DIY Custom Clothes

What first got me into this hobby was seeing Phicen's s28/s29 figures. I really liked the more naturalistic shape they had, but to my dismay I found that very little women's clothing is actually made for this figure. When it comes to medieval/fantasy styled clothes, there's even less. I really wanted a pair of plain and simple medieval-looking pants for the s28, but all of the women's outfits available were too small and everything for the men's figure was too large.

So I recently decided to try my hand at making my own. This is the first one I made that I think is a success, and I'm planning on making some tunics and dresses to go along with it. I'd also like to try making some more Greco-Roman outfits as well. The stitching isn't perfect, but for medieval styled clothing I think it works since they didn't have electric sewing machines back then.





Here's how it looks with some medieval boots-



Rear view-



I don't really like how baggy it looks towards the top, but I couldn't find a way around it when making the pants aside from adding a drawstring. The first pair I made didn't end up fitting because I couldn't pull them past the s28's big butt. I guess medieval pants weren't fitted and stretchy like pants are today, so I suppose that's accurate to some degree. Whenever I finish making some dresses and tunics, you shouldn't be able to see the top of the pants anyways so I guess it doesn't really matter.

Anyone else tried making their own clothes? I want to make some Greek chitons for an outfit I have in mind.

That looks fantastic! I love the material they’re made from too, it looks like perfectly scaled wooden cloth! Perhaps a wee dart at the back would help with the waistband issue? I know I’ve had trouble with baggyness there on doll trousers, especially when the legs are bent! XD

I make 90% of the clothes my dolls wear because most commercially made stuff is either crappy quality or too expensive, and never in any styles I want! XD

Here’s Max and Juno‘s latest outfits - they genuinely probably have more clothes than I do right now!

Max and Juno - autumn by Christine Sutcliffe, on Flickr

Max and Juno - autumn by Christine Sutcliffe, on Flickr

I’ve got a huge Pinterest board full of clothing patterns and tutorials I’ve amassed over the years so feel free to have a browse, there’s some really good guides in there! Obviously most won’t be sized for phicens and the like but it’s a good place to start! I think there’s some fantasy/medieval inspired ones in there too.

https://pin.it/2gcoyg3tunlptt

Cool pics. The hardest thing about miniature clothing is finding material that is light and soft enough to drape properly. Microfibre cloth works well (the soft material they use for computer screen wipes). I've also had success with thin t-shirts that have been washed many times.

Greco-Roman clothing is easy because there is little cutting and sewing involved. Most of it consists of a simple sheet that is gathered, pinned, and draped in certain ways. But, because of this, the type of cloth you use is critical. It has to be very light and soft to drape and fold in a realistic manner.

Nicely done. I hope to see more from you in the future.

I scout charity shops for baby/toddler clothes as often they’ve got tiny prints and very finely woven fabric - I made this hoodie from a kid’s tshirt the other day and honestly, I wish I could get one in my size - adults love dinosaurs too! T.T

Yuri’s new hoodie by Christine Sutcliffe, on Flickr

I found a pair of knit fabric baby leggings once and immediately thought of ugly Christmas jumpers. XD

Barbie sized Christmas jumper from baby leggings! by Christine Sutcliffe, on Flickr

Very nicely done, gooboo, and I think your stitching is actually very good. What material did you use? Not sure that the boots are all that medieval, and worried that your medieval female in pants would be accused of witchcraft and hauled off to the stake (that's how they got Jeanne d'Arc!), but I do like what you have done a lot. Looking forward to seeing what you do next.

Ancient Greek clothing, provided you find a good fabric and color/pattern, should be easy, at least in theory. Pretty much everything was a rectangular piece of fabric held together not so much by stitching as by belts and pins. I don't think I have my female ones handy to show, but I did a thread on the basic male clothing (which is largely done on the same principles) here:
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t1181-ancient-greek-clothing-in-sixth-scale#15409

PS, Christine, great work as usual!

I think those pants look really great, gooboo. Nicely done. The Medieval male pants I’ve seen in this scale also have the drawstring — I recently acquired a pair from the Robin Hood figure that came out not that long ago, and managed to pull them tight enough to get rid of the baggy/looseness at the waist.

Excellent work, Christine. I really like that jacket in the first pic of yours.

