I Might Have the Obsession With American Girl Dolls Version of Perimenopause. Anyway, Here's My Review of All Dolled Up!

All Dolled Up: Sewing Clothes and Accessories for Girls and Their 18-Inch Dolls by Joan Hinds
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Welcome to my summer obsession! Also, does anyone else want to die from the cuteness of those dinosaur pajamas, or am I just really that deep into perimenopause?

Because I personally think they're so freaking cute that I can't stand it. If I saw an actual toddler out and about in those jammies, I guarantee I'd kidnap it. Turn your head for one minute, parents of cute toddlers, and the next thing you know your kid and I are going to be sprawled out on my living room floor, surrounded by the plastic dinosaur toys I kept from my own kids' childhoods, happily making them roar and chomp at each other while listening to old Nancy Cassidy CDs.

Don't worry, though--I'll bring your kid back when it starts to actually want something or get hungry or whatever. Because my favorite thing about perimenopause is no longer cooking meals!

You're obviously meant to use this book to sew matching outfits for kids and their 18-inch dolls (I hate the gender essentialism in these books, but it's too prevalent to get worked up about lest I simply always be worked up, sigh), but what I really wanted was a selection of classic pattern pieces that I could make my own. Some of the pieces here are a little dated and some are so specific that I didn't think they'd customize well, but otherwise, that's mostly what I got!

The pattern pieces are well laid-out on large-format pattern paper in the back of the book. I've read multiple reviews now of people complaining that patterns laid out in that way are impossible to copy and I'm always like... ??? You literally just have to trace them? 

So many pattern pieces, traced onto tracing paper because that is literally not a big deal?

I think the step-by-step instructions are very well-written and thorough, with illustrations for many steps. I would have liked options laid out for more advanced finishing techniques for seams, especially, but since I was intentionally making my favorite patterns multiple times in different colors and fabrics, I think I figured out nice ways to finish most of the seams.

Check out that nicely finished shoulder seam. No raw edges for my dolls!

My favorite patterns in this book are the Monkey Pajamas (but not with the Monkey applique because that part is kind of corny)--

--the ruffled capris (I also lengthened this pattern so that I could make a full-length pair of ruffled pants)--

--and the T-shirts, which worked fine as-is but which I also ended up modifying to make them a little roomier and to utilize the finished hems of upcycled thrifted shirts:

These T-shirts are exactly what I was thinking of when I was wanting a classic, easily modified pattern that I could customize however I wanted. They're simple, they work with all knit fabrics from jersey knit to ribbed knit to four-way stretch to stretch velvet, and I've currently got Mr. Craft Knife working on making me .svg files of cute little appliques that I can add to them. 

Because if you thought that a doll-sized set of flannel dino jammies was cute, think about how cute a little dino T-shirt will be!

P.S. View all my reviews.

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