Scroll down to the third set of bullets for the free PDF sewing patterns.
With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, let’s make some heart-printed pajama pants for your 10 inch dolls, shall we? Today’s tutorial video will show you how to make the pajama pants I’m showing on my Petite Barbie and my African American Skipper dolls.
And be sure to scroll down to the added facts about Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Muta Maathai, as part of my celebration of Black Hisory Month!
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!
As you can see in the image above, today’s tutorial shows you how to make a pair of pajama pants with both elastic at the waist and a snap-front fly. It’s an interesting combination.
I’d never thought of making any type of pants this way until I ran across the Simplicity 9054 wardrobe pattern for vintage Ken and Barbie. If you’d like to read more about the pattern that inspired these pajama pants, please click here.
The image below shows the same outfit on my African American Skipper doll. For a more extensive list of all the dolls that can fit in today’s pajama pants, please scroll down to the second set of bullets.
If you use this link, you can actually buy the exact same fabric I used to make my pajama pants, but only one vendor is selling this heart-print pink flannel fabric on Etsy right now. So I’m going to add the link here, but if that link no longer works, that means someone else bought the fabric.
I have a link below for other Valentine’s Day small print flannels though.
To make today’s doll pajamas, you will likely need one of the following items:
- cotton fabric (have a look at both solids and prints) on Etsy
- Valentine’s Day flannel small print fabric
- Gondola Snaps on Etsy (various sizes)
- 1/8 inch ribbon on Etsy
- 1/4 inch ribbon on Amazon
- lace trim on Etsy
- rickrack trim
- 1/8 inch elastic on Amazon
- 3/4 inch sew-on Velcro on Amazon
- chopsticks (for inverting doll clothes)
- Dritz fabric pencil
- 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.
Now let’s learn something new for Black History Month… Did you know a woman from Kenya won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004? Her name was Wangari Muta Maathai.
Maathai “created the Green Belt movement for environmental conservation and became the first African woman and environmentalist to win the Nobel Peace Prize” (Rechner). A photo of her in a library book I checked out shows her wearing a pretty yellow head-tie, like the ones I wrote about for Black History Month in 2024.
If you’d like to go back to read that article, please click here.
Wangari Maathai was born in the village of “Ihithe, Nyeri District, in the central highlands of the colony of Kenya,” she studied science in the United States and went on to study in Germany as well.
“In 1971, she became the first Eastern African woman to receive a Ph.D., [earning] her doctorate in veterinary anatomy” at what is now the University of Nairobi (Wikipedia). As a teacher and lecturer, she became involved in a number of programs including but not limited to the Kenya Red Cross Society, the Kenya Association of University Women, and The Greenbelt Movement, for which she became famous.
“Maathai encouraged the women of Kenya to plant tree nurseries throughout the country, searching nearby forests for seeds to grow trees native to the area” (Wikipedia). There were setbacks. Her own government tried to squash her efforts, especially when she fought to keep established public parks green when her corrupt government was planning high-rise building construction in these urban green spaces.
This was no longer just a movement for environmental change. As political leaders invented reasons to arrest Maathai and her followers, it became a fight for Kenyan democracy. But Wangari Maathai wouldn’t give up. Once she was released from jail, she continued to speak publicly about the corruption in the Kenyan government and the need for green spaces. Eventually, leadership changed in Kenya.
Maathai campaigned for parliament in 2002 and “defeated the ruling party, Kenya African National Union, and in Tetu Constituency Maathai won with an overwhelming 98% of the vote” (Wikipedia). Her position of power gave her opportunities to make tremendous changes, and she founded Mazingira Green Party of Kenya.
According to Wikipedia, “Wangari Maathai was an elected member of the parliament of Kenya and, between January 2003 and November 2005, served as the assistant minister for environment and natural resources in the government of President Mwai Kibaki.” In 2004, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Sadly, this great African leader and environmentalist passed away in 2011. But I highly recommend that you read more about her by either checking out a library book on Wangarĩ Maathai or reading more about her online.
If you live in the Washing DC area, you can visit Wangari Gardens. “The garden honours the legacy of Wangarĩ Maathai and her mission for community engagement and environmental protection” (Wikipedia).
Today’s patterns will fit these dolls*:
- Creatable World dolls
- Disney Princess 10 inch dolls
- Petite Barbie dolls
- Project MC Squared dolls
- Skipper dolls
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 sewing pattern for a 9 or 10 inch fashion doll
- Free A4 (international) PDF sewing pattern for a 9 or 10 inch fashion doll
- Tutorial video showing how to make the pajama pants is found at the top of today’s blog post
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.
Here are 3 ways you can help support my website and YouTube channel:
- Leave a comment on any blog post on my site (it helps other people find my website)
- Leave comments on my YouTube channel (it also helps with search engine optimization)
- Subscribe to my YouTube channel if you haven’t already
To read more about my free sewing patterns and tutorials, please visit the “Helpful Tips” page.
References:
Rechner, Amy. Kenya. Bellweather Media, Minneapolis, 2019.
Wikipedia contributors. “Wangarĩ Maathai.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 26 Jan. 2026. Web. 12 Feb. 2026.
Disclaimer/Credit/Affiliate Marketing Links:
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.
Skipper, Petite Barbie dolls, Creatable World, Kuu Kuu Harajuku dolls, and vintage Sunshine Family dolls 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.
Momoko dolls are products offered by Petworks, which holds the trademark for them (™). Please visit the Momoko Dolls website to learn more about their company and its trademarked toys.
Disney Princess, Moana, and Disney fairy 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.
Project MC Squared dolls and Rainbow High dolls are products offered by MGA Entertainment, which holds the trademark for them (™). Please visit the Project MC Squared website or the Rainbow High website to learn more about their company and its trademarked toys.