Lining fabric for doll clothes may differ markedly from what is found in normal clothing. This difference can be really important! Often in commercial doll clothes, for example, those made by Tonner and some of the other companies, you will see the lining is white or a light colour, no matter the colour of the garment itself. They do this because dark fabrics and threads (especially black and red) stain vinyl. You too will want to pay attention to using light linings if you are sewing for vinyl dolls.
Sometimes with say, a jacket, where you may see the inside of the lining while it is on the doll, you can use a pretty light-coloured fabric as your lining, instead of just white. Other times, where the lining will never be seen, be safe not sorry and use white.
The best linings for doll clothes are made from very light weight fabrics. Cotton bastiste or lawn makes an excellent lining for many doll clothes. For fancier garments made of silk or wool, you can use china silk or a very light-weight polyester lining material. The general rule is to make your lining as light weight as possible because that will cut down on bulk - bulky doll clothes just won't look right!
You’d be surprised how fast vinyl can stain! I put a pair of dark green gloves on a Tonner doll for an afternoon and after only 4 hours, the vinyl was terribly stained! Needless to say, I was devastated... I also had a bad situation from a black tee shirt I left on a Tonner American Model doll. Her upper arms and neck were a mess - it took months of stain treatment to remove the marks, and her skin was never quite the same again. It was totally heart-breaking.
If you have a similar sad experience with staining on a vinyl doll, there are some things you can do. Some people have reported some success with Clearasil acme treatment cream. I've found this may work if the staining is very minor, but for serious staining, you need to buy a special stain-removing product to get it off. I used Twin Pines Removes-Zit for both the disasters I described above. You will also need to order Formula 9-1-1 to remove the Remove-Zit between treatments and after you are finished removing the stain.
For the green stains from the gloves, the stains came off fairly quickly. But, as I said, the black black tee shirt stains were serious and needed months of treatment. I can tell you, it’s so much easier to avoid the problem and not let those dark fabrics or thread touch your vinyl doll in the first place!
So use light-coloured lining fabric and be safe. I’ve even had dark fabrics stain a resin Sybarite, so other dolls may not be safe from dark colours either. Be safe, not sorry!
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