This outfit was inspired by a dress from Justice (photo below) but a simpler version. Also, this is like a combination of Saige’s pink sparkle dress (the one shoulder style) and her meet outfit (the royal blue color). So Saige is definitely the best model for this outfit. I have done a lot of skirt tutorials in this blog so I thought I would shift to making dreses and this is my first take on it. I think it’s lovely, “adollable” indeed.

TUTORIAL FOR THE ONE SHOULDER DRESS FOR AMERICAN GIRL DOLLS

1) Cut your fabric using your favorite bodice pattern. Make sure that the length of the bodice is about 1/4 inch below the waistline. Sew them together on the shoulder seams. Do this for both the main bodice and lining. If you do not have a bodice pattern yet, the free Liberty Jane tank top pattern is a good one.

2) After sewing them together on the shoulder seams, turn to the right side and pin together the front and back pieces, making sure they are aligned. Then, cut your front piece, bodice pattern similar to the pattern at the photo above. Pin it to keep in place. Follow the pattern and cut on the part indicated by the arrow as shown in the photo. Make sure that you are cutting the back piece too.

Do the same thing for the lining. Turn to the right side and pin the pattern, but this time, pin it to the left side of the front bodice as indicated in the photo.

3)The photo above shows what the pieces would look like after cuting. This will be the front side and one back piece is detached.

4) Align the main bodice and lining together. Pin and then sew together as indicated by the lines shown in the photo above. You can also sew the shoulder strap in. I cut extra on the shoulder strap and measure later on the doll to see how long I need it before sewing on the back piece. I used a matching ribbon for the strap.

Do the same thing for the back pieces. With right sides together,sew them as indicated by the red arrow at the photo above.

5) After sewing them together, clip the corners and the curves and then turn to the right side. Sew the bodice together at the sides.

6) Cut the skirt part. Mine measures 6 inches in length x 30 inches in width. Hem the bottom part and zigzag or serge both sides. Gather the skirt until its the same width as the bodice. With right sides together, sew the skirt to the bodice. This is also the part where you can attach the shoulder strap on the back piece. Measure it on your doll to check how long you need. Then just hand sew it.

7)Sew the back seams together to finish the skirt. Start the seam about 2 inches below the waistline. Sew the velcro for closure. I used a matching royal blue ribbon for the belt and strap.

8) The finished product. Yay! its soo cute.

My inspiration – a dress from Justice.

Saige looks so pretty in the dress.

If you like my tutorial, please PIN, LIKE or SHARE.

If you would like to comment and can’t see the COMMENT BOX, please go HERE

Below is the photo of the materials that we used. The trims can be found at the trim and ribbon section in Hobby Lobby and the small rings are at the jewelry section. The brown trim looks like suede and the black one looks like leather. They do not fray at all so they are very easy to work with. The best thing about this belt is that they are actually functional.

Here is the video tutorial. Enjoy!

If you love this tutorial, please like, pin or share.

My inspiration:

So here goes the tutorial:

1) Cut your fabric according to the following measurement. Hem the bottom of the main fabric and lining.

Main skirt and Lining

Height : 4 1/2 inches
Width : 28 inches

Waistband:
Height :2 1/2 inches
Width : 13.5 inches

Tulle
Height :1 1/2 inch
Width : 60 inches

Elastic -1/2 inch wide cut at 10 1/2 inches long.

For the tulle, I used the roll kind that you can find at Hobby Lobby. You can see it at one of the photos below. It is actually easier to handle than the regular tulle that you buy at the fabric store. Please note that all seams are sewn at 1/4 inch seam allowance unless I say it otherwise.

2) Gather both the lining and main skirt for the fabric until both are the same width as the waistband.

3) Sew the tulle at the bottom of the lining. I did this by manually pleating the tulle as I sew along. I made sure that I left about half of tulle peeking out the lining. Just in case you ran out of tulle while sewing, you can just cut another strip and continue sewing.

4) The photo above shows the tulle after it’s been sewn. I ran out of tulle and had to cut another strip and it still looks pretty. So this is very forgiving, you do not have to be super exact about it.

