American Girl Doll Boyfriend Sweater – Free Pattern!

Red Heart’s Love My Doll Sweater is one of my favorite free patterns for an American Girl Doll sweater.  It’s a quick-to-knit project that doesn’t take much yarn and it’s a great project to practice your intarsia skills.  At first I thought I knitted this a bit too large, but some of my friends pointed out to me that this style is called a boyfriend sweater and it’s all the rage – who knew?  So, if you’re looking for a free boyfriend sweater pattern for your doll – here it is!

I used leftover yarn for this project and I was paranoid that I wasn’t going to have enough of the main color, so I stretched the yardage by knitting stripes into the sleeves with the contrasting color.  It turns out that I had plenty of the main color left at the end and probably didn’t need to do the stripes, but I’m glad I did because the stripes turned out to be adorable.

Here’s a little WIP pic of the sweater before I set in the sleeves.  If you’ve never done this before, I recommend watching a video tutorial first so you can see how it’s done.  (I don’t have one to recommend, but I’m sure you can find something on YouTube).  I always refer to the written instructions in The Knitter’s Book of Finishing Techniques by Nancy Wiseman.  It’s out of print now, but it’s pretty easy to find a used copy on eBay.

yarn details

Lana Plantae Rambouillet Worsted in Black Walnut and Cochneal
Worsted Weight
100% Wool
hand wash cold, dry flat
236 y / 113 g skein

project details

pattern: “Love My Doll Sweater” by Jodi Lewanda (download free at Yarnspirations.com)
needles: US size 6 (4.0 mm)
gauge: 10 st and 12 rows per inch in stockinette
yarn used: Main Color (Black Walnut) – 100 yards (48 grams) and Contrasting Color (Cochneal)- 30 yards (14 grams)
duration: November 11-27, 2021

If you love knitting for OG or American Girl Dolls, check out all my favorite knitting patterns for 18” dolls here!