I Used the Original Pattern to Make Samantha’s Birthday Dress! | Peppermint Dress and Lacy Pinafore

[@Flanuora]

As a child I loved everything Samantha. My favorite dress was her school dress. I wanted her to be warm in our cold winters! I was one of the first dresses I got for her in childhood.

[@HattoHem]

What a sweet memory! I really love Samantha as well. Her school outfit felt so realistic so I'm not surprised you were drawn to it!

[@DebTallbroad]

My favorite doll outfits were for our Barbie's. My mother stitched a heap of clothes for my sister and my Barbie's one year. We still have most of them and my daughters and now granddaughters have played with them. We have had other dolls but those clothes are the most special. And even more now to me after sewing some for my granddaughter a few years ago. I know what went into all of those clothes! I loved watching this video.

[@HattoHem]

Aww that's so lovely! I tried making Barbie clothes once...never again... I had a ton of Barbies, but my favorite thing was, believe it or not, a grocery store playset and a baking set! You never know what kids will gravitate towards

[@mothersuperior6751]

I made a Topsey Turby doll that I am very proud of. I had to embroider her faces. One has blue eyes the other brown.

[@HattoHem]

I like that you went the unconventional route with the eyes!

[@LatelyFashionable]

You did a great job! It looks really close to the original dress.

[@HattoHem]

Thank you! I got closer to the original than I expected to! I thought it could have gone either way 😅

[@deliawallace4426]

Not American so never knew about these dolls until you :-), I had two favourite dolls growing up - a barbie and the bionic women - yes it was the 70's.

[@HattoHem]

I hope your Barbie and Bionic Women went on some great adventures together!

[@ashleah5458]

I’m old enough that I was too old for American Girl dolls but I love the nostalgia that shines through

[@HattoHem]

I'm so glad! I was worried American Girl doll clothes was too niche of a topic, but I was hoping my enthusiasm for a project would help :D

[@Kompalla1]

This is great the last time I tried to make this outfit was about 35+ years ago as a beginner/intermediate sewer. I learned a lot just watching you make the pinafore. I never realized my oldest daughter who was gifted Sam has an original. It was given to her by my sister and later the original patterns. I think I have 3 original, Sam, Kirsten and later Molly. Thank you!.

[@HattoHem]

Oh wow, how nice! I have to admit that I didn't expect the pinafore to be constructed the way it is, but I really like it! I like that your oldest had it as well as the original three dolls!

[@vickistevens423]

BEAUTIFUL!! Love the lace on the pinafore. You did an amazing job. My two favorite AG dolls are Felicity and Kirsten.

[@HattoHem]

Thank you, Vicki! The lace on the pinafore is probably my favorite part! Kirsten was my cousin's doll so she never felt like "mine," but I do love Felicity! I'm hoping to make a special Felicity Project at the end of this year!

[@elisabethprice4697]

my favorite doll outfit that I owned was Nellies blue dress! I can't remember which dress I didn't own that I loved but I loved all of them at least in the historical line!

[@HattoHem]

I don't blame you! That dress is so lovely!!!

[@SuperButterfly217]

My favorite outfit is Addy's stilt walking dress and pants. You did a great job making Samantha's birthday dress.

[@HattoHem]

Oh, I love Addy's Stilt walking dress too! I really miss the older American Girl dress designs

[@billiebluesheepie2907]

As an oldest child from a family of ten children, I spent more time feeding and changing real little people than dolls! I had a plastic doll when I was little I called Jenny, with sleeping eyes, but they broke and then she disappeared... I really loved Jenny and didn’t mind that her eyes were wonky, I made her many, many simple outfits, I think she probably started my lifetime love of sewing!

[@HattoHem]

It sounds like Jenny definitely had a lasting impact on your life! It definitely sounds like she was loved!

[@MaireadRW]

You gotta continue this series!

[@HattoHem]

It's been a long time since you commented, but I really should! I have a few ideas in mind, but just haven't had the time to actually do anything about it. Maybe I should make the effort in 2025 :)

[@MaireadRW]

@ that would be amazing. :)

[@logcabin3551]

You did a gorgeous job on this outfit. I especially love how the lace shoulder straps on the pinafore turned out. Just beautiful to look at. I have all six of the PC patterns and haven't made one outfit yet. Just dreaming about doing it all these years. Your two Samantha dress videos have encouraged me. Please make more doll dresses. I love your videos!

[@HattoHem]

Thank you so much! I think the lace on the pinafore straps is my favorite part as well. It was so simple to make, but it's just so lovely! I hope you take the leap and make a PC outfit soon! I really should get back to making them. I'll need to look into what my options are!

[@catherinejustcatherine1778]

Such a cute picture

[@HattoHem]

Thank you!

