My American Girl Doll Clothes

Five years ago I moved to Colorado Springs from San Diego.  I thought a hobby would be nice to keep me busy until I met some new friends.  A family with 4 little girls became a part of my life right away.  These girls had dolls, American Girl dolls.  I’d never heard of them, but later learned they had a cult following of little girls from 5 to 12 years old.  The girls wanted me to teach them how to sew doll clothes for their dolls.  I didn’t even have a sewing machine.  A neighbor across the street was a seamstress and offered to let me have an old machine that was not being used.  I had it serviced and it worked like new. 

Now, what do I do about these dolls?  I googled American Girl Dolls and found all I could about them.  First of all they cost $100 new.  Oh boy!  That is an expensive doll!  (I now have 5 of them J) I found these dolls and their handmade clothes on Craigslist, on Etsy, on Ebay, and on a dozen sites where someone was sewing original outfits and selling them.  OK, I can do that.  I found a free pattern to download and print out.  I started with a bodice and sleeves and measured out a strip of fabric 7” by 30” for the skirt.  In an hour and a half I was done but it didn’t look very good.  It was plain, ordinary and needed to be closed in the back.  I bought Velcro at the fabric store and sewed it to the back.  Got some ribbon and wrapped around the waist.   Voila!  It looked better.

Now I needed more fabric, more thread more lace and more Velcro.  I was hooked!  I had to make a better dress than the last one.  Then I had to make pants and a shirt.  Now I needed a real pattern.  I was anxious to get a good supply on hand to suit my color mood that day.  I realized that my childhood love of primary colors and paper dolls was somehow filling my mind.  OK, garage sales seemed to be a good place to start.  With the help of MapQuest I charted out 20-30 garage sales for each Friday from my home in a circle to the north end of town back to my neighborhood again.   Every Friday this was my routine for 3 months.  I found tons of fabric and notions.  One home was left abandoned by this woman when she went into a nursing home.  Her sons came in and picked what they wanted, leaving behind decades of accumulated fabric and lace/notions from making dolls and doll clothes.  I filled up 2 pillow cases of stuff that was invaluable to me.  It was so exciting I could hardly contain myself.  Another home was again the spoils of a deceased seamstress.  The daughter had no interest.  I found tools that ordinarily were very expensive that I could use.  The best thing was 5 plastic containers with over 50 spools of thread neatly stored on pegs within each one.  The thread was new, bright and pastel colors.  I grabbed them, willing to pay whatever the price.  But to my surprise she said $10 for all of them.  What?  They’re worth well over $700 for the lot.  Nope, she just wanted to get rid of them.  That’s how I began to stock my sewing room. 

Sewing room.  Yes I had a room with everything in it I needed.  Now I have 3 rooms.  Yep, 3 rooms that hold what I need to keep this ‘hobby’ going. 

Now, 5 years after that initial dress, I have made over 1500 outfits and vended at over 50 craft fairs.  I have gone through 4 sewing machines and 5 sergers.  I have a booth at an antique mall.  I advertise and sell on Etsy, Craigslist and Facebook.  I sell to high school friends (50 years ago I graduated) friends from California, from Colorado where I am now and from about 12 states.  I advertise on Craigslist in major cities across the US and have gained dozens of customers.  I have a website.  I now sew over 50 hours a week.  When I stop loving it, I will stop sewing.  But for now, I intend to keep doing it.  Why?  Because I make little girls happy.  That’s why I do it!  They come to my home and shop in my ‘store’.  I love seeing the excitement they bring.

My favorite customer is a 57 year old lady named Molly.  She is dying.  She has been sick for a long time and is not going to get better.  She’s childlike in a way, and I love her so very much.  She has 18 American Girl dolls and has spent close to $1000 buying outfits from me.  She buys every week or two, maybe just one outfit now at a time, but she calls me every time she goes shopping at the antique mall where my booth is chocked full of my wares to tell me what she bought. 

Another reason I do this is my little girls that have come back every year at craft fairs or to my home to buy more doll clothes.  Some I see once a year and after a few years it’s their little sister that buys from me.  They are very special to me.  This ‘hobby’ has become a real cottage business that keeps me very busy, but at 70 years old, I wouldn’t change a thing.  Just this week I made 10 overalls with a football theme that had a matching blouse and bandana.  A couple of friends wanted Bronco print fabric, another was Packer and another 49ers.  Last year I made 100 Elsa dresses and 60 Anna dresses.  They would sell quickly so I kept sewing them all summer and winter.  With the new made for TV movie as a sequel to Frozen I may have to make more of them.

 

Here is my web site:  www.dollclothessheri.com

I charge a couple of dollars for postage when mailing and I accept PayPal or Debit/Credit cards for payment.  Outfits/dresses begin at $13 and go up depending on the detail or accessories.  Shoes are $5. 

I hope you’ll consider my doll clothes the next time you need to buy a present or just treat a little girl who has the 18” dolls.  My clothes will fit all 18” cloth torso dolls.