DIY American Girl doll skirt sewing tutorial…

My Little Miss loves to sew, she is almost nine and loves using the sewing machine by herself—and she’s getting pretty good at it!!  We have lots of mommy-daughter sewing dates, but she also gets sewing time rewarded to her if she gets all her studying and assignments done.  She has been working so hard the past couple of days to get all her chores and studying done that she earned some sewing time today.  We had about an hour while the other kids were napping and she pulled out some of her favorite fabric from her stash and asked if she could make a skirt for her American Girl doll.  And so we did!!

Little Miss measured Kirsten’s waist as 11 inches.  So we doubled that length to 22 inches and cut a piece of her fabric 22 x approximately 6 inches. 

She sewed the edges of each 22 inch side over about 1/2 inch.

Then she pinned a row of rick rack to the bottom edge and sewed it in place.  She couldn’t decide on which color, so she ended up using both!

She folded the skirt in half and sewed a seam to connect her skirt.

Next we cut a 10 inch piece of 1/4 inch elastic and sewed the ends together.  I helped her pin the elastic to the seam and then match the middle of the elastic to the middle of the skirt (so the elastic will be stretched evenly when it is sewn).

To finish the skirt, I helped Little Miss stretch the elastic until it laid flat against the fabric and sewed all the way around the waist.

We spent about 20 minutes on this project and it was done!!  And my Little Miss couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.  I think I know what to get her for Christmas—a bag of scrap fabric and rick rack!!