[@HistoricalBelle]

IT LOOKS SO GOOD!!! It looks seriously identical to the one from AG. Samantha and Kirsten had some of my favorite clothes/playsets. You definitely choose the right lace. Also I love how you researched with the different book illustrations.

[@HattoHem]

Awww, thank you, Marie! The illustrations are my favorite part of the books and the differences were always something I liked comparing. I'm glad I could fit the explanation in without it feeling forced! I didn't have Kirsten, but I loved playing with my Samantha and Felicity dolls!

[@toria01dan]

Again, another beautiful job! I love my Samantha doll, and seeing your sewing videos is bringing so much nostalgia to my life. Also, you make this look so easy, I am enjoying learning new tips and tricks from you! Hope you continue to make the rest of the outfits with these patterns!

[@HattoHem]

Aww thank you so much! It's been a while, but hopefully I'll be able to make more soon!

[@teddy-3765]

Your version of the outfit came out beautifully and the lace choice really worked well too. My childhood predates AG dolls (and they weren't available in the UK anyway). My two favourite dolls in the 70s were Pippa (6 inch fashion dolls - the equivalent in the US being Dawn, but Pippa was better articulated) and Action Girl (Miss Dollikin in the US). Action Girl was Barbie-sized but far better articulated (with joints at wrists, elbows, ankles and knees in addition to the usual shoulders, hips waist, and neck on Barbie) and was marketed as befits her name - the standard outfit she came in was a jumpsuit, not a little dress, and my doll was a secret agent, named Sabrina after Sabrina Duncan (played by Kate Jackson) in Charlie's Angels, and had many hair-raising adventures. My favoourite outfit for her was a maxi-length floral cotton skirt with a matching shirred tube top. It wasn't an actual Action Girl outfit, but made by a company tht made chap dolls clothes in generic sizes for all sortw of dolls. I still have the skirt on one of my Action Gilrd dolls, but the top disappeared at some pointover the past fourtey-something years.... possibly subsumed into my niece's dolls clothing collection (she had Barbies...) and subequently lost or passed on when she outgrew dolls.

[@HattoHem]

I love that you have such detailed memories of your favorites! I especially love imagining all the adventures Sabrina had! It's a shame that so many items are lost, but at least you have the skirt!

[@autumn7143]

Hi Melissa!!! I’m glad to see you back!!! I know it’s hard with munchkin and work. Yes, black shoes work. I have always been more of a stuffed animal girl. I had some Barbie’s, but not many dolls. Now I have my grandmother’s porcelain doll collection that are older than my 43 years, and dressed in many different historical fashions. See you next time.

[@HattoHem]

Hi, Autumn! Munchkin and work does make it a little more difficult, but we're getting better at finding a balance. I enjoyed my stuffed animals and dolls in equal measure. That porcelain doll collection sounds impressive!

[@autumn7143]

It is. I have them in fashions from eighteenth century to 1923 when my Granny was born. It’s fabulous. My daughter thinks it’s creepy. She doesn’t like the dolls. I love the fashion and would stare at them for hours as a kid. Now I love historical fashion. So yeah, that’s where my love for it started.

[@HattoHem]

@@autumn7143 I love that story! I actually grew to love historical fashion from the American Girl dolls so I understand how your fascination must have felt!

[@aperfecttouch]

This is so beautiful and amazing! My granddaughters had American Girl dolls but I didn't sew then. That's probably a good thing! Lol. I wanted a Barbie but my Mom said no, so now I have 4 and have made and worn 2 of the outfits. 😀

[@HattoHem]

I love your Barbie dress recreations! I had...many Barbies growing up, but they were pretty easy to get and inexpensive in the 90s. I love how Barbie can be anything! Isn't it funny how what we wanted as children affect what we make as adults?

[@aperfecttouch]

@@HattoHem Thank you! Like you said...why be an adult if you can't live out your childhood dreams? Or something like that. Lol

[@xeniaendris3010]

Omg 😂❤it was beautiful I will try to make it too will see if I do a good job ❤️❤️

[@HattoHem]

Thank you so much! I hope yours turns out well!

[@katzenliebe2697]

Hallo from old Germany, my Favorit is Caroline Abbot and her dresses, and i sew her dresses , but itisn' t so beautyful how the dress you make.

[@HattoHem]

Hi! Caroline definitely has very lovely clothes! I'm sure you really enjoy working on projects for her!

[@robintheparttimesewer6798]

I don’t remember many dolls but I do remember Barbie. My sister and I had a lot of them. My grandfather made a doll house and furniture for them. One year for Christmas my great aunt made my sister and I a huge box of clothes for our Barbies. With that as a great memory I made a shoe box full of outfits for my niece when she started playing with Barbie. It’s a great way to use up scraps but darn if it isn’t the most fiddling annoying projects. I even knit little purses to go with the outfits! Of course I also made doll clothes for my kids as well. When we were teenagers a friend of our mother adopted a child then found out that there were siblings in the system and took them too. They ended up with 3 or 4 kids and nothing for them. So there was a drive among their friends to help out with supplies. The kids were young so we let our Barbie stuff go there. Your new dress looks wonderful and was a trip down memory lane for me.

