would be interesting in other fabrics...  So that's why I'm freely sharing the tracings and modifications I did.  No instructions, though--I suspect that someone who would be comfortable sewing these is probably someone who can figure out what to do (or who knows where to look to find proper overalls sewing instructions.)  Have fun!