I Sewed Many and Varied Little American Girl Doll Leggings

Okay, I said that the American Girl doll T-shirts were my favorite thing to sew--and they are!--but these leggings are just almost my favorite thing to sew.

They're MUCH simpler than the T-shirts, for one thing. And they're just as cute, and just as amenable to every kind of knit fabric, from performance stretch to old T-shirts, so the possibilities are endless. 

I actually didn't like this pattern, the Snow Day Pants from Doll Fashion Studio, by Joan Hinds, when I first made it, and the first pair of leggings that I sewed following the instructions as-written are now the American Girl doll equivalent of painting clothes, ahem. Like, the instructions tell you to zig-zag stitch the elastic straight to the raw edge of the waist? WHY, THOUGH, when there are so many options just as easy and way cuter?

I modified the pattern quite a lot, including lengthening it so I could also make a full-length version, and remembering that I have a random but huge stash of fold-over elastic in the closet that looks a LOT nicer sewn to raw edges, and now, I LOVE this pattern!

I love the fold-over-elastic at the waist and the ankles for the knit and rib knit fabrics:

And since I'd already made about a million American Girl doll T-shirts by the time I took a break for leggings, I also love using an old T-shirt for leggings, including its existing hem:

Even cuter when I realized that I had room on most old shirts to make both a doll T-shirt AND doll leggings! They're so perfectly matchy!

If you put them both on the doll, they're basically those jersey knit pajama sets that I used to put on my daughters, and that I would in all honestly 1000% wear myself if they just made them in my size. 

I'm already working on an American Girl doll skeleton costume using a black T-shirt and leggings set. Stay tuned!

Alternatively, you can mix and match for comfy play clothes in any color range:

Anyway, I made a bunch of these leggings for my niece's doll, too, just because I think it's nice to have plenty of neutral-ish options for dressing her doll. The simpler the components, the bigger the scope for imagination!

As an example, lol, see the outfits that my kids came up with when I asked them to dress our dolls in some of these new clothes before I sent them off to my niece:

full-length leggings, long-sleeved T-shirt, and puffed-sleeve blouse

long-sleeved T-shirt, short-sleeved T-shirt, and 3/4-length leggings

full-length leggings made from four-way stretch, and a doll tunic a kid made once upon a time from one of their old newborn onesies

sleeveless dress, short AND long-sleeved T-shirts, and 3/4-length leggings

You can see I got a little lost in the weeds sewing doll T-shirts and leggings all summer, right? I kept thinking of new fabrics to test and pattern variations to try, and while I was doing that the summer whisked itself away and now I have to sew a bunch of witch hats as fast as I can.

OMG, y'all. SHOULD I SEW AMERICAN GIRL DOLL WITCH HATS?!?

P.S. Want to follow along with my craft projects, books I'm reading, dog-walking mishaps, encounters with Chainsaw Helicopters, and other various adventures on the daily? Find me on my Craft Knife Facebook page!