Scroll down to the third set of bullets for the free PDF sewing patterns.
I’m always trying to encourage my followers, friends, and family to recycle and re-use garment fabric whenever possible. In today’s video, you’ll see that I have made my doll’s athletic shirt (and her matching athletic pants/joggers) out of a child’s used shirt.
So I’m practicing what I preach! What a great way to start the New Year in 2026!
Before I go on, I need to make my required disclaimer statement: As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. To learn more about how affiliate marketing works on my website, please go to the Privacy Policy page. Thank you!
Of course, if you don’t have a suitable used tee shirt or athletic garment to upcycle for today’s doll shirt project, you may need to buy some fabric. And as it says in the video, you don’t have to use a stretchy fabric. Quilting cotton works just fine.
To make today’s doll shirt, you will likely need one or more of the following items:
- cotton fabric (both solids and prints) OR
- cotton fat quarters (18 inches by 21 inches of fabric) OR
- cotton/polyester blend fabrics OR
- jersey fabric
- 3/4 inch sew-on Velcro on Amazon
- chopsticks (for inverting doll clothes)
- Fiskars Stitchers mini snips (for clipping seams efficiently)
- Gutermann sewing machine thread
This list comes from my “Buyer’s Guide” page, which is easily accessed from the home page.
And if you’re interested in using earth-friendly fabrics, please consider buying your fabric from FabScrap. FabScrap is a fabric recycle and reuse service, where you can buy fabrics that would otherwise go into landfills! Watch my FabScrap unboxing video to see what kinds of fabrics they sent me!
To learn more about FabScrap, this page on their website will tell you what a wonderful resource they offer!
Please note that today’s free shirt patterns have been marked with four flowers. At first, I thought maybe three flowers would be enough, but while I was creating the tutorial video, I realized that the notches can be a little confusing to people who haven’t been sewing for long.
Also, in the tutorial, the “wrong” side can be a little confusing because the fabric is a solid blue (except for the shark graphic which provided a whole other level of confusing all by itself)! So I’m giving the pattern four flowers, even though the shoe and the pants are probably only a three-flower level of difficulty.
If you want to understand how I choose a pattern’s level of difficulty, you can read more about this system on my FAQ’s page, which is found under “Helpful Information” in the menu.
Today’s free printable PDF doll clothes sewing patterns will fit the following dolls:
- 13-inch Disney Princess Toddler dolls
- 14-inch Hearts for Hearts Girls
- 14 and a half-inch Wellie Wishers* from American Girl doll company
- 15 and a half-inch Little Miss Matched dolls (the shirt fits her as a cropped top)
Here are your free, printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making the outfit shown at the top of this page:
- Free American printable PDF athletic outfit sewing pattern for a 13 inch little girl doll
- Free A4 (international) PDF sewing pattern for making an athletic outfit for a 13 to 16 inch little girl doll
- Tutorial video showing how to make the shirt is at the top of today’s blog post
- Tutorial video showing how to make the pants and shoes will be posted at a later date (today is 31 Dec. 2025)
- Scroll down for additional tutorial videos
You may also find these tutorial videos helpful:
- How to do a whipstitch
- How to sew snaps on fabric
- How to do a backstitch
- How to gather fabric
- How to do a baste stitch
- How to pull elastic through a casing
- How to use a needle threader
- How to do a basic straight stitch
- How to use bias tape
- How to choose fabric
- How to tie a knot using a needle and thread
- How to measure a doll
- How to press seams open, using a hot iron
- How to sew rickrack
- How to use selvage
- How to attach ribbon to doll clothes
- Tips on sewing with lace
- How to add a ruffle to a skirt
For more of my free tutorials, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel, ChellyWood1.
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Disclaimer/Credit/Affiliate Marketing Link:
When you click links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include Amazon, Etsy, and the eBay Partner Network. As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. To learn more about how my website uses affiliate marketing, please visit the website’s Privacy Policy page.
To honor the trademark rights of the doll companies mentioned in this blog post, I am including links to their websites here. Please feel free to visit their website and consider purchasing one or more of the dolls mentioned.
The Baby Alive dolls are produced and marketed by Hasbro, who owns the trademark rights to them (™). Please visit Hasbro’s Baby Alive page to learn more about the dolls, or visit the Hasbro company website to learn more about the company itself.
The Disney Princess Toddler dolls are products offered by the Disney corporation, which holds the trademark for them (™). Please visit the Disney Toys website to learn more about their company and its trademarked toys.
The Hearts for Hearts Girls, Dolls and Games , when they were in production, were owned by the Playmates Company International, which (as far as I can tell) still holds the registered trademark for these toys. It should be noted, that when they were available for purchase, for each H4H doll purchased, the Hearts for Hearts company donated a portion of their proceeds to World Vision, a global humanitarian organization. However, these dolls are no longer produced, and therefore, you can only buy them used.
The Wellie Wishers and the 18 inch American Girl dolls mentioned in this blog post are products offered by Mattel, which holds the registered trademark for them (™). Please visit the Mattel Toys website to learn more about their company and its trademarked toys.
Little Miss Matched dolls* were a product of the Tonner brand of toys. At the time of this publication, to the best of my knowledge, the Tonner company (although no longer producing dolls) still holds the trademark rights to them (™). You can learn more about Robert Tonner’s brand of dolls on Wikipedia or by googling the dolls by name (i.e. “Little Miss Matched — dolls”). Robert Tonner has been known to speak at, and even sell dolls at doll shows, from time to time, but to the best of my knowledge, his company no longer produces dolls.
The Crissy family of dolls which includes dolls like vintage Crissy, Velvet, and other dolls, were produced by the Ideal Toy Corporation, which held the registered trademark for them. That company is no longer producing the dolls, and at the time of this blog post, it looks like Mattel currently owns the trademark for Crissy (although to my knowledge, they are not producing them). If you wish to purchase one of these dolls, you can sometimes find them used, in good condition, on eBay (see link in the first set of bullets).
MGA Entertainment is the company that produced the BFC Ink dolls, and it still holds the trademark rights to them (™). The BFC Ink dolls (aka Best Friends Club dolls) were in production, starting in 2009, but at the time of this blog post, they are no longer available in stores. You may be able to find a used one on eBay, though, if you’re thinking about collecting them (see link in the first set of bullets). These dolls can swap clothes with Crissy dolls, but their bodies are much more articulated. They have very lovely faces.