American Girl Rectangle Hair Styling Cape and Circular Salon Cape AG001, AG002

Olivia and her family were home last weekend (she lives about 3.5 hours from us).  I asked her if I could borrow one of her AG dolls until they came again on the July 1st weekend.  She brought Kanani, Girl of the Year 2011 - 'a cheerful girl who helps others by sharing the aloha spirit'.  We brushed her long hair, using the cape to protect her clothing.  Worked awesome!

When Olivia was at the American Girl (AG) Doll store in Los Angeles (original post HERE), they told her that you should never brush your AG dolls hair without misting it with water first.  I had bought the brush at the time I bought Isabelle as I knew the importance of a proper brush on any dolls hair. I used a spray bottle that I use to keep my cats under control – not quite as pretty as the AG brand but it works.  Little girls love to brush dolls hair so that brought me the idea of making a Salon Cape/Hair Styling cape. 

So, Olivia, which one do you want – the square or round one?  I will put the other one away for Kari’s daughter, Erin.  Keep reading for the instructions on how I made them (below) if anyone is interested.

Olivia's Aunt put Kanani's hair in a bun using a sock.  You Tube it if you have never seen this done.  Too cool!

Rectangle Hair Styling Cape AG001

 

I had a strip of this flannel backed tablecloth so I thought I would try this Hair Styling cape by Doll Clothes Patterns. I had the 20” long but I only had 11 inches wide.

 

I followed her instructions on finding and marking the center point of the rectangle with a dot and drew a line from the center point to the hemline on one of the long sides. I drew a 2 inch circle around the center point to create an opening for your doll’s neck. Then cut along the line and around the circle to create the opening.  She used this for her center front opening – I want it to be my center back opening.

 

I used a bowl to help me make curves instead of the straight edges as she did.

 

 

I serged all the edges except the neck opening – I did not want to use trim.  I used a double fold of interfacing at each neck opening to help reinforce the velcro placement.

 

 

Sew bias tape around the neck opening, leaving a little tail at both ends.

 

 

Bury these tails under the velcro and sew velcro in place.

 

Bar tack the rectangle about 6” from the top fold between the shoulder and the hemline.

 

 

FRONT

BACK

SIDE VIEW

Circular Salon Cape AG002

 

I used to cut a lot of hair (human) in my day and I still cut hubby’s.  I took a look at my capes and came up with this.

I made a dot of this flannel backed tablecloth and drew a circle 8.5” away from it.

Until I had a large circle.

 

Fold it in half then in half again.

Draw a 1” circle at the point and cut away.

Cut to open one fold.

It should look like this.

Fold in half.  Lay a bowl on the fold you just cut open and draw a curve.

 

Cut it away.

Now your circle should look like this.

 

Repeat to finish as for the Rectangle Hair Styling Cape above except there is nothing to bar tack.

 

BACK

These can be made using raincoat fabric, a shower curtain or any water resistant fabric.

Stay tuned or better yet, sign up to my Blog so you won’t miss any of my AG posts!

Please leave a comment to let me know if you enjoyed this!

Olivia and her family were home last weekend (she lives about 3.5 hours from us).  I asked her if I could borrow one of her AG dolls until they came again on the July 1st weekend.  She brought Kanani, Girl of the Year 2011 - 'a cheerful girl who helps others by sharing the aloha spirit'.  We brushed her long hair, using the cape to protect her clothing.  Worked awesome!

When Olivia was at the American Girl (AG) Doll store in Los Angeles (original post HERE), they told her that you should never brush your AG dolls hair without misting it with water first.  I had bought the brush at the time I bought Isabelle as I knew the importance of a proper brush on any dolls hair. I used a spray bottle that I use to keep my cats under control – not quite as pretty as the AG brand but it works.  Little girls love to brush dolls hair so that brought me the idea of making a Salon Cape/Hair Styling cape. 

So, Olivia, which one do you want – the square or round one?  I will put the other one away for Kari’s daughter, Erin.  Keep reading for the instructions on how I made them (below) if anyone is interested.

Olivia's Aunt put Kanani's hair in a bun using a sock.  You Tube it if you have never seen this done.  Too cool!

Rectangle Hair Styling Cape AG001

 

I had a strip of this flannel backed tablecloth so I thought I would try this Hair Styling cape by Doll Clothes Patterns. I had the 20” long but I only had 11 inches wide.

 

I followed her instructions on finding and marking the center point of the rectangle with a dot and drew a line from the center point to the hemline on one of the long sides. I drew a 2 inch circle around the center point to create an opening for your doll’s neck. Then cut along the line and around the circle to create the opening.  She used this for her center front opening – I want it to be my center back opening.

