Sewing for American Girl Dolls

Today I have my own e-commerce store, selling high quality, one-of-a-kind American Girl Doll Clothes [CSBSEWS American Girl Doll Clothes (http://csbsews.com)]. But this didn't happen overnight. There were many twists and turns, ups and downs, laughter and tears along the way.

This all began when my husband and I retired and I had time to reacquaint myself with activities that I had pursued before life in the form of marriage, children and career intervened. As I was pondering how to use my free time, my granddaughters discovered American Girl Dolls. I thought it would be fun to rediscover sewing and that doll clothes for their dolls would be an easy way to start.

I bought a small sewing machine (I hadn't owned one in years), When I showed my neighbor, a former seamtress, she pronounced it a "toy". But I thought it was wonderful and headed for the fabric stores. I bought patterns for 18" dolls and lots of material and notions. It was obvious from the beginning that material requirements were way overstated in the pattern instructions and that trimmings by the yard were expensive. For the money I spent making my first dresses I probably could have bought them entire wardrobes for their dolls.

But I wanted them to have "stuff" handmade by Gramma. So I pressed on. Cutting out the pattern was pretty straightforward. Of couse, unlike the clothes I sew now, these were not to be lined, so laying out the fabric was easy. I carefully place the pattern pieces according to the instructions and hacked away because hadn't invested in a very essential piece of equipment for successful sewing - GOOD SCISSORS. But I was not to be deterred. After finishing what I considered step one, I read the sewing instructions. TIP to novice sewers: Don't believe a word of these. There are so many ways to assemble a doll dress, and most of the good ones aren't included with the pattern instructions. However, I was to discover these methods by trail and error and the learning process was just beginning.

I don't want to spend too much time detailing the sewing process for my first 2 dresses, but I will outline the results. The first dress had a sleeve that was attached totally incorrectly so that when the doll lifted her arm, the entire dress twisted and turned. The overskirt I put on the other dress was so uneven, even I didn't believe it. It took forwever and as you can see the results were not good. But I packaged them and mailed them to the granddaughters. I was told that they loved the dresses, but they were sorry the dogs had played with one of them and destroyed it. A variation of the "dog ate my homework" story?

However, I had enjoyed the experience and knew I could do much better. I had sewn for myself and the children and knew I could do better. So I made the brilliant decision to make swimsuits for their dolls. Picture this: an out of practice sewer taking on lycra. Too funny. But after buying way to much material, again, and spending far too much for the pattern I pressed on. And I finished them. There wasn't much left of the summer, but I sent them and they were well received.

I made a few more outfits and became concerned that they wouldn't fit, so I went to a local craft store and bought a very cheap 18" doll. To my surprise all the pices I was sewing were too big. I began to fit the outfits to the doll and was very proud of myself. But to my horror, my granddaughters and my niece informed me that the clothes were too small. I went back to sewing from the patterns.

Months had passed and the "bug" had finally "bitten me". I wanted to make more doll clothes, but needed a way to make this financially feasible. The children I was sending them too now loved the clothes, but were tiring of the dolls. So I decided I would try to sell an outfit on Ebay. I made a tap dance outfit. Huh? you ask. Well, I had not yet discovered the rich stories behind American Girl Dolls and I thought tap shoes for dolls were adorable. I bought tap shoes, a top hat and made the outfit. And then, TA DA, Ilisted it on Ebay for, are you ready, $5.00. This did not cover the cost of the shoes, let alone the rest of the outfit. However, there were savvy shoppers on Ebay and eventually the item sold for $15.00. Not quite break even, but I was thrilled. I offered more items on Ebay and they sold. Not for a lot of money at first, but getting better all the time.

Over time, I upgraded the sewing I was doing. I bought better fabrics, learned to make my own patterns and designs, lined the clothes and left the velcro behind. I begin using buttons and snaps. I purchased my own American Girl Doll, and my husband built a complete sewing room for me. I upgraded the sewing machine and begin to produce really lovely, high quality clothes.

This was some years ago and selling on Ebay was a quite different experience than it is today. There were far few sellers, and most were making their clothes, notimporting cheap, not too well made, clothes from overseas. So if you made your clothes well, you could be successful. However, overtime, Ebay changed its practices and tilted the playing field toward the high-volumn sellers, who flocked to Ebay as the popularity of American Girl Dolls grew and grew. Feedback policies changed, so every item shipped had the potential to ruin your standing. My feedback remained high, but the selling costs and anxiety continued to grow. Finally, I decided to open my own store.

After much soul searching, I decided I would risk leaving the built-in customer base of Ebay (although as each year passed, and Power Sellers grew in Ebay placement, that base had a hard time finding me) and open my own e-commerce store. Ah, once again, ignorace was bliss. I picked an e-commerece provider (not to be named here - you will see why) who, as it turns out, was as green as I was. I was happily assuming that I would open my store, people would Google my items and all would be well. The joke was on me. The provider's site was full of glitches, there was no SEO provided and if you wanted a feed to Google, you had to do it yourself. I struggled with this for 3 months, and then found another provided who knew their business.

I signed up with BISI and opened the store earlier this year. I studied the net, SEO and every aspect of running an e-commerce business. And guess what, I am having the time of my life. I have a loyal customer base and more and more people discover the store over time.

I now sew the clothes that I enjoy making, with fine fabrics and lovely finishing techniques. I offer a few "lower cost" items, but I mostly sell clothes that can be played with now and cherished for a lifetime; clothes that create memories for children and collectors alike.

I never imagined when I made those first dresses that it would lead to this. But I am so glad it did. Visit CSBSEWS for American Girl Dolls (http://csbsews.com) to see these wonderful doll clothes.