One thing I like to do for the men is to drape their clothing. Even though they don't have a volume of skirts, their trousers still should look like there is some gravity and weight involved. I use hairspray, and while still damp, pinch and pull. I know trousers had no center crease back in the good old days, but a hint of one makes the legs look so much better.

I crinkle the back of the knee area, where the pants would naturally wrinkle from sitting. A little extra length makes me able to drape the hem area over the foot with interesting folds. I glue the seams, so if I want to alter the legs (usually for a snugger fit) I dampen with water, open the seams and trim, and re-glue after all is dry. And pants have an inner leg seam and an outer leg seam.

And the sleeves also can be sprayed and pushed up toward the elbow with little folds. I over-do the effect, because some of the creases can be lost after drying. The thinner the fabric, the better. I usually stick to cotton. I buy used men's shirts from the thrift store. Many have tiny woven in designs like stripes, checks, houndstooth, that are in perfect scale.

I'm attaching two photos here of one of my favorite male dolls. He is an older piece, and I have gotten better since then I hope. But his clothes show what I'm talking about. I wasn't too happy with the fabric for his pants as it was a bit too heavy, but worked ok.

Another problem with some male dolls is that they are too chesty and broad shouldered. I trim most of the shoulder area off the male torsos I make. When I glue in the arm wire, I bend it where the shoulder will be. When I wrap with cotton yarn, I make sure to have a nice rounded shape for the shoulder.

Here are two dolls I recently made that shows how narrow the sculpted shoulder is. The bulk of the shoulder is created when I wrap the inserted wire. (I don't sleeve the arm and then attach the arm, by the way! I sleeve the arm after it's attached and overlap the glued area with the rest of the garment.)

There is very little definition on these torsos, just enough to give shape under the clothes. Also the chest slope outward gently from the base of the neck in the front. The neck is mounted at an angle, and more towards the back of the torso. The back of the neck is quite a bit higher.

This drawing shows how the male torso stacks up. You really have to study it a bit to understand what you are seeing. This is from a little book I have titled, The Human Figure by John H. Vanderpoel. There may be another drawing or two I can post here. This is my favorite book with very informative drawings and descriptive text as well.

Here is yet another picture that shows a male doll with the wires glued in. It shows the little bend for the shoulder I mentioned before. Once you wrap some yarn around, the shoulders are surprisingly wide enough, especially once you add all the clothing as in second picture.

I mostly glue my fabrics. I use a little glue bottle with a precision tip so I can run a tiny bead of glue, almost like a line of stitching. When I cut a piece of fabric, like for pants, I add the seam allowance. If it's the front of the pant leg, I run a bead of glue all the way down the seam and fold the seam allowance under. After the glue has set a bit, I use a large knitting needle and roll it against the area, like ironing. That presses the fold nice and flat. I do that to both long edges of the pant leg front.

Then I attach that piece to the leg back, lapping it over the raw edge of the back piece. I do the outer leg side seam first, lay it out flat, do the hem, "press" the hem, then do the inner leg seam. I usually do both legs, then try one leg on the doll. I apply a small amount of glue to anchor the pant leg to the doll at the waist. The second leg I turn under the crotch seam and glue, and finger press. That leg goes on and laps over the raw edge of the crotch already on the doll. I match the inner leg seams together and glue, then work my way along the crotch up to the front waist and then up to the back waist. If needed, I pinch in darts and glue to fit around the waist. I add a waist band as a separate piece. I like to pull out a bit of the shirt so it is not perfectly tucked in, then add the pant waist band over the edge of the shirt.

I use to make the pants as above, but did the crotch seam before putting anything on the doll. That worked ok, but the pants always had a baggy area on the front of one leg, no matter what I did to try to remedy it. The above technique solved that small problem but I'm not sure why.

I found that to help the pants look correct, I add a bit of the same cotton yarn I use to wrap the wires, add some tacky glue and roll into a blob and apply to the appropriate area on the doll. It just keeps the trousers from forming too much of an indent where they shouldn't. Also I think it looks better to make the crotch area a bit low. My early male dolls always looked a little pinched and uncomfortable.

I also leave a lot of fabric at the waist, as if the pants would be very high waisted, when I cut out the pieces. After I have the pants on the doll, I trim that away to where I want the waistline to be. That way I can make sure the pants hang the way I want.

For the lapel, the lower section of the lapel is just an extension of the jacket front. I turn under the raw edges and glue and press. I cut another front section from the same fabric but not as wide as the front. I turn under the edges and glue and press. Then I glue that piece to the wrong side of the front (wrong sides together) careful matching the folded areas. When the lapel is folded back into final position, the lining shows and all edges are finished. This makes a partial lining for the jacket front as well. I do not glue all the way down because I will hem both sections and then complete gluing them together all the way down, but not until I'm sure of the final length. I do not line any other parts of the jacket.

The upper lapel is the collar. I cut a piece of fabric about an inch and a half long and a bit wider than 1/4 inch. It can be narrower in the center. I turn the long edges under and glue. I also apply a small amount of glue to the short ends on the wrong side of the fabric, for about 1/4 inch. I glue the center of the collar to the back of the doll's neck and bring the sides around to the lower lapel. I lay it over the lower lapel and mark it longer than I want, then snip just above my mark. The glue on the underside acts as a stabilizer and prevents fraying because I leave this short cut area as a raw edge. The point of the piece goes under the lower lapel and is glued in place. The lower lapel folds over it and is tacked down with glue.

I often will leave the top of the man's shirt un-buttoned with the shirt open down to the 2nd or 3rd button, displaying his chest hair ----

Male clothing