1774, 1824, 1854, 1864, 1904, 1944. These are the time periods and iconic styles of the 6 original American Girls. Each of these girls has a collection of sewing patterns which includes not only some of their outfits, but also undergarments and basic accessories. When we look think about clothing through history though, changes in it aren't immediate, they take time. People also wear similar garments, even with slight variations, within the same time period. It is because of this gradual change that the original clothing patterns from Pleasant Company can be expanded upon to provide garments specific to additional characters/dolls created long after 1991/92. Here is a full list of other items you can make with the patterns that were released:
Felicity's Pretty Clothes
The shift can and should also be made for Elizabeth
Felicity's ballgown is a nice launching pattern to create Elizabeth's gown as well as other gowns in Felicity and Elizabeth's series.
The mob-eared cap pattern is also highly versatile, as the ribbon color is up to the sewer to decide and the mob cap was worn by everyone.
The handkerchief is super easy to make, and many extra handkerchiefs never hurt anyone, you could also do whatever you wanted to the handkerchief, as the pattern is only a square of cotton. You could embroider and make almost every historical character's handkerchief by hand if you so desire.
Josefina's Pretty Clothes
Josefina's pretty clothes are less versatile to other time periods, however they are extremely versatile to her collection. There are two different skirt patterns included, and with those patterns you could make almost every skirt in her collection depending on the fabrics and trims used. Josefina's basic camisa pattern can also be altered and the lace changed to whatever other outfit you might be recreating.
Additionally, I did once see someone modify Josefina's christmas dress into a dress for Felicity by not using the puffy part of the sleeves. I intend to try this one day and will post the results on r/americangirl.
Kirsten's pretty clothes
Kirsten's pretty clothes, like Josefina's, are more versatile within her collection than outside of it. Specifically, Kirsten's school dress is the exact same pattern as her meet dress, and could be transferred to many other outfits outside of it. You could leave the neck band out for a different look, and make further alterations for additional outfits.
There is one item, however, that is the most versatile pattern available, and that is Kirsten's pantalettes. Every character from Addy to Kirsten to Marie-Grace and Cécile, they all wear pantalettes. The sewing pattern is easy up until the elastic attachment, and you can even forgo that step because adding elastic instead of a drawstring of some kind is a historical liberty taken so that little hands can easily handle the items. Seriously, though, Kirsten's pantalettes pattern can make almost any pantalettes you can imagine.
Addy's Pretty Clothes
Addy's pretty clothes are interesting in that they are definitely closer to Marie-Grace and Cécile's style than Kirsten's, despite the fact that they come about a decade after them. I attribute this to regional differences in style at the time. Kirsten was a pioneer living up in Minnesota while Marie-Grace and Cécile were from New Orleans in the south. In today's world, through globalization, everyone is very connected and trends spread faster than ever all around the world. However, in the 1850s/1860s, distance was a much larger barrier to the spread of fashion trends, so it was common to have vast regional differences like those seen between Kirsten and Addy/Marie-grace and Cécile. The close proximity of Marie-grace and Cécile's style to Addy's was even proven when American Girl put Marie-Grace and Cécile's crinoline and chemise into Addy's collection.
Addy's patterns may not directly translate to the Marie-Grace and Cécile collection of your dreams. However, Modifying the patterns and creating a similar Jacket, skirt and blouse combo for Marie-Grace and Cécile is something I look forward to doing in the future.
Samantha's Pretty Clothes
Within Samantha's collection there are some versatile items and others not so versatile. Samantha's muff, for example, could be exactly the same as Molly's muff from her skating outfit. However, with respect to Nellie, most of Samantha's clothing, at least within the pattern collection, translates over well. The only casual type outfit is Samantha's birthday dress, which doesn't really fit with anything from Nellie's collection. This is most likely because Samantha's clothes included in the pattern represent some of her most luxurious outfits, and they also represent outfits that aren't likely to be casual or very useful across different time periods. Still though, a fur cap and muff are nearly timeless accessories.
Molly's Pretty Clothes
The most important outfit in Molly's pretty clothes is Molly's birthday outfit. This is because in "Happy Birthday Molly", Molly and Emily decide to have a tea party birthday and wear matching dresses like the princesses in England. Mrs.McIntire makes the girls matching dresses and, after some drama and a few quarrels, things are resolved and the girls celebrate Molly's birthday together in their dresses. So, technically, Molly's birthday outfit is Emily's "birthday" outfit (note: Molly and Emily have different birthdays with Molly's being in April and Emily's in September). So, technically, to have a FULL Molly and Emily collection, Emily needs a birthday dress. Now you could simply buy a second birthday dress, at least up until 2013, which I didn't do, so this pattern is a lifesaver. (You could also still buy a second birthday dress on Ebay or elsewhere today but that's not as much fun right?) I plan to make this very far into the future, simply because it is complicated and I am focusing on many other garments at the moment, but the birthday outfit is a piece very central to Molly's birthday storyline and one I am very happy to have access to a pattern for.
The two other most useful pieces in Molly's pretty clothes are Molly's school jumper and blouse as well as Molly's pajamas. Molly's school jumper is useful in that it can be made out of a variety of materials, which will work well for any of you with Linda and Susan dolls out there. Of course the girls didn't wear jumpers to school everyday, there was variety, but it makes for a nice utility to the pattern. Then, Molly's pajamas could easily be modified to make Emily's pajamas. The pants are exactly the same, just with different fabric, and replacing the top collar with a peter pan collar might take a little fiddling but everything will work out, and you don't have to make the tie and can then add more buttons and trim the sleeves in the same lace as the collar to create Emily's Pajamas.
Fashion changes, but the old stuff doesn't just disappear, it lingers around in grandmas' closets and gets pushed into the charity shops for other people to find (this is actually oversimplified and most old clothing tends to end up in the landfill but this blogpost isn't about that and I don't have time to go into the issue here). Trends come and go, and some even resurface. The history of fashion might be linear, but the reality of what clothes people wear isn't necessarily the same. So go ahead and have your dolls time travel, experience the making of some of these pieces. When you do, think about the similarities and differences between pieces of different collections, and how exactly those pieces might have changed over time, because that is true historical analysis taught through the American Girls Collection.
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