I Sewed Tiny Ruffled Capris Because American Girl Dolls Need More Camo In Their Wardrobes

You can take the redneck out of the South (or rather, she can flee it on her own two feet, lol), but you CANNOT take the camouflage out of the redneck's wardrobe rotation!

Not out of her wardrobe rotation. Not out of her child's wardrobe rotation, since the camo print fabric that I used to sew these eensy American Girl doll camo capris actually came from a pair of my older daughter's old camo pants--after she outgrew them, I obviously tossed them into my fabric stash, because that was some nice quality fabric, not to mention CAMO!

And, it turns out, not even out of her niece's American Girl doll's wardrobe rotation, since that's where these adorable little camouflage ruffled capri pants are headed. Here's a pic of the outfit in progress modeled by my most helpful buddy, this American Girl doll that I found at Goodwill for $7.99:

The kids don't mind when I dig out their dolls and dress them up as my sewing models, but I know how precious those dolls are to them so I don't feel quite comfortable just keeping them out and about all the time while I'm working. My little Goodwill buddy has been an awesome solution, and is even collecting her own little wardrobe of... let's call them "second-quality" handmade garments, ahem. 

One day I'll even figure out how to fix her frizzy hair!

The capri pants pattern comes from All Dolled Up, by Joan Hinds, which is hands-down my favorite 18-doll pattern book that I've used so far. Ruffled capris don't have quite the versatility of some of her other patterns (I have made about 5,000 of those T-shirts so far!), but I managed to put together a couple of different looks for my niece's birthday package.

The younger kid dressed this doll up in the layered T-shirt look for this photo, but the actual outfit that I sent my niece is the marbled purple T-shirt, sewn from an adult T-shirt, and the purple and black ruffled capris, sewn from a huge batik wall hanging that I found at Goodwill (I sewed another part of that giant batik into this witch hat!):

Actually, ALL of the components of this outfit, from the purple T-shirt to the batik wall hanging to the doll herself, came from Goodwill!

I paired the camouflage ruffled capris (with ruffles made from stash quilting cotton) with a T-shirt sewn from an old T-shirt of Mr. Craft Knife's that had also found its way into my fabric stash (mwa-ha-ha, because it was a really ugly shirt):

What I really need for this ruffled capris pattern is a shirt pattern to pair with it that can also be made from quilting cotton, not jersey knit. Then I could use the same fabric for the shirt and the ruffles, and the outfit would be so mitchy-matchy!

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I Sewed American Girl Doll Pajamas That Were Too Cute For the Birthday Box

To be fair, 1) my own children egged me on in my impulse to keep the most adorable pair of American Girl doll pajamas that I sewed ostensibly for part of my niece's birthday present, and 2) I did sew my niece another pair of American Girl doll pajamas to make up for it.

Can you look at that above photo and guess which pair of pajamas I ended up keeping for our own American Girl doll collection?

This one!!!!!

Once upon a time, the big kid had the CUTEST pair of jammy pants that I made from this flannel dino fabric, and I also made endless other kid things from it, from crayon rolls Christmas stockings. When the big kid got more into horses than dinosaurs for a while, the little kid took up the mantle of lover of dinosaurs, and then you know a homeschooling mom can't let any kid interest alone so I got involved, too, and the culmination of all of this seems to mostly have been that when I showed around this brand-new pair of flannel dino pajamas that I'd just sewn for my niece's birthday box to each kid in turn, each kid in turn's eyes got very big and they each said, "AWWWWWWW!"

And then they both started saying stuff like, "Our cousin [Name Redacted] doesn't even like dinosaurs! She likes rainbow unicorns! We should probably keep the dinosaur pajamas so she doesn't have to look at them. Ooh, can you make a little robe to go with it?!? Can you make a little dino stuffie for her to snuggle?" And so on and so on. 

Not that my arm had to be pulled very much, though--I think these particular pajamas are adorable and immediately coveted them, too!

What I'm actually going to do is dig through my fabric stash to see if I can muster up just enough of this dino flannel to make one more pair of American Girl doll pajamas, because I think I've found the only thing in our entire home that my kids would even possibly fight over after my death.

ANYWAY!

These adorable pajamas are the Monkey Pajamas pattern from All Dolled Up, by Joan Hinds. This book has so many classic patterns that I think are super versatile, including this one. You do need to figure out and add your own finishing bits, though, especially if you don't use a serger. I've got a lot of her patterns pretty well down pat by now, though, so I automatically top-stitch the seams, and figure out for myself what kind of fastening I want:

Tidily top-stitched shoulder seam!

