Making American Girl Doll Clothes is easy with this free sewing pattern. It is an easy doll dress to sew and can be made in less than an hour.
Making doll clothes can be a great beginner sewing project! Doll clothing doesn’t take much fabric so it’s easy to handle while building your sewing skills.
If you are looking for more easy ways to learn to sew be sure to check out my practice sewing sheets. They are a great way to become familiar with the sewing machine. Then you are ready to sew this doll dress.
18 inch Doll Clothes Pattern
This dress is perfect for 18″ American Girl dolls, or any 18-inch doll. Doll dress patterns don’t use much fabric, so they are a great way to use up leftover fabric. They’re also great for dressing up teddy bears!
If you have baby dolls you might also like this doll diaper pattern. It too is a free printable sewing pattern.
American Girl Doll Clothes Dress Supplies
- Free American Girl Style Pattern for Doll Dress Download and print pattern
- 2 – 8 1/2″ X 11″ pieces of cotton fabric (make sure to pre-wash the fabric before cutting)
- 24 inches of 1/4″ ribbon
- safety pin
- marking pen
- sewing machine or needle and thread
- scissors
- straight pins
- tape measure
- seam ripper (let’s hope not)
How to Make a Doll Dress Easy!
We are ready to get started on our easy doll dress! You won’t believe how quickly this dress goes together. It is just like a pillowcase dress.
NOTE: Do not cut the pattern, use the complete outside of the edge of the 8 1/2″ X 11″ piece of paper to cut out the fabric. Mark dots onto fabric.
With right sides together sew together side seams, from dot to bottom on each side. The open area creates the armhole.
Press open seams. Next, sew close to the edge of the top side opening. Start at the top, go down around the bottom (just below where the side seam started at the dot) and back up. Repeat this on the other side of the dress.
Turn top down 3/4″ and press. Do this on each side of the top of the dress.
Sew across the top on each side 1/2″ in from the fold, creating a pocket for the ribbon to slip through. Repeat on the other side.
Place a small safety pin on a ribbon and slide it through the pocket.
Start on the far right front then through the back. If the pin gets stuck in the side seams open up the pocket with a pencil and try again.
Turn the bottom of the dress under a 1/4″ to 1/2″, press and edge stitch all the way around. Put the dress on and tie a bow.
Tips on how to make a dress:
- If you prefer finished seams, serge or zig-zag around the outside edge of pattern pieces before beginning.
- If you feel this dress will be washed at some point be sure to prewash the fabric.
- I am a fan of the disappearing marker to make markings on the fabric.
There you go, a simple doll dress pattern that you or your child can easily make!
Hope this American Girl doll clothes pattern helps you whip up a bunch of doll clothes!
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More Free Patterns & Tutorials
I am always on the hunt for easy doll clothes patterns–sewing doll clothes is so much cheaper than the real thing…. plus it is fun! Here are some more fun DIY crafts.
- Barbie Doll Sleeping Bag
- If you crochet, try this doll scarf to make a complete outfit
- Cloth diapers pattern for about 15-inch-sized doll
- How to Make a Doll
- Doll Quilt Tutorial
Had a question. Sewed this for my niece but I could not get it to turn out like the picture. The top just comes straight across with no scoop neck. What am I doing wrong? I like how easy this pattern is!
This really is a fabulous project, Cindy! I shared two dresses that I made with the pattern on my blog today: http://www.stampgoodness.com/2013/02/a-most-unexpected-project-featuring-tea-for-two-from-stampin-up.html and I know we’ll be making more of these in the future! Thanks so much for sharing this idea!
Hi!! Thanks for sharing this wonderful pattern. EAsy as it may be, I couldn’t wrap my mind on this myself. I bought my great granddaughter a 14″ Melissa and Doug doll, for which I couldn’t find any patterns for clothing. This is simple enough to cut down
both in length and width. Your photos are wonderful!!! Blessings to you!!!!!!!
Thank you so much for the great tutorial! My girls and I (and some of our friends as well) followed your tutorial today and gave our little girls their first sewing lesson while we made these dresses. They were a big hit and my daughters are already asking if they can sew again tomorrow.
This is adorable! The download link for the pattern isn’t working. Can you point me in the right direction, please?
Terra
Thank you so much! This is so cute! My daughter keeps asking for doll clothes and with this pattern, I can throw a few together before Christmas. 🙂
Omg this is toooooo cute I am totoly going to make one
Just used your lovely pattern for a little dress for an Australian Girl, and it is wonderful. Thanks for a great & free tutorial.
your dress pattern is so sweet and super simple. I was wondering if you have any simple patterns for my old Nancy Ann doll, she is about 5 and half inches tall. thanks so much donna
I just used this pattern to make a dress for a little girls birthday gift. She loved it (I also made a dress for her that matches the doll dress). Thanks for the pattern and tutorial! here’s my blog post about it:
http://jamespurejoy.blogspot.com/2012/09/matching-girls-dress-and-american-girl.html
For the lady who wanted to know about American Girl Dolls without teeth.
Madame Alexander Dolls have no teeth and besides that look just like American Girl Dolls, but I like them better because their shoulders and upper arms are not made out of material like American Girl Dolls so look cuter in sleeveless dresses. I bought my granddaughters, me, my daughter and daughter in law all Madame Alexander Dolls through Avon. They don’t sell them any more but I have seen them on Ebay. They seem to be like the Generation dolls from Target and Walmart, but not sure.
Thank you! I am a beginner sewer and made this dress for a little girl’s American Girl doll. Great, EASY instructions for someone like me who knows next-to-nothing about sewing.
Thank you so much for this wonderful pattern! I made a dress (my 2nd sewing project since my loooong sewing break) for my old doll. You can see it here: http://guiltlessmama.blogspot.com/2012/08/so-sew-already-doll-dress.html
For everyone unable to download the pattern, it had me stumped as well. You have to click on “Free American Girl Style Doll Dress Pattern” and NOT “Download”.
HTH 🙂
Can’t download the doll dress pattern. I have Adobe Professional 8 and I also downloaded the PDF Reader on your page. However, the ‘download’ button is not accessible. Can you help me?
Thanks!