Elastic Waist Doll Dress Pattern

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Happy World Doll Day! In honor of this day, I would like to encourage you to use up some of that scrap fabric (I have WAY too much!) and make some doll clothes for organizations that donate dolls to children who could use a little joy in their lives. Here are some that I have found- some accept clothing donations and some do not but you may be able to help in some way or be inspired to start your own organization:

The Broken Doll - restores dolls and gives them to girls in foster care and hospitals
Broken Dolls Healing Hearts - creates care packages for children, including restored dolls
Hope Through Broken Dolls
Janie's Dollys for Recovery - dolls for girls undergoing extensive medical procedures

If you know of others, please share the info!

To get you started, I have a free doll dress pattern and tutorial for you today! This is a doll-sized version of the teen peasant dress from yesterday.

This really isn't too hard. I whipped this one up in about a half hour. It will fit an 18" doll like American Girl, Our Generation, or My Life. It would probably work for smaller dolls with some adjustments on the elastic length.

UPDATE 11/2019 - I now have a printable pdf pattern and step by step tutorial posted on the blog! See it HERE.

I am still working on the pdf pattern (which means it is burried on my sewing table somewhere) but you can cut these pieces with measurements.

Sleeves: 7" wide by 4 1/2" high
Tops: 8" wide by 5 1/2" high
Arm Scythes: 1 1/2" wide by 3" high (just curve it a little as shown)
Skirt: 7 1/2" high, 8" at waist, 14" at bottom (make initial slit 1" deep)
Waist elastic: 12" (1/4")
Neck elastic: 8 1/2" (1/4")

The sewing process is the same as the teen peasant dress (see THIS post for instructions!) The only differences are that I used a smaller seam allowance- 1/4" and made the elastic casings a tiny bit smaller. Also, it would probably be easier to hem the sleeves before sewing the sides.

It is really very straightforward. Just follow the same directions I gave HERE.

If you want to make puffy sleeves with elastic casings, increase the width to 9" and the height to 5".

Please use this pattern for personal, non-commercial, or charity use only. If you make one or more of these I would love to see it! You can contact me via facebook or email pacountrycrafts at gmail dot com.

I have other free doll clothing patterns available, too! They are all made to fit 18" American girl dolls. You can see them all under my tutorials menu, but here is a sampling: