Doll Books I Like...

[magkelly]

Someone asked me which doll books I'd suggest for ideas, patterns, inspiration et all.

This is my list of books that I often refer back to and/or want.

Joan Hinds

Sew the Contemporary Wardrobe for 18-Inch Dolls: Complete Instructions & Full-Size Patterns for 35 Clothing and Accessory Items

All Dolled Up: Sewing Clothes and Accessories for Girls and Their 18-Inch Dolls

Sew Today's Fashions for 18-Inch Dolls: Full-Size Patterns for Clothing and Accessories

Sew the Essential Wardrobe for 18-Inch Dolls

Sew the International Wardrobe for 18-Inch Dolls

Sew the Storybook Wardrobe for 18-Inch Dolls

She has others but these are the ones I use the most. I find these handy for 16" guy dolls, 16" girl dolls as well as the 18" AG/BFC type dolls. I often have to alter the patterns a bit to make more narrow clothes but the fit is about right for a lot of the bigger dolls I like. More importantly her doll books aren't priced out of my reach which makes owning actual physical copies of her books possible.

Roselyn Gadia-Smitley-Dolls Clothes Pattern Book

I love the simplicity and adaptability of the patterns in this book and again this one is affordable. You can own a physical copy of this book and not break the bank.

Rosemarie Ionker

A Closetful Of Doll Clothes
Dressing Dolls with Rosemarie Ionker
Fashions For Small Dolls
Fashion Doll Clothing

The first 3 are not too bad price-wise but the 4th is a budget killer. It's also a pretty fabulous book, though not one for amateurs at sewing. I have all but the Dressing Dolls one. It's on my list to own though.

Venus A Dodge-The Doll's Dressmaker: The Complete Pattern Book

Another inexpensive one, but very, very useful. Nice patterns. Simple to use and adapt.

Timothy J. Alberts

The Art of Making Miniature Millinery
The Art of Making Beautiful Fashion Doll Shoes

The first is not so bad, but the second is going for insane prices. They're permanent additions to my doll library though I must say I am very glad I picked these up first run, used. Otherwise I could have never afforded them. Lovely books though. People say these aren't so good for technique and they probably aren't unless you're really good with your hands and can practically read between the lines but I'd have bought them anyway. They're totally awesome in terms of what they show you can do with a little imagination. Not worth $150 for sure, but the $10 each that I paid for them, yes.


Michelle Hamilton-Sewing Victorian Doll Clothes: Authentic Costumes from Museum Collections

Totally insanely priced to collect but a really awesome book and I am fortunate that my library actually has a copy and that I actually got to um, see it.

Hazel McMahon-

Period & Contemporary: Patterns for Fashion Dolls
Famous Couples: Fashion Doll Patterns

I rather like this first book. I'm a costume and period clothes geek, but I'm SO very glad I found it at Goodwill one year. It's getting pricey to buy though it's still affordable if you don't mind paying $30 plus for it. The second one I don't have but I'm working on that. A must have I think.

Marilyn Carter-Dolls Dressmaking

Not as useful as some but for less than $5 I still found it worthy enough of inclusion in my library.

Marsha Greenberg-Hankie Couture: Hand-Crafted Fashions from Vintage Handkerchiefs

This one really isn't great for instruction but I include it because I like Marsha's work. I do a lot of this sometimes with old textiles myself, hankies, doilies, you name it, and I just really enjoyed just seeing a book made about her work. You won't believe what she can do with an old handkerchief.

Jill Salen-Corsets: Historical Patterns & Techniques

Not a doll pattern book per se but I have it and I've found it very helpful as to construction of antique undies for my dolls.

Mari DeWitt-Vintage Clothing for the Fashion Doll

I'm waiting on this one from the inter-library loan as I type. Looks very interesting. But if you're thinking about buying it? It's a bit expensive to acquire.

Louise Hedrick- Bleuette Clothing Patterns, 1905-1916

Ditto, looks fascinating, and our inter-library loan supposedly has it, but the price tag to buy this one is steep on Amazon.

Sterling-The Perfect Book of Doll Clothes: The Vanessa-Ann Collection

Got this one at the library. There's a pattern or two in it that's useful. Might add it to my library eventually. You can buy this one cheaply.

Andra Knight-Bowman

Fun Fashions: Contemporary Outfits to Knit for 18" Dolls

Fun-to-Knit Doll Clothes

These are both great if you knit well. I enjoyed seeing them but my knitting skills aren't up to these.

