Make Your Own Doll Clothes: Knitting for 18” Dolls

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I see a lot of search traffic to this blog from knitters looking for “Easy American Girl Doll Knitting Patterns.” And those are great, but I’m writing this post to encourage you to pick out more complicated-looking patterns when you’re knitting doll clothes. Why? It gives you the opportunity to practice stitch patterns and garment construction techniques on a small scale before you commit to trying them on a human-sized garment. All you’ll be out is a little time and some leftover sock yarn.

I thought I’d highlight one of my favorite 18” doll knitting pattern designers: Steph Wiley. Her patterns are more than just instructions for knitting doll clothes – they are learning opportunities. Her well-written instructions guide you through new techniques and skills, making the process of creating doll clothes an exciting learning experience.

Here are a few Steph Wiley doll sweaters I’ve knitted in the past:

• Gwen
• Clara
• Olive Cardigan
• Ella Henley Tee

I just finished another Ella this week:

This tee is a great pattern for an advanced beginner. You’ll need to know how to knit in the round and do basic increases and decreases, and it would help if you have experience picking up stitches. You’ll learn a cool technique for setting in the sleeves that incorporates very simple short rows that anyone can do. (I promise!)

I made this tee using Knit Picks Comfy Fingering yarn and it used just over half the ball. I think I’ll use the remaining yarn as the contrasting color in another Gwen sweater. I love how soft this yarn is and it’s very durable.

Most commercially manufactured 18-inch doll clothes use Velcro as a closure, and it’s very hard to protect your knitted doll clothes from the hook side of the Velcro when all a doll’s clothes are in the toy box together. So, my hot tip is that Comfy is a cotton-acrylic blend, and it holds up very well to a stray Velcro attack—much more than a delicate wool yarn does. Of course, you can always keep all your knitted clothes in a ziplock to keep them separate, but accidents happen.

I think my favorite part about the sweater is the cute pearl buttons – a great Amazon find! At 8mm, they are small enough for the little button holes on this sweater and the way they are shaped makes it very easy for little fingers to work the buttons. I have knitted this sweater before using regular-shaped buttons and buttoning up the sweater on that one is more of a challenge. The spherical shape of these buttons really helps them pop in and out of the buttonholes easily.

Here are some more details on how I knitted this cute sweater!

yarn details

Knit Picks Comfy Fingering in Flamingo
Fingering Weight
75% Cotton, 25% Acrylic
218 yards / 50 grams
Machine Wash and Dry

project details

pattern: “Ella Henley Tee” by Steph Wiley (purchase pdf pattern in her Etsy shop or via Ravelry)
needles: US size 2.5 (3 mm) and 1.5 (2.5 mm) circular needles using the magic loop technique.
gauge: 28 stitches and 40 rows = 4 inches in pattern stitch
yarn used: 122 yards (28 grams)
duration: May-July, 2024 (I took a long break from it)

notes

• Last time I knitted this, I used regular US size 2 needles because I didn’t have 2.5’s, but this time had some handy and they got me closest to the pattern gauge. The previous one was a little tighter but fit nicely. All of this is to say, if you use needles that give you a slightly tighter gauge than the pattern calls for, you’ll be fine.