5) Baste together the main skirt and lining to keep them together before sewing the waistband.

6) With right sides together, sew the waistband on the skirt.

7)Fold over the raw ends of the waistband about 1/4 inch and then turn to the other side and pin. Stitch close to the edge to finish the waistband.

8) After finishing the waistband, topstitch the upper part waistband about 1/8 inch from the edge. Make sure that when you finish the stitch, the elastic will still fit through the casing.

9) Feed the elastic through the casing with the help of safety pin. I purposely used a 1/2 inch elastic since I want the waistband to be wide.

9)With right sides together, sew the back seam to finish the skirt.

10) Make the yoyo flower using a circle that has a 2 inches diameter.

This is a close-up of the skirt with the wide elastic band, red flower on the side and tulle accent at the bottom. If you enjoy my tutorial, please PIN, LIKE or SHARE.

Photo above is the clothes rack in my daughter’s doll house. This is the product of the tutorial I posted here.

Photo above is the longer version of the clothes rack in my sewing room. It is 3 feet long. I love that the clothes are nicely hanged and it looks like I have a little boutique (so cute). If you are an etsy seller, this is a fun way for you to display all your beautiful creations .

So here is the tutorial, mostly pictures and they are self-explanatory.

MATERIALS:
I bought the PVC pipes from Lowes. For cutting the pipes, I use a PVC cutter and it only costs $10 if you want to buy it. You can try asking the workers in Lowes, they might be nice enough to cut it for you if you don’t want to buy the cutter.

Cut your pipes according to the following measurements. For the joints, make sure you buy the slip kind. Also, please note that all pipes and joints are 1/2 inch in diameter.
Pipe A: 20 inches (this is how long the rack will be, you can lengthen or shorten it)

Pipe B: 15 inches (this is how tall the rack will be plus a few inches more when the joints are attached)

Pipe C: 5 inches (this will be the support for the base)

Joint A – you need 2 pieces (they are called 90 deg, side outlet elbow, 3 way)
Joint B - you need 2 pieces (they are called 90 deg, side outlet elbow)

STEP 1

STEP 2

STEP 3

STEP 4

STEP 5

STEP 6

For the hangers, I bought them from Amazon. This is the link Doll Hangers Set of 10 Plastic Hangers, Fits 18 Inch American Girl Dolls Clothes

18 inch doll clothes blog -
Devynsmom – Jessica’s Outfit
Melanie Clausen – Kanani’s Outfit

I am happy to announce that we have four new giveaways to our loyal subscribers here on our blog and on our youtube channel. I have four bubble skirt and top giveaways and each one is made of different fabric. They are all homemade (by me) but all the seams are finished (serged, even) so I am proud to say that they are all nicely done and sewn using beautiful fabric (which I have a ton of ) So here they are:

All the tops are made using patterns from Liberty Jane and the skirt is based on my bubble skirt tutorial which can be found on this link - Bubble Skirt Tutorial.  I updated this tutorial using less fabric and elastic,  that’s why I have a ton of these bubble skirts and now I am giving them away.

Jessica is modeling a laced tank top paired with sequined black bubble skirt.	Kanana is wearing a floral top paired with purple bubble skirt made from silk fabric.

McKenna is wearing a printed raglan t-shirt and a bubble skirt made from blue chiffon fabric	Ivy is wearing a fuchsia ribbed tank top and a floral print cotton bubble skirt

This is how to join:
First, you must be a subscriber.
And then, all you have to do is comment on this post or on our video for this giveway.
You can comment once on this post and once on our video.
This is the link to our video – February Giveways
Then we’ll pick two winners from the comments on our blog and two winners from the comments on our video.
We will pick the winner through random.org and announce it on Feb 24.
So that’s it! Good luck and have fun.

1) Cut your fabric according to this measurement – 7 inches in height and 20 inches in width.

2) Hem the bottom of the skirt, I did mine by folding over about 1/4 inch and then fold again another 1/4 inch. You can make it simpler just by doing zigzag stitch and then folding it at 1/4 inch to hem.

