You can sew this pattern for any size ball-jointed doll. Just plug in the measurements!
Materials
- 1/4 yard or meter knit sweater fabric
- Scissors
- Sewing thread to match fabric
- Pins
- Tape measure
- Paper
- Pencil
- No-fray spray
Measure Your BJD
Measure from wrist to wrist. (wr2wr)
Measure from collar bone to the point where you want the sweater to sit on the hips. (co2hi)
Measure hips at that point. (hips)
Take the neckline measurement by measuring from the top of the shoulder to right under collar bone. (neck)
If the BJD has removable hands, measure circumference of the arm. (arm) Otherwise, measure the circumference of the widest hand (thanks to acexkeikai on Den of Angels!). We will still refer to this measurement as “arm“.
Measure the circumference of the head. (head)
Make the Sweater Pattern
You will use the measurements you obtained to create the front and back part of the pattern, which have the same dimensions except for the neckline.
Draw a horizontal line using the measurement obtained for wr2wr plus 1/2 inch (1.25 cm)
At the midpoint of that line, draw a vertical line the length of co2hi plus 1 inch (2.5 cm)
Draw a line that is 1/2 of hip measurement plus 1/2 inch (1.25 cm), centered at the bottom of the vertical line.
Place two marks on the wr2wr line, 1/2 of head measurement apart, centered at the top of the vertical line.
For front piece: take the neck measurement minus 1/4” (0.6 cm) and mark the vertical line below wr2wr.
To make armholes, draw lines straight down from the end of the wr2wr that are 1/2 arm plus 1/4” (0.6 cm).
Join the hip line to arm lines.
Fold paper pattern along vertical line.
Cut neckline in a rounded fashion to create neck hole
For the back piece, repeat all of the steps, except for the neckline.
For back piece: take the neck measurement minus 1/2” (1.25 cm) and mark the vertical line below wr2wr. Then continue as for the front.
Cut the pattern pieces out.
Cut the Fabric
Align the pattern pieces with the fabric design and pin them to the fabric.
Cut the pieces.
Sew the Sweater
Fold 1/4” (0.6 cm) of the bottom edge (hip) over and seam. (To minimize bulk, the raw edge will remain exposed inside the sweater, and will be treated with no-fray spray.)
Fold 1/4” (0.6 cm) at front neckline and seam. (Will be treated with no-fray spray.)
Repeat fold and seam at back neckline.
With right sides together (inside out), sew shoulder seams, from the cuff to the neck. (Leave the neck opening open.)
Fold over 1/4” (0.6 cm) at cuff, and seam. (Will be treated with no-fray spray.)
With right sides facing (inside out), seam both underarm seams.
Trim off excess seam allowance. Apply no fray spray for raw edges.
Turn right side out and you are done!
If you like this how-to, please link to it and share it with your friends!
~BJDmagazine
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- Easy-to-make fully fashioned socks/stockings for your BJD
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iT'S A VERY GOOD TUTO THANK YOU
Thanks for the tutorial! What sewing machine have you used here? I've not seen anything like it!
Thank you for your comment. The sewing machine is a vintage Singer sewing machine (185J). It has the most beautiful form, and jadite color. It is very basic, but works great!
Aren’t those old Singers great?!
Rather than cut a neckline on this style of sweater, I simply pull it down a bit more in the middle 1/3 of the neck area when I stitch it down. This gives it a nice curve, but a lot fewer loose threads sticking out later that have to be dealt with! If it seems to pull a bit (not stretch enough), you can clip a few stitched in at one or two spots along the seam allowance, just until it lays flat.