American Girl Doll Popover Dress and Hair Piece Tutorial AG023

Oliver and S has this cute Popover doll dress on her sight for free.  As usual, I did a few changes.  I cut ½” off the top front and shortened the hem by ¾”.  Since I didn’t want a yoke in the back, I added ¼” to the back top.  I didn’t want to use ties at the shoulder so I added ½” on to the center back to allow for Velcro.

Newberry is SEARS brand of the 18” doll.  Zoe is one of their Holiday Edition Dolls for 2014 and has come to live with us.  The AG doll clothes fit her just fine.

Sew the side seams.   Serge across the top of the backs, down the center back seams and across the hem.  Press the hem at 3/8”.  Press the top of the backs at ½”.

I wanted a bit bigger front yoke so I cut it 3” wide by 5” long and folded it in half.

Sew yoke to front.  Yes, it is a bit long but we will fix that.  Press towards yoke and topstitch.

Find center of yoke by matching armholes and pin.  Mark the center of the yoke with a pin.  Chalk mark 1-3/4” away from each side of the pin.

Trim matching armhole curves.

Sew across the top of the backs.

Cut a bias strip 17” long by 1-1/2” wide.  Fold strap in half lengthwise with wrong sides together.  Gently press the fold to create a center crease.  Open the folded strip and lay it flat, wrong side up.  Fold one of the straps long raw edges in toward the center fold and press a crease into this folded edge.  Repeat for the other long raw edge.   Cut in half – one for each armhole.

Starting at the front and with the right sides of the garment facing you, lay the wrong side of the bias underneath so the fabric reaches the center fold line of the bias.  Sew the bias to the fabric edge using a basting zigzag.

When you have finished, reset your machine to a normal to shorter zigzag.  Turn the free edge of the bias to the front, encasing the garment.  Stitch again, on the right side, towards the bottom edge of the bias.

Continue to zigzag or straight stitch the remaining bias closed.

Sew center back seam about 4-1/2” from the bottom.  Hem bottom.  Add Velcro.

Put dress on the doll to fit the straps.  Trim and satin stitch the ends.  Add buttons.  I found it easier to sew the buttons on by machine as it was fairly thick for a needle and thread.

Hair Piece

Checked through my stash and found these silk flowers.  I glued two together and machine attached a button – not that these were thick, just because it was quicker!  Then I used Fabri-Tac to glue a barrette to the back.

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