3) Fold the top part of the skirt about 1/4 inch. You can pin or iron it to keep in place.

4) Fold the top part of the skirt again about 1 3/4 inch towards the wrong side. The key is to make sure that after folding and hemming,the skirt will be at least 5 inches in height .

5) Sew about 3/4 inch as casing for the elastic.

6) Make the belt loops. Cut 6 inch long by 2 inches wide for the strip of fabric. With wrong sides together, sew it at 1/4 inch seam and then turn to the right side. Sew a straight stitch on both sides about 1/8 inch from the edge. Cut three strips measuring about 1.75 inch each.

7) Find the center of your fabric and mark that spot with a pin. Then measure about 2 inches away from the center on both sides. That is where you will sew the belt loops.

8) Feed the elastic through the casing. I like to put safety pins on both ends of the elastic.

9) Pin both ends to secure the elastic. With wrong sides together, sew the back seam with a 1/4 inch allowance.

10) Sew the last belt loops at the back of the skirt.

11) Yay, the skirt is done.

12)To make the belt, cut a strip of fabric measuring 26 inches long by 2 inches wide. With wrong sides together, sew the long sides at 1/4 inch allowance. Turn to the right side and zigzag the short ends. You can also use matching or coordinating ribbon if you wish.

All the shoes and bag that I used in this pictorial are all from AMAZON. The silver shoes and bag are made by Carpatina and the red flat shoes is from Dreamworld Collections. I highly recommend them because they are not only cute but made with attention to details and are of great quality.
CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE SHOES AND BAG FROM AMAZON..

Materials:
For the skirt, make sure you use a thin fabric with a nice flow to it. Examples are cotton knit or jersey knit and rayon. I would say sheer fabric such as chiffon works best for this kind of style but they are very hard to work it especially if you are a beginner. In my tutorial, I actually use a woven fabric but its very thin and light so it ended up looking nice. I don’t think this would work with a thick cotton fabric as it might not drape nicely.

I actually made two versions of this skirt. The first tutorial is the simpler version which uses the basic steps for making a skirt. In the second version I made, I used the circle skirt method that I posted in this blog. This is a lot harder so this might not be easy for beginners. However, the fabric drapes nicely with this method. For this type of skirt, I would say FABRIC MATTERS a lot in order to get great results.

METHOD 1 – BASIC SKIRT METHOD

1) Cut your fabric according to this measurement:

By L , I am referring to the length / height of the fabric
By W, I am referring to how wide the fabric is

Waistband – 2 inches L x 13.5 inches W
Skirt – 8 inches L x 30 inches W

The main skirt is folded here that’s why it does not look wide, but its cut at 30 inches width.

Please note that all seams are sewn at 1/4 inch allowance.

2) Gather the main skirt so its the same width as your waistband.

3)Sew the waistband. Check out the tutorial here on how to make the waistband.

4) With right sides together, fold the skirt in half, making sure to join the back seams together. Pin to keep in place. Measure 4.5 inches from the waistband and mark it. That is your starting point for cutting the skirt. Cut it in tapered form as indicated in the picture. The short side will be the front part of the skirt and the long part is the back of the skirt.

5) This is what the skirt will look like after you cut it.

6) Hem the skirt. I did mine by doing a rolled hem so I have to do a lot of pinning. If you want, you can just zigzag the edges and then fold it about 1/4 inch to hem.

7) Feed the elastic through the casing. I used a 10 1/2 inch elastic for the waist.

8) Sew the back seam to finish the skirt.

METHOD 2 – CIRCLE SKIRT METHOD

For sewing a high low skirt using the circle skirt method, I used the steps I made in this tutorial. And then I just determined the front part of the skirt and cut it in that area similar to step 4 of the first method. Then I cut the back part so it would be easier to hem and attach the elastic. Below are the results of the sewing I did using these two methods. Personally, I like the first method because its easier but maybe for a more professional looking skirt, the second method might be more appropriate.

In the coming weeks, I hope to post another tutorial to share with you all. I am working on something that the dolls can wear for the fall/winter season.