The original pattern calls for the pajama top front/back to also be sewn from the secondary fabric, but I wasn't feeling it, at least for these pajamas. I think they look cute enough with a contrasting fabric just at the wrists and ankles:

Kids who want everything around them to look like it was dunked in magical rainbow unicorn vomit do sometimes get beyond that (case in point: my own kid!), so I didn't do every single piece of doll clothing for my niece in pinks and purples and sparkles. Sometimes you just want to throw on your comfiest pair of brown flannel pjs and kick back with a book in front of the fire!

Although these specific garments look VERY pajama-y, I think that both parts of the Monkey Pajamas pattern are actually quite versatile, especially as a basic top and bottom made from woven, not knit, fabrics. I need to dig through my stash to find some thin denim, which I think would be perfect to make doll jeans using this pattern, cuff and all. I'd probably omit the cuff on the top, though, if I was making anything other than a pajama top. I think it would work very well with novelty quilting cotton, though, particularly a small print that would look proportionate to the doll. Very Hawaiian shirt-esque!

Here's everything that I've sewn for my niece's American Girl doll so far:

• sleeveless dress with a gathered skirt
• romper
• blouse with puffed sleeves
• germ mask

Next up: capris with a ruffled hem!

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Because Not Even Dolls Like To Spread Their Germs Around

I've been so busy learning to sew brand-new types of doll garments from various pattern books and websites that I forgot all about the one doll garment that I've been sewing regularly ever since the pandemic...

My 18" doll cloth masks!

Fortunately, a recent order (of this pretty red/green combo) reminded me--

--so while I was at my work table with the pattern in hand and cutting and sewing already, I also whipped up a mask to go with the American Girl doll wardrobe that I'm sewing for a niece's birthday later this summer:

I even found a scrap that would work with the green bias tape I was already using so that I didn't have to change my thread. It's a win for lazy sewists everywhere!

If you want your own version, I make and sell these 18" doll cloth masks in your choice of colors over at my Pumpkin+Bear etsy shop. It actually hadn't occurred to me to also offer the mask in a choice of prints, but this one *is* pretty cute...

Stay tuned, I guess!

If you're keeping count, so far this summer I've sewed:

• 2 18" doll sleeveless dresses with gathered waists
• 2 18" doll rompers
• 2 18" doll blouses with puffed sleeves
• 1 18" doll cloth mask

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I Read Doll Couture, Because Sewing Doll Clothes is My Newest Mid-Life Crisis Hobby

Doll Couture: Handcrafted Fashions for 18-inch Dolls by Marsha Greenberg
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Doll Couture starts with a couple of assumptions that you have to understand in order to fully utilize this pattern book. The first, which Greenberg states overtly, is that the patterns and instructions are meant to be used with handkerchiefs, tea towels, doilies, and other small vintage home goods. And to this end, Greenberg includes ample tips, tricks, and instructions for how to incorporate these sometimes delicate, sometimes finicky fabrics, from fussy cutting tea towel graphics to sizing crocheted doilies for a doll’s overskirt. This is an almost impossibly niche sub-topic in sewing, but totally valid and relevant. I do sort of wonder if anyone has ever used this book as intended to sew anything for their doll from these types of vintage fabrics, but honestly, it’s fine if nobody has--information for information’s sake is worthwhile!

The assumption that I had more issues with is the assumption that the reader is already familiar with the many basic tropes and mechanics of sewing for a doll. I’m a fine sewist, but I’ve never sewn doll’s clothing before, and I was baffled by the instructions for my first project, a simple dress with a sleeveless bodice and gathered skirt. I feel like Greenberg might have suspected that there was something confusing in her instructions, because she included the specific advice to read the instructions multiple times until you understood them, but no amount of re-reading was going to help me understand that a doll’s dress is constructed flat, with fastenings all down the back, because Greenberg never actually explains that. Without any guidance to the contrary, I figured that doll dresses were constructed the same way human dresses are--a finished skirt in the round, and a bodice that fastens up the back. I was so confused, and did a lot of seam ripping and trying again, but eventually I figured it out and didn’t have that same trouble with any of the patterns again, but it feels like something that should have been explicitly stated or shown in a photo.

I didn’t try every pattern, but the romper also skipped a couple of steps, requiring me to figure out how to attach the ruffle on my own. And to make it extra confusing, that one IS a slip-on pattern, so I kept trying to over-complicate it in my head by wondering where the back fastenings would be and if I wasn’t supposed to be constructing it flat, etc.