Nicky Epstein- Knits for Barbie Doll: 75 Fabulous Fashions for Knitting

Another great one if you like to knit.

Robert Archer-Fashion Doll Wardrobe Collection

I have a real love-hate thing going on with this pattern collection. I love what I've managed to make so far from it, but I'm just not good enough of a seamstress as yet to do half of it. Also only part of what's shown in the collection is in the box. You have to order the extra patterns which makes me rather annoyed as I think that's a bit of a rip off as the book shows them and it's not an inexpensive set to buy at all. The way I see it this first set and book was a bit of a teaser for the rest. I'm not buying it. I really think it should have been in there in the first place.

Juliette Peers-The Fashion Doll: From Bébé Jumeau to Barbie

Not a pattern book but it's a killer read on dolls...

Jim Faraone Fashion Doll Makeovers I-V

A lot of this is pics not technique but still I found them very helpful. I learned a lot from reading them. BUT I actually prefer these 2 books for practical repainting tips:

Sabrina Guidice

Creating Fashion Dolls: A Step-By-Step Guide to Face Repainting
Creating Fashion Dolls: A Step-By-Step Guide to One-Of-A-Kind Dolls

Sylvia Mac Neil-Paris Collection: French Doll Fashions & Accessories

Very interesting book. I got this one from the library, cough, a long time ago and I like it for period dress. Patterns such as they are aren't easy, it's more of a catalog of styles than a dressmaking manual but it help me a lot with a couple of period dresses I've made.

One of those books you'd spend half the rent on though, sigh...

Charlotte Eldridge-The Godey Lady Doll. With 15 Dress Patterns and 22 Scale Drawings of Miniature Furniture

Another library book, well worth the work it took to hunt it down. It's a bit hard to use. The patterns you practically have to be Coco Chanel to understand them, but it's a lovely, lovely book and it's a heck of a read besides historically speaking. You see these dolls mentioned in period fiction all the time but it's a totally different thing actually seeing them there in the pics, seeing the patterns, knowing that this is where Barbie and her descendants really came from. These and the French and German fashion dolls used by couture designers they really Barbie's ancestors. Oddly enough it's not all that expensive to buy. It's out there and unlike some older books it's affordable. It's definitely not for the faint of heart seamstress though. So far I just look, but someday when I can really sew I am going to take these patterns on...

Stuart R. Holbrook-The Doll As Art - Face, Form, and Fashion in the Golden Age of Dollmaking

Not a pattern book but a really interesting read....

Laura Jacobs- Barbie: What a Doll!: Four Decades of a Fashion

Ditto...

Aimee Eckert- From Worn to Wonderful: A Step-By-Step Guide to Fashion Doll Restoration

Waiting on a library loan for this one. (Fingers crossed) Can't wait to see it. I've heard some wonderful things about this one but cannot afford it at all. (It's 450.00 on Amazon!)

Yvonne Wakefield- Edwardian Style Hand-Knitted Fashion for 1/12 Scale Dolls

Ditto. I really want to get my hands on this, sigh...

I have a few other really old ones I'm waiting on, but I'll talk more about those as I see them. I don't know much about them as yet and I don't want to comment too much on something I haven't actually seen...

Oops, forgot 2...

Lyn Alexander-Make Doll Shoes! Workbook I-II

For flat feet dolls very good, for fashion dolls not so much, but still I have both.

[delbelcoure]

Great list! I have a lot of those books and I agree, they are really useful.
I'm wondering about the Robert Archer-Fashion Doll Wardrobe Collection. I checked it out from my local library and I had a few problems with it. The pictures showed dresses that didn't really fit the dolls well, they looked lumpy, not sleek. When you made up the patterns, did the dresses fit well? I also didn't like the "bait and switch" aspect. Te patterns I were truly interested in were the ones not included in the set.

[Greyhaunt]

Since most of these relate to making doll clothing, I'm just going to bump this into the Total Sewing area

[magkelly]

Great list! I have a lot of those books and I agree, they are really useful.
I'm wondering about the Robert Archer-Fashion Doll Wardrobe Collection. I checked it out from my local library and I had a few problems with it. The pictures showed dresses that didn't really fit the dolls well, they looked lumpy, not sleek. When you made up the patterns, did the dresses fit well? I also didn't like the "bait and switch" aspect. Te patterns I were truly interested in were the ones not included in the set.

So far I've only made one thing from that kit but it went okay. The whole bait and switch thing I really didn't like though. I actually like the Rosemarie Ionker books better. For $25 they should have included all the patterns IMHO.