McCall's: 4338 - Type:Crafts  | | Viewed 56 times
| 2 more reviews | Review rated Very Helpful by 3 people | | Reviewed by: | fourkid | 
 | About fourkid | | FL USA | | Member since: 8/30/08 | | Reviews written: 88 | | Sewing skills:Intermediate | | Favored by: 7 people | | patterns reviewed: 73 | | Bio: more... |
| | Posted on: | 1/30/13 5:03 PM | | Project Photo: |  | | Pattern Photo: | 
McCall's Pattern Info | | Pattern Rating: | Recommend, with Modifications | | See other patterns in this category: Crafts | Available for sale on PR: $11.62 (See envelope)  | | | | Fabric: | Cotton [See other projects in this fabric] | | Related Links | Click on  to add a link |
| Pattern Description:
Baby doll clothes. Options include: Jacket, Jumper, Romper, Dress, Top, Pants, Panties, Hat, Headband, and Booties.
Pattern Sizing:
There are two sizes. Medium (11"-13" doll) and Large (14"-16" doll)
For the bunny outfit I used the Medium size for all views, except the booties which were the Large (the bunny has fat feet.)
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yes
Were the instructions easy to follow?
The directions and pattern tissue contain errors and can be incomplete. I also don't care much for how the tissue is printed and laid out.
There are two sizes in the envelope. I realize there are a lot of small pattern pieces - but they make it even more confusing by their cutting of corners. Each garment in each size is printed in a box on the tissue. Only in this box are the pieces numbered - not on the individual piece -Soooooo - be very careful when you cut them apart. I kept all the pieces to one view and size together and was careful to then pin those pieces in one stack along with the pattern number block in order to store them back in the envelope without creating total chaos. I also hand printed in on each piece the pattern number. The grainline is also in the box - not on the pattern piece itself. This wasn't too bad since the pieces to cut are small and pretty easy to keep straight.
Since each view was in its own box on the tissue, this also made for a lot of extra straight lines. It can get confusing having extra lines, so I was careful to cut all those extra lines away.
I can't remember which piece it is without pulling them all out and apart again (which I am not going to do), but one view had actual wrong information on it as well. While it was fairly obvious to me - a beginning sewist may be caught off guard - so double check each piece as you use them and if something seems off - it probably is.
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
These doll garments are very cute and easy to sew (after you get over the pattern difficulties.)
The one exception I found is the booties - they are tricky. More on these to follow.
Fabric Used:
Leftover cotton.
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
Dress - the dress is very straight-forward. The one addition to the directions that I made is to do clips into the seam allowance around the neck before turning and pressing. It will lie flatter.
Headband - The directions are incomplete. I used a tri-folded and pressed strip of fabric rather than a ribbon. There are no instructions that I could find that say how long the ribbon or fabric strip is to be, but it does say how much elastic to cut, so I just made sure the fabric was significantly longer than the elastic and then trimmed the fabric after applying the elastic. I ended up redoing this. When applying the elastic to the ribbon (or in my case fabric strip), you need to pull the elastic quite taut as you sew them together.
Booties - Again the instructions are incomplete. My first attempt was tossed. My second try is acceptable - but not great. I know I am destined to do these again, so I have worked out and noted some changes. The elastic must go in the channel you form with the two rows of stitching at the top edge. This makes a ruffly top edging. The stay stitching is very necessary - don't skip this step. When applying the sole to the lower edge of sides is where I really had issues. There is no way I could machine stitch this on - hence my first failed pair. It requires lots of clips. I also opted to hand sew this step on my second attempt. I still had a big gap and ended up just sewing in a fold of fabric on the bottom of each pair. I don't like that, but they are a doll shoe - and it is good enough this time around. What I will do next time is to hand baste around the back half of the sole and pull up the thread slightly to have it fit to the bottom bootie edge. I think that will look better than a fold.
UPDATE: I have made a few more pairs of the booties. It is much easier if you do a basting gather along the back of the heel. All went together nicely that way - even without clips - though I still needed to hand sew the sole to the boot.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I know I will be sewing this again! And I do recommend the pattern. The outfits are adorable and easy to sew (bootie soles excluded!), though the directions leave a lot to be desired.
Conclusion:
Pictures:
Completed Outfit
Headband, Diaper (panties) and Booties If you look closely you can see the fold in the bottom of the right bootie - Ugh!
Back diaper view
Pattern Envelope
The Jumper
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6 Comments
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Hello, you cute little bunny! I live next door to you and you may jump into one of the exterior pockets and take a little ride! -- your friend, the handbag (4kid, this is a very cute project)
1/30/13 5:26 PM
This turned out well in spite of the instructions! Very cute outfit!! Bunny now has her Easter dress!
1/30/13 6:17 PM
How cute is that??
1/30/13 7:10 PM
So cute! I'm impressed with the booties.. the look like they would be tricky to sew. The pattern layout sounds really unusual.
1/31/13 2:05 AM
Adorable! Thank you for the detailed list of issues with this pattern.
1/31/13 8:35 AM
Very cute little outfit! (I've seen the same thing done with the boxes on a Vogue crafts pattern, I think it was for fabric flowers, and thought it was a little annoying too. Congrats on working around the pattern issues.)
2/1/13 6:26 AM