 

Most of the book is a lookbook of sorts, with full-color photos of dolls wearing elaborately embellished garments sewn from those vintage handkerchiefs, tea towels, and doilies. There’s a key to show you which patterns were used in each garment, but it’s not comprehensive, as the garments in the photos clearly show a variety of sleeves, skirt lengths, and romper bib styles, for example, that are not in the patterns. I really wanted that alternative romper bib with more coverage, too!

I ended up sewing multiples of three patterns that I’m pretty happy with: the sleeveless dress, the romper, and a blouse with puffed sleeves. The sleeveless dress is pretty similar to other basic basic doll dress patterns that I’ve seen, but it comes together exceptionally neatly with finished seams and a lining, and it’s easy to see where to add top-stitching and additional lining components to make the dress look even nicer. The blouse and the romper are both unique, though, and the romper especially is not something I’ve seen reflected in any other 18” doll pattern book--everybody’s book has a blouse pattern, but this is the only pair of American Girl doll overalls! The book lacks a regular, non-romper pants pattern, though, which is a bummer.

 

I didn’t utilize any of the lookbook images as inspiration to add embellishments, but I am looking forward to digging through my stash of fancier fabric scraps to use with that sleeveless dress pattern--I think I could end up with a very cute little ballgown that way!

P.S. View all my reviews

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I Sewed American Girl Doll Blouses With Puffed Sleeves

Unlike the rompers, which I desperately want in my size, I do not long for a pair of me-sized blouses with puffed sleeves, but I do have to admit that they're well-constructed!

That's definitely a feature of the book Doll Couture, which this pattern is from. I don't particularly love any of the designs other than the romper (although I LOVE the romper!), but the three patterns I've sewn from it so far have come together beautifully. The sleeveless dresses remain the easiest, and could be made in infinite iterations depending on fabric and by adjusting the skirt length and volume, but I'm having a little trouble finding complementary additions to the rompers and these blouses.

I intended these blouses to be worn with the two rompers that I also sewed from Doll Couture, so I sewed them from solid fabric. The white one works great with the unicorn kittycat romper, but the grey one not so much with the galaxy romper. Hopefully, I'll find some patterns in different books that I can switch out, but ultimately, it'll of course be up to my niece to decide what goes with what.

The only tricky part of this blouse pattern is centering the collar, since it's very obvious if it's uneven. There are a few fussy elements, such as gathering those puffed sleeves, and I got a lot of TV watching accomplished while stitching tiny buttons and buttonholes:

--and even though the buttons are all vintage choices that the older kid helped me find in my stash, I think they match perfectly!

The kids' dolls like them, too!

What color shirt are we thinking would look better with the galaxy romper? Cream? Black? This grey isn't the worst, but I'm not really feeling like it goes with the romper:

I guess it's not so bad from the side--maybe it's the blue ruffle that's throwing the outfit off? Fortunately, the white blouse is perfect with the unicorn kittycat romper:

I also don't know if I like the look of the puffed sleeves plus the ruffles, but if I do want to switch the pieces up I'll have to figure out what bottom DOES go with puffed sleeves... and now I know that I definitely am thinking too hard about this! Because what I actually would like is for my niece to throw all proper outfit combos out the window and instead dress her doll in a puffed sleeve blouse plus a pair of pajama bottoms plus a tiered skirt plus a fleece vest plus a newsboy cap plus a pair of booties, and then get it all dirty making doll-sized mud pies together.

Up next on my sewing table are flannel pajamas and jersey knit T-shirts from All Dolled Up, and then I might dig through my fancy fabric scraps, because surely a doll's wardrobe is not complete without several ball gowns, party dresses, and dress-up outfits!

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I Sewed These Rompers for American Girl Dolls, But I Wish I'd Sewn Them For Me, Instead

I'd omit the ruffles, but otherwise, I would wear the absolute SNOT out of this galaxy romper if only it was in my size!

Alas, for I did not have several yards of fabric to sew a romper for me, nor do I have a pattern--although I did just Google it and now I've got plenty of possibilities! But what I DID have was two fat quarters of this galaxy print (I miss you, Joann's!) and the romper pattern from Doll Couture, so American Girl Doll rompers it is!

By this point in sewing from Doll Couture (I previously sewed these cute holiday dresses), I was able to read the creator's mind a little better regarding stuff she assumed was obvious enough to leave unsaid, so I was able to figure out the ruffle here without any written instructions--

--but I was still surprised to see how low the bodice sat when I tried it on my doll:

Guess she's supposed to wear a shirt with it, lol!

