This class began as a request by a student and was a favorite from the start and continues to be a favorite! Students brought in their American Girl Dolls and designed and made clothes, costumes, and accessories for their dolls. Have samples ready for your students to see of American girl doll clothes that you have already made so the children can see the final results. Make sure the patterns are simple and easy for the students. Be careful in what you are going to allow the students to make. Sometimes even “easy-to-sew” commercial 18″ doll patterns can be difficult and children may have trouble sewing tiny areas such as the sleeves of a doll pattern. So make sure you are fully prepared before the class. 
In the beginning of fall, we had a few girls design and make their dolls some Halloween costumes. We even made a mask, and a trick-or-treat bag for each of the dolls to carry. We have plenty of FREE American girl doll patterns for your students to pick from. We have everything from accessories to picnic outfits to Halloween costumes, and even easy to sew scarves and hats! A favorite among both our students and website readers seems to be our American girl doll easy-to-sew flip-flop pattern! We also ran Sew For Your American Girl Doll Summer camps too. Students spent the week making different things for their dolls. We began with a sleeping bag and a matching pillow since both of those sewing projects only require straight line stitching.
This Sew For Your American Girl Doll class has remained popular since the first day we offered it. Many girls don’t ever grow out of playing with dolls! My three daughters still collect dolls and still have their American girl dolls from when they were little. I even still have my favorite doll from 1972, the Velvet doll from Ideal Toy Company. I made a video of all the clothes I recently made the dolls. They all date to the 1970’s. Boy did it bring back memories! Depending on your age, in the video you may know recognize her cousin, the Crissy doll, or the youngest doll, Cinnamon. I wish I still had the outfits I made my dolls when I was a little girl. Encourage your students to take pride in the outfits they make for their dolls, and to save them. Someday, it may mean something very special to them. 
One Response
Debbie
OMG that is SOME LIST !! How in the heck do you organise a list like that OR is that ALL classes you are able to run and it’s a matter of structuring what classes you want to teach into the timetable you want to keep ?