I’ve been sewing both type for quite sometime. Specially for doll clothes, may be since late 2009. I realized that sewing techniques for each are different after sometime sewing doll clothes. Human Clothes seamstresses who never sew doll clothes may not understand the adjustment that the doll clothes seamstresses make as well as the difficulties besides the small size. They tend to comment it supposed to be like this and that or but sometimes they don’t really understand what they’re saying.

Doll clothes:

1. The size make it hard to sew. So, lots of adjustment and off-good sewing-techniques are made to accommodate.
2. The supplies are difficult. The scale sometimes is still a bit too big for the size of the doll. It makes the clothes look odd on doll. Finding the right scale supplies are not easy. Sometimes, once we find 1 supplies with right scale but another supplies are not with right scale. It can’t be used together. Here, we have to ‘let go’ what is said ‘supposed to’.
3. The fabric types may add difficulty. Sometimes, we want to use chiffon or some ‘easy fraying’ fabrics. We have to cut the seam edge until very closed to the seam to make the clothes shape more smooth. YET, it risk the sewing itself. Very closed can’t be very closed. Don’t criticize until you experience it. Yes, there’s glue or kind of liquid to prevent fraying BUT it’s not always available in all countries. Yes, there are other technique like burning the edge or heating it with kind of hot-pen, but it may endanger the fabric itself and the quality of result can be varied. The fabric color can change (it can be happened with fraying prevent liquid, too) or it’s temporary (after washing the clothes, it goes back to fraying), and so on. Even if we want to cut with zigzag scissor, it’s not always helping. Sometimes, fraying is fraying. The only way to lock it is with french seam which not always applicable for doll clothes.
4. We can’t choose whatever fabric we want to. The options are narrowing and not all right fabrics are available in ALL countries. I saw some doll clothes are really good in showing how it flows on the doll body like when human wearing chiffon. I don’t know what kind of fabrics are they. Are they silk? what kind of silk? Are they chiffon? what kind of chiffon? Something like that.  Sometimes we want to create something with this or that impression but we can’t do it 100% right because no fabrics for that in the country. Even if we have to import or want to import, we don’t know what it’s name in other countries.
5. Finishing for doll clothes and human clothes aren’t always the same either. At least, I don’t do that. I do different things for human and doll clothes finishing.

Sewing human clothes with good and right techniques can be helpful to understand how the clothes should be looked. Then, we apply it to doll scale.

About neatness.

It can be pursued. It is still a must. Even for doll scale, neatness can be pursued. Even after adjustment and those difficulties, neatness can be pursued. Not because doll clothes are difficult, so the neatness is adjust too. Not like that either.