Or not!

I did eventually make shirts to go with the rompers, but the romper itself is so stinking adorable that I wish it had enough coverage that the doll could wear it by itself. I mean, look at this adorable little space romper!

The unicorn kitty one has shorts instead of pants because I only had one fat quarter of that fabric (SOB, Joann's!):

Here it is being modeled by the big kid's doll, blouse and all:

The instructions for these garments (or, usually, the lack of instructions) get on my nerves, but there's nothing yet that I haven't been able to find my way through, and the garments themselves are beautifully constructed and look very nice, and it's easy to add more professional touches like edge-stitching, linings, etc. I've already waded into a couple of projects from a different library book, and was outraged to find half-way through sewing a pair of leggings that the instructions wanted me to attach elastic to the raw edge of fabric at the waist--and then just LEAVE THE EDGE RAW?!? I sewed it like that, as instructed, because I'd already cut out the pattern pieces so it was too late to change it, but I wasn't happy with it, and I hope I run into a better leggings pattern down the road.

But I don't need a new romper pattern, because this one is perfect!

(Unless I find one with bodice coverage, that is..)

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Sewing American Girl Doll Clothes Is My New Mid-Life Crisis Hobby

One Facebook Story of my little niece holding her brand-new American Girl doll later, and my summer fate is sealed!

The art of sewing doll clothes is fairly new to me, but I always like to learn new things. And once upon a time I would also have told you that the sewing of tiny garments full of fussy, precise details did not appeal to me, but tbh I think that I, myself, am growing fussier as I age, because I kind of don't mind it now. So many precise 1/4" seams! So much tidy edge stitching! Such fussy cutting of novelty prints! I used to hurry through all my sewing to get to the finish as quickly as possible, more than ready to move on to the next exciting thing, but lately I've been pretty into the process, taking my time and focusing on the details and whiling away whole evenings puttering through a project while listening to endless audiobooks.

I just finished Endgame, which was a biography of Bobby Fisher, and now I'm ready for The Long Game, the last book in my hockey smut series!

There are several books of patterns for 18" dolls that I want to sew my way through, and first up is Doll Couture, a book that I actually own but never found the time to dive into when my own little American Girl doll enthusiasts were the right ages to have appreciated my work. Good thing I've got a new audience now!

This simple dress, a sleeveless bodice with a gathered skirt, is my first project:

Highly recommend owning an entire roll of tracing paper--it's so handy!

The instructions in this book are shockingly difficult to parse--they literally didn't tell me that the dress is supposed to come together like this--

--so at every stage I kept trying to sew the skirt into a circle, or stitch the bodice back closed, and once I thought I'd finally figured out what the step I was looking at said to do and ended up sewing the bodice shut at the bottom(?!?), but eventually my very own little Goodwill American Girl doll modeled a well-fitting dress for me:

I literally found her at Goodwill for eight dollars! I LOVE her! I think she's going to be my own personal version of the porch goose, and she's going to have SO many handmade outfits for all seasons and holidays. I need to fix her hair, though, so please send me all your best tips for untangling American Girl doll hair.

And then I sewed another!

I do really like all the tidy details involved, all the edge stitching and stitching down my seams and how nice everything looks when freshly ironed.

Oops, gotta trim that thread!

I experimented with a puffier skirt for the Halloween dress, and I find it much improved.

I really like how well-proportioned small-scale novelty prints look in an 18" doll's garment, and my plan is to use up as many of my novelty prints as possible sewing my niece a wardrobe of doll clothes for her birthday.

I've also been working hard to upgrade my photo set-up:

That's two softboxes plus a giant flexible vinyl panel from Menards that I clamp to my tabletop and sort of slither up the wall to make a seamless backdrop. Vinyl is such a bummer, but I love how it looks.

Now that I've finally cracked what the instructions wanted me to do, this dress is the simplest thing in the world to sew, and it turns out so cute every time. I even upgraded some bits, like fully lining the skirt and finishing the side seams, so mental note to make physical notes so I don't forget!

I considered appliqueing one of the gingerbreads from the skirt fabric onto the bodice, but I thought that it might look too baby-ish to the sophisticated eyes of its future six-year-old recipient. I kind of wish I'd done it anyway, though, because surely one can't have too many gingerbreads on one's outfit!

