How to Sew a No Pattern Bubble Skirt for American Girl Dolls

My daughter looks very cute in her bubble skirt so I thought of sewing one for her doll too. I looked at her skirt and figured out how its sewn. This is my own take on it. I am not an expert sewer, in fact I am just beginning to sew so I try to make everything as easy as possible. I had fun doing this skirt that I actually sew four of these. I just wanted to share it with you all AG doll lovers and I hope you like it.

The materials needed are :

30 inch long x 9 inches wide fabric (cotton, chiffon, sheer, etc.) for the skirt

13 inches long X 2.5 inches wide matching or coordinating fabric for the waistband

14 inch wide elastic

pins

With right sides together, fold the longest side of the fabric in half as shown in the photo on the right. Sew a casing at the bottom of the fabric by stitching 1/4 inch seam from the edge of the folded part.

This is the photo showing the elastic casing that was created at the bottom of the skirt. Feed the elastic through the casing using a safety pin. Place the elastic all the way to the other end.

This is how it looks like after feeding the casing through the elastic. Make sure that you pull the elastic and adjust accordingly. I suggest securing the ends of the elastic with safety pins so you would not lose it inside the casing. In the photo, I am showing it to you with the fabric on the wrong side.

Now, open the fabric wide, and with wrong sides together, fold the fabric in half as shown in the photo. You are now hiding the casing and the fabric is now on its right side.

Set your sewing machine to its longest stitch and sew 1/8 inch from the edge of the fabric as shown in the photo. Gather the fabric by pulling the loose thread. You can check videos online on how to gather fabric.

Gather the fabric until its the same width as your waistband as shown in the photo on the right.

With right sides together, sew the waistband and skirt together. Stitch 1/4 inch seam from the edge. I suggest you secure it with pins and remove it as you sew.

This is how it looks like after sewing them together. Fold the other end of the waistband 1/8 inch from the edge and turn to the other side to cover the sewn part of the skirt.

Finish the waistband by top stitching on the right side. Pin it so as to hold it in place. The photo shows the finished waistband. Feed a 10 1/2 inch elastic through the casing. Make sure you attach safety pins on both ends of the elastic so you will not lose it inside the casing.

This photo is showing the inner side of the skirt. Match the back seam and sew a 1/4 inch seam to finish the skirt. Flip over to the right side and its done.

I also posted a video in you tube on how I did it. Below is the link.

I noticed that this tutorial has been pinned more than 2,000 times, wow, thank you. With that, I decided to post an update of this tutorial, this time, it uses less fabric and elastic, so I would say it's more economical.

Main Fabric - 5" in height and 30" in width

Lining - 5" in height and 14" in width

OPTION 1:

Waistband - 2 " in height and 14 inches wide

Elastic - 10 1/2 inch elastic long

OPTION 2 - 1 inch wide elastic (11 inches long)

Gather your main fabric until it's the same width as your lining (14 inches). You can find a lot of tutorial in youtube on how to gather fabric.

With right sides together, sew the main fabric and lining together at 1/4 inch seam allowance. This seam will be the bottom of the skirt.

Next, after sewing the bottom, turn the fabric to the right side. Then, gather the top edge of the main fabric until it's the same size as the lining. Once gathered, baste the main fabric about 1/8 inch from the top to the lining to keep them together.

There are two options for attaching the waistband. First, you can follow the same instructions above (the first tutorial) on how to attach the waistband.

Second, you can attach a 1 inch wide black elastic. If you prefer that, you can continue to the next step.

With right sides together, sew the back seam at 1/4 inch allowance.

Sew the black elastic together at 1/4 inch seam allowance. Divide the elastc into quarters and mark with pins.

Divide the skirt into quarters and mark with pins. Now, pin the skirt and elastic together on the marked areas and sew together to finish.