Newborn Baby Gown to American Girl Doll Outfit

This hack of a newborn baby gown into a complete American Girl Doll outfit *does* work, although I'm not nearly as pleased with the outcome as I am when I make the much simpler newborn baby onesie to American Girl Doll T-shirt. A baby gown, even the newborn size, is just roomier than a onesie, I guess, so although the skirt works fine, the shirt is too loose:

Anyway, here's the complete outfit:

And even though you might think that simply cutting off the bottom half of the baby gown would be simpler than making a skirt from scratch, you still have to make a casing for the elastic, pull the elastic through, then finish sewing the casing closed.

It's actually much simpler, I think, to make my favorite double-sided wrap skirt with Velcro tabs, and that skirt looks nicer, as well:

Ah, well... there's much to be gained just in the process of experimentation, and Syd, at least, doesn't seem to mind the fit:

That purple/My Little Pony Skirt and grey/Dalek skirt are both in my pumpkin+bear etsy shop, by the way, along with rainbow candles, a beeswax moveable alphabet, and a couple of sets of bean bags, among other treats and treasures. After we get back from Hawaii, I need to shift my shop prep into high gear for Christmas, because those sales are my Christmas budget, and I suppose that my own kids would like something besides rainbow candles and bean bags for Christmas, sigh...