I had to make myself stop at two dresses for my niece's doll, though, because I have a lot of different patterns that I want to try. But it's surely not too late to sew just a couple of dresses for my own girls' childhood American Girl dolls, so carefully put away in the top of my closet (until I got them out to serve as extra fashion models for these photo shoots, ahem...). 

And of course my own little American Girl doll will need some outfits to wear when she's not helping me out with her fit checks of the garments I'm sewing!

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I Found These Super Cute American Girl Doll Storage Containers, and I Am Definitely About To Have a Mid-Life Crisis

Because the best way to spend a rainy, gloomy afternoon is sitting on the floor all by myself playing with organizing the kids' old toys!

A few weeks ago, I had a little time to kill after dropping my kid off at college and before starting on the 4-hour hike home, so I decided to stop in Columbus, Ohio, and do some shopping in the Big City.

I mean, not like Nordstrom/Macy's/Sephora shopping. I mean World Market/Container Store/LEGO Store shopping!

In the Container Store I found these super cute American Girl doll-sized latching plastic containers, and they are the perfect size to store all the little sets of American Girl doll accessories. Look at all those tiny baking and picnic supplies, all organized in their adorable wee bins!

I didn't buy enough to hold all of the millions of miscellaneous accessories that my younger kid, especially, has for her American Girl doll, but here are similar mini containers on Amazon that you can buy in bulk, so I might stock up.

Of course, I'm the only one who's touched the kids' American Girl dolls in years, and then it's only been to lovingly wash all their little clothes and wipe the dust off their little faces and brush out their hair and gently nestle them into the bigger storage bins that I selected and bought for them. That was... rough, honestly. Transforming the kids' old playroom into the teenager's bedroom required that I once and for all put away a lot of their childish things, and doing that whole remodel right after sending my older kid away to college was probably not the best timing for me, emotionally.

Like, yay for the kids being ready and happy for all the growing up that they're doing, but I was pretty happy reading books and baking cakes and stomping in the creek with my four- and six-year-olds, thank you very much. I'm not entirely sure what I'm meant to do after this younger kid leaves for college really soon. Get a full-time job, sure. Do some DIY projects around the house. Learn to crochet. But, like... what am I MEANT to do? 

With these kids, I always knew exactly what I was meant to be doing. Raise them. Make play dough for them. Take them on adventures. Cook themed family dinners. Buy them matching pink Converse and purple Dr. Martens and spiky orange backpacks. Take them on picnics. Get them a cat. Get them a dog. Send them to summer camp. Coo over their art projects. Raising these kids has literally been my life's purpose for nearly twenty years. 

Those backpacks, though!!!

And now what? I just... semi-retire? I send them care packages and text messages and letters, take them on summer vacations and fuss over them during winter breaks? And what about the other 23.5 hours in the day? I'm simply... doing whatever? What else is even meaningful TO do?!?

Y'all, I'm pretty sure I am ramping up for the BIGGEST MID-LIFE CRISIS THAT EVER CRISISED. Like the most slowest-motion car wreck ever, I can see it coming, but I do not have a clue how to stop it. So, start popping the popcorn, I guess, because I feel like things may get wild around here in a few months...

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My Latest over at Pumpkin+Bear: The Cutest Custom-Color Doll Masks

Even after I stopped selling real-person fabric masks in my Pumpkin+Bear etsy shop (I switched the kids and I over to these, and Matt prefers this style in whatever brand is cheapest), I keep making and selling doll masks, because:

1. People still want to buy them from me, and I do enjoy exchanging my goods and services for currency.
2. Even though I think a lot of people have also switched to high-quality manufactured masks, if you want a mask for your doll, you're still going to need someone to make it for you by hand. 
3. They're ADORABLE.

Number 3, of course, is the most important reason. 

Here's a cute matching set that I made a few weeks ago:

And here's my latest order of custom-color doll masks! My favorite part of making these masks is seeing what color combinations people choose. This particular customer, for instance, chose these fabrics--

--along with these ties:

And when I sewed them together in the requested combinations, I got these adorable doll masks!

That watermelon mask is the cutest mask that currently exists in the world. 

And here's how I package my masks to go out and about into that world!

If you are a sewer, yourself, I do have the entire doll mask tutorial for free on my blog. It's the responsibility of all of us to keep our dolls healthy!

I've gotten out of the habit of sewing matching items for my own kids' American Girl dolls, since I'm the only one who plays with them these days (ahem), but I'm pretty sure that I DO need to make another couple of watermelon doll masks.

And obviously, if I'm going to make watermelon doll masks, I clearly have to make both dolls entire watermelon outfits to match!