Leotard / Swimsuit for American Girl doll

See my other free Gymnastic tutorials

 

What you need

• 14" x 10"  4 way stretch fabric (stretches in width and height)
• FOE (fold over elastic) (around 18")

 

How to make the leotard / swimsuit

download leotard pattern here

Please use for home use only, this pattern is copyrighted by me, Read Creations !
Make sure you have page scaling set to none !

All seams are 1/4" if not specified otherwise, use a stretch stitch on your sewing machine

1. Cut out both pattern pieces. You can play with it and make your own neck designs (that is why I have marked where I cut it but gave you the pattern up to her neck), just make sure you have the opening big enough for her body and arms to fit through (fabric and foe will stretch to a certain extend). The suggested neck opening is the bare minimum size if you don't want to use any Velcro. If you want a smaller neck opening, you either need to add a seam in the back with Velcro, or you have to make it big enough for the head and you can put a Velcro closure between her legs (like a body)

2. Sew her right shoulder sides (front and back) together (fabric right sides together)

3. If you have a pointed neck, mark the point with a needle otherwise you can skip this step

4. Sew foe around neck opening (pull foe slightly but not too much)

5. If you have a pointed neck, fold front in half and sew across foe in an angle (indicated with the needle since the thread is barely visible)

6. Sew other shoulder side (front and back) together

7. Sew foe around both arm openings (pull foe slightly but not too much)

8. Sew sides together

9. Sew foe around both leg openings (pull foe more tightly on the back sides and only slightly on the front, this will help shape the butt area)

10. Sew front and back together between the legs

You are done !!!


Variations

• If you don't want to use foe, you can always add a seam allowance where I used foe and hem it with 1/4" elastic
• You can always cut the pattern pieces in half (maybe in an angle across in the front) add a seam allowance to the cut sections on both sides and voila, you can have multi-colored leotards
• You can add folded foe to the seams as seen in the black leotard

For more Gymnastics items see my blog