Had fun making this adorable AG Dolls dress using a FREE pattern.

I decided to call this one Summer Sunshine as I thought the name was perfect for this dress.

Here’s my American Girl ® doll Julie soaking up the sunshine and looking pretty cute wearing the dress 🙂

For this dress I modified a free pattern I got from PixieFaire.com it’s the American Girl doll free drawstring dress pattern by Heritage Doll Fashions that you can find here.  This is what the pattern looks like if you just make it up as it is straight from the pattern.

The modifications I made

To give the dress a little more shape I attached a self made bias band around the bodice on the inside in matching white fabric and inserted elastic.  This way it makes it adjustable for most 18″ to 20″ dolls.  I also shortened the dress by an inch and then added the ruffle on the bottom.  I added a row of top stitching across the bottom of the dress to secure the ruffle down so it sits nicely as well.  Pretty happy with how straight my top stitching is too.  I think one of the things I like about sewing for dolls is having to be so precise as there’s not much room for error and the tiny details are pretty obvious if it’s not exactly right.

To ensure the drawstrings didn’t come out when little girls (and even big girls like me) dress the doll I secure the ties at the sides of the bodice so they’ll always stay where they’re meant to be.  It’s so frustrating when ever ties pull out and you have rethread them again.  No worries of that happening with this dress.  I also added an extra row of stitching across the top of the fold over where the ties thread through as this helps give a nice neat finish as the top where the dress is gathered.

Additions I added

I also made a little matching headband to go with the dress.  I attached a hair tie so as it’s easy to get on and off the doll and will fit most 18″ – 20″ dolls heads as there’s plenty of stretch in the attached hair tie.

Here’s what the dress and headband looks like on my Australian Girl ® doll Belle

And here’s what it looks like on my American Girl ® doll Julie

 

Another thing I had fun with was using PicMonkey.com to make a collage

The reason I wanted to make a collage is so that I can show a variety of view of the dress in my Etsy shop.  Etsy only allows for 5 pictures in a listing so I figured that it’s probably a good idea to make one of the pictures a collage and then I still have another four left for more detailed pics.

I’m still learning how to use Etsy and how to write listing details and all those fun kinds of things.  I’m sure I’ll get better at it as I go along but hey… at least I’m making a start and adding things to my little shop LOL.

I still haven’t yet decided whether to set up a new blog dedicated to my dolls or to just stick with sharing my creations on my blog here.  I kind of figure maybe just sticking with this blog after all it is me and this is generally share what I get up to.

If you’ve read this far I hope my little Sunshine Dress put a smile on your face as you looked at the pictures as I can’t help but smile every time I look at this cute little dress 🙂