Very nicely done! Your stitching is excellent. I prefer to hand-sew items at this scale myself, though that is not always possible for certain things that require more precision. But I think it was the right call for these! Though yes, the trousers and boots are more accurately 'medieval fantasy' than 'medieval'.  

Likewise, wonderful links and tips, Lynkhart! Thanks for sharing! 

Agree also that the drape of fabic is very important, and yet often difficult to find. Microfibre is indeed good, but so often the darker colours can be VERY staining on tbleague bodies, so best to experiment cautiously.

Pretty good, if I wasn't told they where handmade I would have thought they where bought. Looking forward to seeing your other clothes.

Theboo-bomb wrote:Pretty good, if I wasn't told they where handmade I would have thought they where bought. Looking forward to seeing your other clothes.

Handmade clothing is generally better than bought clothing because it is properly tailored to fit the wearer, there are no mass-production shortcuts taken with the cutting and stitching, and the material is usually better quality.

Here's the closest thing I've had to a success with making a simple tunic so far. I keep underestimating how large the breasts are for the s28/s29 and forget to leave enough room at the top. It's still pretty tight there, same with the sleeves.







While the texture of the fabric looks nice, I think it's a little too stiff and thick to use as a tunic. It doesn't really fold nicely, even if it does work well for the pants. You can especially see this on the bottom portion of the outfit. For the next attempt I think I'll try a softer and lighter fabric.

I think it looks quite good. Thank you for sharing. The scale and fabric are often going to be a big challenge, and considering that, it works well.

That looks great! I get how hard it is to find fabric that drapes correctly at this scale — sometimes it’s not possible and you have to improvise.

WOW! I'm really impressed with all of these!!
If you enjoy creating these... do you have an Etsy shop? If not, why not?

I'd buy, if the price is right. Though medieval isn't my thing. But those pants could be used for modern stuff, too!

Actually, I am in need of a warm-grey cat suit... or four... for these ladies:
https://www.deviantart.com/aeryndiana/gallery/6076698/dream-of-me
Any takers?

Wow, AerynDiana, those are some awesome OCs! Love their designs.

ETA: Meant to add, in relation to the topic, that the overly-thick fabric might not be all that 'inaccurate', since rough-spun wool could used for a tunic. It would be more like an overtunic, I guess, but still, I think it works. : )

skywalkersaga wrote:Wow, AerynDiana, those are some awesome OCs! Love their designs. [...]

Why thank you very much!!

Oh, and on another note: LOVE how that head sculpt comes to life with that S29 body. They work really well together!! <3

Oooh that looks great!

Looks okay to me. If you’re having difficulty getting the size right, one of the things I like to do when making custom clothing is to make templates out of thin sheets of batting. It allows you to pin (or just use tape) to apply the material to the body and get an idea of what it will look like. I made numerous such templates just to get the right shape and cut of the material needed to make a custom Vampirella figure (before TBL put theirs out). I’ve also done it for vests, to make sure it fit the body I was going to use. Also, keep in mind that the material needed to make doll clothing has to be much thinner than what you would use to make the real thing, in order for it to drape the way you want.

Ended up converting this tunic into something like a jacket or coat. I think the folds look a lot better now. I'll use a thinner fabric on the next attempt to give her something to wear underneath.

Nice one! You are so good at hand-sewing!

And out of curiosity, what boots are those on your figure?

The boots come from this outfit set from Super Duck. They are quite literally the only flat-heeled medieval/fantasy boots I've ever found for female figures.

https://www.ekiahobbies.com/sud-set024-super-duck-1-6-space-girl-clothing-set-aka-ffx-yuna/

It looks very good as a jacket, too.

Thanks for the info, gooboo. Those definitely caught my eye as you are right that it’s super hard to find non-high heel boots like that for female figures. The only other company I know of who makes some without high heels is Nouveau Toys, they have a website and I believe they are also on eBay. Though I don’t think they have anything ‘medieval’, it’s all more modern.

http://www.nouveautoys.com/index.html

Nice adjustment on the top.

Another trick to getting clothing at this scale to drape better is to wet it down, and then manipulate it the way you want. Once it dries, it should pretty much retain the shape when wet.

Yes, that is a great tip, Stryker! Another thing I do sometimes is to actually stitch the fabric down in certain spots, but obviously hiding the stitch as much as possible.