 

I used a bowl to help me make curves instead of the straight edges as she did.

 

 

I serged all the edges except the neck opening – I did not want to use trim.  I used a double fold of interfacing at each neck opening to help reinforce the velcro placement.

 

 

Sew bias tape around the neck opening, leaving a little tail at both ends.

 

 

Bury these tails under the velcro and sew velcro in place.

 

Bar tack the rectangle about 6” from the top fold between the shoulder and the hemline.

 

 

FRONT

BACK

SIDE VIEW

Circular Salon Cape AG002

 

I used to cut a lot of hair (human) in my day and I still cut hubby’s.  I took a look at my capes and came up with this.

I made a dot of this flannel backed tablecloth and drew a circle 8.5” away from it.

Until I had a large circle.

 

Fold it in half then in half again.

Draw a 1” circle at the point and cut away.

Cut to open one fold.

It should look like this.

Fold in half.  Lay a bowl on the fold you just cut open and draw a curve.

 

Cut it away.

Now your circle should look like this.

 

Repeat to finish as for the Rectangle Hair Styling Cape above except there is nothing to bar tack.

 

BACK

These can be made using raincoat fabric, a shower curtain or any water resistant fabric.

Stay tuned or better yet, sign up to my Blog so you won’t miss any of my AG posts!

Please leave a comment to let me know if you enjoyed this!

Introducing Isabelle – American Girl Doll of the Year 2014

My 9 year old granddaughter, Olivia was wondering if I could make her American Girl Dolls some clothes.  She was lucky enough to have visited the American Girl (AG) Doll store in Los Angeles when her family took a road trip in 2011.

Upon checking the net, I found lots of free patterns so I thought I would order myself a doll as it is a lot easier to fit a body as guess at it.  Since I know nothing about these dolls, I asked Olivia to suggest which doll I should buy.  She said ‘Isabelle.  She is the Girl of the Year.’  Two weeks later, Isabelle was at my door.

Now, I had visions of making cute little bonnets, fluffy dresses, lacey nighties and even diapers!  To my surprise, there is nothing ‘baby’ about this doll – she is a girl!  Just a plain girl! The frilly stuff I had in mind to make just isn’t going to suit her!  She is definitely a t-shirt, leggings type of girl!  Just a plain and simple girl.

She came in this coral t-shirt, denim type pants and gold shoes.

She was also wearing coral undies.

She had double twists in her hair but they didn’t last long once my 4 year old granddaughter arrived.

Isabelle also has a piece that attaches to her head with pink tipped highlights.

Although a beauty, she is nothing like I was expecting!

That’s ok, I will just change my clothes thinking from frills and fluff to plain.  Isabelle needs clothes too so I will get busy sewing and will return next month with something I have sewed to share with you.  I will also show you page 1 of 11 that I scrapbooked of Olivia’s visit to the American Girl (AG) Doll store this Friday so stay tuned or better yet, sign up to my Blog so you won’t miss any of my AG posts!

My 9 year old granddaughter, Olivia was wondering if I could make her American Girl Dolls some clothes.  She was lucky enough to have visited the American Girl (AG) Doll store in Los Angeles when her family took a road trip in 2011.

Upon checking the net, I found lots of free patterns so I thought I would order myself a doll as it is a lot easier to fit a body as guess at it.  Since I know nothing about these dolls, I asked Olivia to suggest which doll I should buy.  She said ‘Isabelle.  She is the Girl of the Year.’  Two weeks later, Isabelle was at my door.

Now, I had visions of making cute little bonnets, fluffy dresses, lacey nighties and even diapers!  To my surprise, there is nothing ‘baby’ about this doll – she is a girl!  Just a plain girl! The frilly stuff I had in mind to make just isn’t going to suit her!  She is definitely a t-shirt, leggings type of girl!  Just a plain and simple girl.

She came in this coral t-shirt, denim type pants and gold shoes.

She was also wearing coral undies.

She had double twists in her hair but they didn’t last long once my 4 year old granddaughter arrived.

Isabelle also has a piece that attaches to her head with pink tipped highlights.

Although a beauty, she is nothing like I was expecting!

That’s ok, I will just change my clothes thinking from frills and fluff to plain.  Isabelle needs clothes too so I will get busy sewing and will return next month with something I have sewed to share with you.  I will also show you page 1 of 11 that I scrapbooked of Olivia’s visit to the American Girl (AG) Doll store this Friday so stay tuned or better yet, sign up to my Blog so you won’t miss any of my AG posts!