When I first started sewing clothes for my daughter’s Groovy Girl doll, I looked for tutorials and patterns. I couldn’t find any, so I grabbed my daughter’s doll and some typing paper and began drafting some simple patterns. I’ve been having so much fun designing outfits!
Given that there didn’t seem to be much information out there about making Groovy Girl clothes, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite patterns. This tutorial is for a simple A-line skirt. It’s one of the quickest garments for a Groovy Girl, and can be customized in any number of ways using different fabrics or embellishments.
Please note that this pattern is provided for your personal, noncommerical use only. Do not sell the pattern or clothes made from it. Thanks!
What you need:
- –6″ x 12″ piece of fabric
- –4″ of hook & loop tape (Velcro)
- —A-line skirt pattern
To make the skirt:
1. Cut the skirt shape out of your fabric. If you want to add embellishments, now is a good time. (I did a little reverse applique and free motion stitching.)
2. Put the narrowest hem possible on the bottom and top edges. These little skirts aren’t going to get thrown into the washing machine (at least not unless a dire Groovy Girl accident occurs) so don’t worry about double-folding your hem. Just turn it up and stitch. I folded up slightly less than 1/4″ and stitched at 1/8″ inch.
I don’t mess with pins for this. I just fold it right before it goes under the presser foot.
You can see that mine buckled some from the curved hem. That’s okay. An iron will smooth out most of it, and when you wrap it around the doll you won’t see any remaining wonkiness.
3. Your skirt is nearly done! All that’s left is putting on the Velcro closure. First, cut your Velcro in half lengthwise so you have two long skinny strips. (You’ll end up with two prickly pieces and two fuzzy pieces.) We only need to use one set; save the other set for your next Groovy Girl skirt. 🙂
4. Now, test the fit of your skirt on the doll. I don’t have a picture of this step, but it’s really pretty straightforward. Just wrap the skirt around the doll. Be sure to take into account the 1/4″ that we’ll fold over on each of the ends. Fold over the 1/4″ on each end and see if they stack neatly on top of each other when the skirt is wrapped around the doll. If the skirt is too loose, just trim a little off of the ends.
5. Turn the skirt over so the wrong side is facing up. Fold over 1/4″ inch on the right edge of the skirt and then lay the prickly piece of Velcro on top so that it just covers the raw edge. Stitch down the Velcro. I don’t use pins. I just hold it in place long enough to put it under the pressser foot and then guide it as I go. Stitch around all four edges of the strip.
This is what it will look like from the right side of the skirt when you’ve stitched down the Velcro.
6. Lay the skirt down again, this time with the right side facing up. Turn under 1/4″ on the right edge, and then lay the fuzzy strip of Velcro on top of the right side.
Here’s a close-up of me holding the fabric. It’s still hard to see, but the 1/4″ is folded to the back while the Velcro is laying on top of the right side of the skirt.
Take it to the machine and stitch around all sides of the Velcro.
Because the 1/4″ of fabric is folded to the underside and you’re holding the Velcro on the top, it can be difficult to keep all these pieces in place while you sew. You may want to baste the 1/4″ fold-over in place before attaching the Velcro. The Velcro will hide that line of stitching from the front so you won’t need to pick it out afterwards.
You’re done!! Put it on your Groovy Girl doll and see how fabulous she looks in her brand new skirt.
Denise Felton says
So adorable! And I could make an entire wardrobe for my niece’s GG with just the scraps lying around my studio. Yea! Guess what I’m going to be doing all weekend. 🙂
Amy in TX says
Thanks so much! We have many Groovy Girls, and I think this will make a great sewing project for fabric scraps, and a fun way for my daughters to express some creativity with embellishment! It would also be a fun no-sew project to do this with some non-ravelling fabric and iron-on velcro.
Care says
So, SO cute!! Makes me want to get a Groovy Girl of my own! :o)
Victoria says
Thanks for this great tutorial!
My daughter has a few(i.e. many) groovy girls. She’s hasn’t played with them lately because she discovered Barbies but maybe if I sew up some new duds foe them she’ll get back to them. 🙂
Jen says
Oooh! So cute! I’ve made some clothes for our Groovy Girls, too. The skirts are so satisfying to make. I’ll be making one of these soon!
regina says
cute skirt and top— i also drafted patterns for my grand-daughters groovy girls dolls–they too hadn’t played with them for awhile til i gave them the outfits i made. simplicity did have a pattern for a similar doll (dizzie doll ) but discontinued it in 2000??
marah says
Thanks for posting this! My five year old daughter loves her groovy girls, she has one special one. My daughter is a bit of a fashionista and would like to make her own clothing for her groovy girls. This is our project for the day while her siblings are at camp! She is excited….!
MJ Lynch says
Thank you so much for posting the tutorials! We just got some used Groovy Girls for the upcoming holidays and I’ve been inspired by your posts to get to work. Because I am *not* well trained in sewing and, frankly, not that detail-oriented, I took your skirt suggestions and started working in fleece. One of the items we picked up was a wrap-around so I’ve done a few like that with binding tape for a tie and, as it’s fleece, no hems! Yay! I’m in doll clothes making heaven now. I figured out that folding down the top of an elongated version of the shape of the skirt you set out above works as a nice dress (cut arm holes out). I expect the arm holes will stretch out a bit, but it shouldn’t be too bad. My kids are only nearly 5 and 2.5 so I think I can get away with it! Thanks for the inspiration!
MJL
jAileen Adams says
Thank you so much for putting this on the web. I’t just what I need!
Kristine Johnson says
Love the ideas. Thank you very much. I just bought a bunch of groovy girls on craigs list and I wanted to get some outfits, and now I also have a use for my extra fabric.