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Blythe On A Budget: Economical Sewing Tips

Written on April 4, 2012 at 12:00 pm by Michelle
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Photo from sxc.hu user thea0211

A great way to save a little money is to make your own doll clothing. Of course, if you buy expensive materials, it may end up more expensive compared to already made frocks… I like to get the most bang for my buck, and I’ve compiled a little list of things that I do to keep the sewing part of my Blythe hobby as inexpensive as humanly possible.

  • I use primarily clear, white or black thread and I tend to save the coloured thread for when I really need it. If the stitches aren’t going to show, I usually just use white thread. I’ve found that white thread is more likely to go on sale or be cheaper and it also comes in larger spools. You don’t need to buy matching thread for all your projects, especially if the thread isn’t showing. This also means that I always have three bobbins reserved for clear, white or black thread. The rest of the bobbins often have remnants of other colours that I don’t use as often.
  • Thrift bedsheets. Two weeks ago I picked up a white king-sized flat bedsheet for the grand total of $3 plus tax. It’s 100% cotton and you could not get that big of a piece of fabric at a fabric store for that price. The only flaw with it was that there was an orange stain the size of a quarter. It went through the wash with a bit of bleach and it came out completely white. Now I have enough white fabric to use as lining forever (given my pace of sewing…).
  • Buttons! I snip buttons off of clothes that I’m about to throw out or utilize the fabric somewhere else. Even if I don’t have a project right that moment, I’ll probably have a project for it in the future. This also applies to thrifted clothes that I get for their fabrics (I like looking in the children’s section for clothing with small prints that would fit well for Blythe).
  • Transferring patterns. I don’t like cutting patterns out of books or out of the big pattern sheets (Simplicity, I’m looking at you!). What I like to do is use tracing paper. Tracing paper is inexpensive (even more so if you use a 40% or 50% off coupon from one of the big box arts & crafts stores!) and a pad is usually pretty thick (at least 50 sheets). It’s easy to use and is thinner than regular paper so it also lies flatter when you’re pinning it against fabric.

What great money-saving sewing tips do you have? Share below!

4 Responses to “Blythe On A Budget: Economical Sewing Tips”

  1. Laura AKA @plastic_fashion
    says:

    My tip: If you have kids you know how quickly they out grow their clothes. Why not re purpose some of it and make clothes for your Blythes. I have made jeans and dresses out of my daughter’s old things.

  2. Jaenulia says:

    I also use bed sheets.
    Sometimes, clothes price tags are attatched by ribbon. I can’t help myself, I just have to keep them, sometimes they are really pretty. I haven’t had to buy black ribbon in years!

  3. olivia AKA @oliveplusoh
    says:

    Great tips! I sent you an email about this 🙂

  4. Alice AKA @nuwandalice
    says:

    I like to buy (largest size available, for most fabric) knickers. 😀 Heheh. They have cute small scale patterns for making doll size clothes. UK folks: marks and spencers! Super cheap and lovely fabric. Cute little ice cream patterns, stars, lollipops etc.

    Also. They are awesome knickers. Which puts me in the slightly unusual and/or hilarious position of having matching underwear with my dolls’ dresses. LOL!

Leave a Reply to Laura

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