How to Make a Doll Sweater

Reconstitute your old socks to create a new sweater for your doll.

Constantly purchasing clothes to give your child's favorite doll a complete wardrobe will wear on any budget. Or, perhaps, your beloved doll is in need of a new garment to keep looking fashionable. No matter the situation, instead of buying a new doll sweater, it may be easier and less expensive to make one. Reconstitute an old sock for a warm winter sweater, or choose a brightly patterned sock to bring color into the doll's wardrobe.

Things You'll Need

• Tube sock
• Fabric tape measure
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Interfacing
• Sewing pins
• Needle
• Matching thread

Instructions

1. Flatten the tube sock on a tabletop or work desk. Measure and mark the point approximately five inches from the top of the sock. This will be the length of the sweater. Make any adjustments in the measurement for a longer or shorter sweater, but leave room for a 1/4-inch seam. Cut across the sock, separating the tube portion from the heel. Discard the heel.

2. Turn the tube portion inside out. Fold up the cut edge of the sock about 1/4-inch. This will be the seam for the bottom of the sweater and the cuff of the sleeves. Insert a sheet of interfacing into the fold of the seam, ensuring it's inserted correctly all the way around the tube sock. Interfacing helps keep the seam tight in loosely woven clothing.

3. Pin the folded edge and interfacing into place. Sew around the folded edge of the sock. Ensure that you're sewing around the edge of the tube, and not sewing the sock closed. Remove the pins as you sew.

4. Cut the unused portion of interfacing away from the seam. Remove it by cutting around the sock, leaving only the portion that's sewn into the seam.

5. Flatten the tube sock and position it so the new seam is at the bottom. Measure and mark the point about 1/2-inch in from each side of the sock. This will create the sleeves for the doll's sweater. Make any adjustments in the measurement for wider or thinner sleeves.

6. Sew a vertical straight line at the 1/2-inch measurement that runs from the bottom seam up through the middle of the sock. End the line about one inch from the top of the sock, or at the desired armpit level.

7. Turn your sewing toward the inside of the sock and create a horizontal stitch, measuring 1/4-inch. This is done without tying off the thread.

8. Turn your sewing again, so the stitch will continue toward the bottom of the sock. Sew a parallel stitch along the first vertical stitch, until you reach the bottom of the sock. Tie off and cut the thread.

9. Create the second sleeve by repeating the same stitching process on the other side of the tube sock. Repeat steps 5 through 8 to finish sewing the second sleeve.

10. Separate the sleeves from the body of the sweater. Cut into the tube sock at the point between the two long parallel sleeve stitches. Start at the bottom and cut from the cuff of the sleeve up to the horizontal stitch that creates the armpit. Don't cut through any of the sleeve stitches. Repeat this process for the second sleeve.

11. Turn the sweater right-side out. Use the end of a pencil to help with the sleeves.

Tips & Warnings

• For larger dolls, consider using the sleeve of a sweater or any other tube-like garment.

• If you don't have any interfacing, try using a thin piece of paper or a used drier sheet.

• Cut the finished sweater down the middle to create a cardigan.

References

• Cut Out and Keep; Doll Sweater from Socks; January 03, 2008
• Somewhere That's Green: Making Your own Doll Clothes -- From Socks!