Maxi Dress: Fashion File 14 American Girl Doll Clothes

I have lots of knit fabrics to play with now so I started to look at what I could make with my knitfit patterns.

I quickly made up this maxi dress using the tank top pattern pieces from 1801 Knitfit Lucy Classic Skivvy.

I placed them on a double layer of fabric with the front on the fold, with the hems level and the pieces abut 2” apart. I measured 14” from the shoulder and cut straight across for the hem. 

Cut the sides adding just a tiny bit more slope to the side seam angle.

Cut out the rest.

I knew that  1806 Snugfit Elaine Open Neck Blouse had a piece that shaped in at the waist so I used that to shape the waist in the right place on the maxi.

Using a narrow zig zag stitch and stretch needle stitch the shoulder seams. Turn under 1/4” hem on the neck and arm holes. Stitch with a narrow zig zag. Matching thread in the bobbin.

Stitch the side seams with a narrow zig zag.

Turn up a 3/8” hem. I overlocked the hem edge first.

Turn in the back facing and stitch down with  a straight stitch.

Add velcro patches down the back. Three patches set a bit further apart than for a blouse so her bottom doesn’t show in back.

I thought it looked a bit plain so I stitch a little bit of 1/8” elastic down the front to give it some definition.

If you have a free tank top pattern from somewhere you could probably make it into a maxi dress like this. If you purchase my pattern for $2.50 on CRAFTSY or ETSY you get the skivvy/rollneck sweater, the high neck, the t-shirt crew neck the tank top and the crop top as well as long sleeves, 3/4 sleeves, short sleeves and cap sleeves. Using Fashion File 12 you can also make a cardigan and using Fashion File 13 you can make a plain hemmed t-shirt.

If you like the look of the red cardigan worn with the maxi dress keep an eye out for the Fashion File on how to make a waterfall cardigan from the skivvy pattern pieces. I just have to get the bottom hem right before I publish it. It is just a matter of drawing two angled lines on the bodice front. So easy. 

By all means pin a picture from this post so you can find it later. It also helps others find my great patterns and design ideas.

Better still, download the fashion file as a PDF and file it with your other doll clothes patterns. I have kept it really short and sweet so it can also be printed out if you prefer to keep it in your hard copy pattern folder. I have included a link to my blog in the PDF so you can find this post again for more details.

Download Fashion File 14

Happy Sewing,

Val