Tammy's Mother Has No Name

The doll sold as Tammy's mother has the prettiest face and nicest coloring-- but I say that about a lot of Ideal dolls.  Sewing for her requires a bit of thought, as she is taller than Tammy and thicker than Barbie.

I thought life was lovely when I discovered a pattern just for Tammy and her mother, Butterick's 2931. It says it is for Tammy and her mother.

 The styles of the outfits on the pattern are right for Tammy and her mother in the 60s. The range of outfits is delightful: dress and summer topper, shirtwaist dress, blouse with long sleeves, overblouse, vest, pleated skirt, and jacket. Mom would wear a pleated skirt with a suit jacket, Tammy would wear it with a vest. The design team was a bit pleat-happy, suggesting soft pleats for a dress and sharp pleats for a skirt. Even with a Perfect Pleater, this is a bit much. If you are using a plaid, you must iron in the pleats one by one, because Perfect Pleater allows fabric to escape a bit. I will never achieve woven plaid pleats that align well with this device.

The straight lines of the dress are perfect with the coat with 3/4 length sleeves. My doll wanted it immediately, and I cut the clothes before testing the patterns. Both patterns are too short. Can you hear me swearing? The dress was improved with a bit of bias binding at the bottom, and I hope the bright red fools the eye into thinking the dress is long enough. The coat needed  a pieced hem .

Actually, I'd like to take the instruction writer out behind the barn and whack her or him a few times. There are darts where none are needed, Tammy and her mother are not the same height but the patterns don't remind you of this, and then there is the matter of bias tape. No one, absolutely NO ONE, should use bias binding to face the neck and armscyes of  dress A,B,C. Doing so will cause the neck to stand out oddly, and  will make the arm holes too tight for Tammy's mother. This idiotic instruction is repeated for all bodice pieces. The best thing to do is sew the bodice together at the shoulders and draw facings, preferably a single piece. I used bias binding in both  places, and had to unpick it.  Use bias tulle instead. I also want an extra half-inch on the dress length for the mother doll, because mothers in the mid 60s rarely wore dresses above their knees. Just at the knee or just below was the norm.

Tammy's mother can wear shoes marketed for Little Miss Revlon, Miss Nancy Ann, Jan and Jill and all 10 to 10 1/2 inch doll friends.  A friend gave me some with broken straps, so I trimmed them off, made an elastic band around  the foot, and glued the shoe base to it. Ta da. Shoes with a chevron strap to go with a dress with a chevron print. 

Evening attire for Tammy is perfect for a young girl of 15 or 16, but breathless and innocent are not what suits a thirty-something matron. Or so she claimed.  We resorted to a basic t-shape, with the top of the T on the fold of fabric--knit fabric, of course. I should have added a seam allowance. The dress is tolerable, but far from outstanding. Tammy's Mom finds this dress a lot more risque' than she would like. See-through, foo.

In the mid-60s everyone from teens to grandmas wore A-line skimmers. Why should Tammy's mother be any different? I drew little cap sleeves onto the straight dress pattern and gave it a slight flare.

Yes, of course any pattern for Tammy will work for Tammy's Mom, but they work better if you add an inch to the hem. Add a lacy ruffle to the bottom of a skimmer and make it in brocade, and  Zowie! Tammy's Mom goes Mod.