DIY Fancy Doll Undies + Dollar Tree Find

I've been on a sewing kick the last few days, and I've sewn almost a whole new wardrobe for my daughter's American Girl doll. (Does anyone need doll clothes? I want to sew a lot more!) This has been my first experience with jersey knit fabric, and it's not nearly as finicky or scary as I had always imagined.


I bought 1/4 yard of this knit fabric at Hobby Lobby and made a doll long-sleeved t-shirt and skirt out of it. I had just enough leftover to make two pair of these undies. Aren't they cute??

If you notice the seam on the front, it's because I originally made the front too short and had to sew a small strip onto it. I didn't have the luxury of matching up the print, but it's barely noticeable. I'm sure my 7-year-old daughter isn't going to care.

Here is the back with no unsightly seam. :) I just used the original AG panties that she came with as a guide to make my own pattern. It only has two seams - the side seams.

What really makes these stand out is the fold-over elastic that I used on the leg holes and waistband. If you're like me, this stuff is almost impossible to find locally. Hobby Lobby carries it in white, but it's quite expensive. I ended up buying 10 yards in white from an Etsy seller, and I can't wait for it to get here. (Alex needs some real boy underwear.)

In the meantime, I stumbled across these headwraps at Dollar Tree yesterday:

I found a pack with brown and black (3 of each) and these six pastel colors. Each wrap is around 14" long once it's unknotted, so this was like getting 2 yards of fold-over elastic for $1. That's a better deal than I got on Etsy, once you figure in shipping (which I always do).

I didn't find many, though. I bought both of the six-packs that I found, and then I found these three-packs. The price isn't quite as good per yard (about $1/yard), but check out the tie-dye one. These just screamed "doll clothes" when I saw them, so I bought two packs.  It was all they had.

These go a long way with doll clothes. I was able to make a doll skirt waistband and two pair of panties (as shown) with three of the black headwraps. I was pretty happy with that.

I'll show you some of the other pieces when I can sneak the pictures, since these are all still a secret.

I'm linking to many of these parties.