September 16, 2021

NEW RELEASE from Lee & Pearl — the COLLEGIATE collection of coordinated fabrics, perfect for your doll's fall wardrobe!

CLICK HERE to visit the Fabric & Trim section of the Lee & Pearl Etsy store to shop the COLLEGIATE listing of coordinated doll-scale fabrics!

There are five doll-scale textiles in this collection — a cotton twill suiting, a cheerful cotton gingham, a supple faux leather, a mini-wale corduroy and an elegantly draping rayon lawn. These fabrics were selected by our designer to coordinate in autumnal shades of mossy green, brown, light orange, bittersweet and coral.

Each fabric can be individually ordered and multiples of any fabric in a single order will be cut as one continuous length. Order one of each — or mix-and-match different lengths to create your own ideal doll sewing kit.

We know it can be hard to find garment weight fabrics in big-box stores, and hard to determine if online fabrics really are doll-scale. That's why we created this collection of coordinated, doll-tested fabrics that we know are perfect on both counts.

How do we know? Our designer sewed a capsule wardrobe for our American Girl® dolls using these fabrics and Lee & Pearl™ patterns, and then took our dolls to the local university for a photo shoot!

The first fabric is a 100% COTTON TWILL, featuring a herringbone weave in alternating mossy green and natural threads.

This luxuriantly soft textile is the perfect weight for doll pants, shorts, tailored skirts, jackets and caps. We used this fabric for our L&P Pattern 1033: Bonjour, Paris shorts and Pattern 1943: Molly Waves Goodbye jacket lapels.

Next up is a 100% COTTON GINGHAM, in creamsicle orange-and-white, woven with a subtle seersucker pucker for preppy perfection.

This is the perfect fabric for doll shirts and dresses. We used it to make the peplum top version of our L&P Pattern 1031: Classic Wrap Dress.

Here's one of our favorite fabrics in the COLLEGIATE collection — a bittersweet FAUX LEATHER that's super lightweight and supple.

We used it to make the L&P Pattern 1943: Molly Waves Goodbye jacket. It's the ideal weight for the gathered blouson back — and would you believe it's light and soft enough that we decided to add a featherweight tricot iron-on interfacing for added weight on the front, side, sleeve and peplum pieces?

We found this faux leather surprisingly easy to work with. Just make sure you use a press cloth and press from the underside whenever possible to prevent damage to the textured surface.

Here's a 100% cotton MINI-WALE CORDUROY, with a printed pattern of green pop-art flowers on a dark brown base.

This fabric is lightweight and perfect for doll skirts, shorts, overalls and dresses. We used it to make the easy-to-sew L&P Pattern 1041: Slim Skirts pencil skirt.

Finally, the last fabric is a beautifully draping 100% rayon lawn designed by Carolyn Friedlander for high-end textile company, Robert Kaufman.

The tiny, detailed print is called "Lucinda" and the colorway is Persimmon.

We LOVE this fabric, and couldn't wait to use it to make a halter top with fringed edges, using L&P Pattern 1032: Desert Sunrise and our FREE handkerchief hem pattern tweak.

Desert Sunrise is the perfect patterm for floaty fabrics like this lawn, as everything gets pinned and stitched first to a stable, easy-to-sew cotton yoke.

And here's a bonus — the Desert Sunrise pattern also includes directions for pretty beaded chokers, including the one our doll is wearing in this photoshoot.

Of course we had to make earrings to coordinate with our other doll's ensemble as well, using the photo-illustrated directions in our Introduction to Jewelry Making for Vinyl Play Dolls Craft eBook.

CLICK HERE to visit the Fabric & Trim section of the Lee & Pearl Etsy store to shop the COLLEGIATE listing of coordinated doll-scale fabrics!

Did you know that any $35-and-up orders from our shop ship FREE in the US? Be sure to browse all the fabrics, kits and patterns from Lee & Pearl before checking out.

BUT DON'T WAIT TOO LONG TO ORDER. We are not a manufacturer or giant wholesaler. Once a fabric from our workroom has sold out, it's likely gone for good.

Here's one more thing you should know — whenever possible, Lee & Pearl cleanly rip fabrics instead of cutting them. That means you'll get the full yardage you ordered instead of losing inches to an off-grain cut!

Want '80s fashion fun for your dolls? Sign up for the Lee & Pearl mailing list to get our FREE exclusive subscriber Pattern 1984: Retro '80s Romper for 18 Inch Dolls — as well as pattern announcements, tutorials and behind-the-scenes news from Lee & Pearl delivered directly to your inbox.

CLICK HERE to sign up for the Lee & Pearl mailing list

See you next time!