DP&M doll + H4H pattern = not so good...

Current Notes: Last time I used this fabric, it looked like a hospital gown on Toralei !

I can now tell you, straight from my sewing machine, KJ, to your eyes, that Disney Princess & Me dolls do not fit Hearts for Hearts doll clothes, or at least, their patterns. The cute little half-hour fleece jumper/ A-line dress pattern made for them took me about two hours, start to finish, to get anything remotely fitting Belle last night. Of course, the original free pattern (click to enlarge, to see what this is supposed to look like !) encouraged the old ‘with fleece you don’t have to hem or finish anything’ belief, which I just don’t follow, because while fleece may not ravel, the cheap stuff I normally have stretches out of shape in no time flat. Plus fleece seems to be the one fabric I have none of, so I used thin cotton then lined it. That may have made a difference, plus the fact that H2H dolls are about four inches shorter, and proportionally smaller everywhere else, too. They’d make an excellent ‘little sister’ for DP&M girls, but since the dress was a simple ‘float’ with tucks, it could have worked. DPs tend to fall right between H2H and AG when it comes to clothes and patterns. 

And it sort of does work. True, the original pattern calls for stitched down tucks front and back, and ties at the shoulders, instead of a split and Velcro © down the back, with much more shallow tucks at the front only, but I think I did pretty good considering the armholes are too small and too forward, and I could just barely fasten the ties. Turns out, the pattern designer has a similar one for 18-inch size dolls, but it’s not nearly as cute, with just one tuck straight down the middle, and I already have a pattern for that dress – made it out of purple gingham and sewed buttons from neck to hem.

Still, I could probably twist the larger pattern to my own evil purposes, so I downloaded it, too. And yes, there’s a pair of matching panties, but they don’t fit as well as earlier ones, so I think I need to print off a fresh pattern. I also added a photo of my new-to-me Aurora DP&M wearing the also new-to-us Interactive Princess Belle’s village dress. While Sleeping Beauty – or the story’s heroine – was never one of my favorites, this doll is absolutely    stunning !