Free pattern: A-Line skirt for a Groovy Girl doll

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.