My DGD both love sewing American Girl doll clothes. Doesn’t every American Girl doll need a fine-looking wardrobe? Besides, with a fabric stash at hand, Mira and Cate don’t need to save their hard-earned dollars only to have them evaporate with a single purchase of doll clothing.
Writing this reminds me of my incentive to sew when I was a teen, my parents paid for fabric to make clothes however if I wanted ready-to-wear, I bought it with my hard-earned money.
Back to the story.
Cate’s Creation
Recently, both Mira (age 10) and Caitlin (age 7) had dreams of a “beautiful” American Girl doll dress. My conversation with Cate went something like this:
Cate: Grandma, I want to make a REALLY beautiful dress for Kit and McKenna.
Me: What type of REALLY beautiful dress?
Cate: One that’s REALLY beautiful and made from your fabric, not from Mira’s and my box of fabric.
Me: Well, let’s see what we can find.
We made a trip to my sewing room and dug through the bin of “silk and pretties” (Cate knew exactly where that bin was located) and she quickly selected an Asian print, followed by a quick rummage through my lace drawer to make her trim selections. Most important of all, I asked her to draw a picture of what she wanted. I wanted Cate to be successful but secretly feared that she wished for something very complex). Here is “Cate’s Creation”:
I found the simplest possible 18″ doll dress pattern and soon we were cutting and sewing. With an amazing command of the sewing machine, Cate zig-zagged all of the edges, sewed the seams, ran the gathering stitches and gathered the skirt. Here is the REALLY beautiful result:
Mira’s Couture
Mira has loved creating fashion for both Kit and McKenna, though she is not the owner of either doll. This however was the most elaborate to date. Prior to designing this dress she made an adorable white top hat with black trim for Kit (maybe I can get a photo and add later) and then envisioned the black and white dress to be worn with the top hat. More experienced with a drawing pencil, Mira provided sufficient detail to challenge both of us. What a gorgeous design but where would I find this pattern?
In a box of scrap fabric, we found some white poly crepe and black velvet, and she selected a small embroidery design. Mira cut out the dress and sewed most of the it except the sleeves and cuff – much of it was independent sewing. She selected the appropriate sized snaps (no velcro here) and we shared sewing them onto the dress back and cuffs.
FabriCate & Mira 