You dressed your dolls when you were young, You need to learn what type of material worked then. My granddaughter learned how to sew on her sisters sewing machine. She made a tube dress for her doll and wondered why she could not stretch this fabric on her doll. She made a new tube dress out of knit and it pulled up perfectly.There are woven fabrics and various knit types to choose from. You should know how to make your dress (work) based on the garments you sketched.A good lesson would be while shopping, check looking,feeling,fabrics as you go. Remember, to look at knitted fabrics and woven ones. Nowadays many woven fabrics will include some stretch fabrics.

Start with WARP WOVEN FABRICS on a long cutting table just like the tiny pot holders you made for your family back in the day. In factory’s,the fabrics that support woven come in various weight,from heavy yarns for jeans and other stronger yarns to various thin fabric very sheer fabric.

Weft is the name of the fabric that goes across the loom over and under each yarn which can vary according to unless the fabric desired.It has to be suitable,for your design. So I sent you to a large store to look at fabrics. The right fabric for the design is really important. Now go to a fabric store and feel a lot of fabrics. See if there is any stretch in some of the woven,because that will dictate how your ideas work or not