[@HattoHem]

You went above and beyond making Barbie clothes and accessories for your niece! I made Barbie clothes once and have no desire to attempt that again. I had a bin full of Barbie and clothes. I would spend hours making up stories with them. But more than the Barbies, I loved the playsets. I had one that was a grocery store with a slushie machine, pretzels in a display, and bread that you could take out of the bag! Isn't it funny the things kids get drawn to and remember?

[@patbowman6723]

It came out perfect as I expected. I love your idea of the different color pins, I have to use it. See, your never too old to learn new things. I also love the curtains behind your sewing machine. I can't wait to see what you make next. Have a good week.

[@HattoHem]

Thank you! Maybe I should make a video about my go-to sewing tricks and techniques. I got the curtains from my local discount curtain place. They're a little frillier than I would have normally gotten , but they definitely work for this project! :D

[@caitlynv1167]

My absolute favorite dress was Felicity's blue holiday dress. Felicity was my first doll (because I was a horse-crazy kid, so a horse-crazy girl was perfect!) and I swooned over the blue dress for yeeeeears. I never got it as a child, but earlier this year I *finally* made it happen and purchased an original Pleasant Company dress secondhand. LOVE it so much!! (My favorite playset was her tea set, with the gorgeous wooden table and chairs. Samantha's brass bed was a very close second)

[@HattoHem]

That's one of my favorite dresses too! I have a project inspired by it in mind, but it's still in the planning stages. I'm SO glad you got it! It's really so lovely!

[@ShinySarah44]

When I was really little, my nan got me a baby doll, it was really creepy and ugly. But I loved it because she knitted several sets of outfits and blankets for it to go with a bassinet. I believe it was all second hand, as she volunteered as salvos, but I adored it. Oh I also had one of those ornamental dolls which she made a full wedding dress and veil for. Once again, incredibly creepy but I had so few toys like it that it was truly special to me.

[@HattoHem]

I feel like it's always the unconventional toys that kids love best. For a while, I had a teddy bear I called "Cheap Bear" because my aunt gave it to me while telling my mom "It's just a cheap bear." I'm so glad you have such special memories and I love that your nan knitted clothes and blankets for it! It's good to support what a kid loves, no matter how creepy ;P

[@Cat-nf9bh]

Great video! I want to get to Samantha's clothes eventually but first I'm finishing Kirstens patterns (almost done!), then Felicity is next in line.

[@HattoHem]

All of their clothing is so lovely! I keep wanting to make more, but I've had trouble finding the time.

[@libertylady1952]

Very nice job.

[@HattoHem]

Thank you so much!

[@irishseadollies]

please do this with her nightgown 😭

[@HattoHem]

Oooh, I should! I always loved her nightgown!

[@catherinejustcatherine1778]

I'm so glad you have an outfit you love! I wholeheartedly support reclaiming/living all "your" (realistic) childhood hopes and wishes. I keep meaning to make a history Bounding sort of ball gown for one of my dolls (another creator suggested that people do this, and use them as Christmas tree ornaments; that way, there isn't all the time, effort, materials and taking up of space.)

[@HattoHem]

I took the "reclaiming/living all "your" (realistic) childhood hopes and wishes" to heart, but I'll show that off in the next video ;P I love the idea of the Christmas Tree Ornaments! I wouldn't have the space on my tree for that, but it's still a clever idea! I hope you do get to make that history bounding ballgown for one of your dolls! I was worried that making doll clothes wouldn't be as satisfying as making costumes for myself, but it's satisfying in a different way :D

[@catherinejustcatherine1778]

@@HattoHem you could put them like bunting or a banner along a mantel, or where walls meet the ceiling.

[@TealCheetah]

I had some plastic skeletons that I dressed up in Ken doll clothes.

[@HattoHem]

No gonna lie, that sounds amazing! 😂

[@elisabethprice4697]

ok so my dream dress that I didn't own was the Nellie O'Mally Irish dancing outfit!

[@HattoHem]

Oh! That's a great dress too!

[@SHERRI-r1u]

Hi! Where did you get your striped taffeta fabric and lace for this dress? Thanks!

[@HattoHem]

Hi! I honestly don't remember. I think the lace might be from Etsy? I actually accidentally bought the same lace from a different seller for a different project so it probably isn't too difficult to find. The striped taffeta might have been googled. I wish I could help you more!

[@SHERRI-r1u]

Thank you for the reply! The taffeta is hard to find! @@HattoHem

[@starmelodyelizabethb7380]

Can this work for a mini doll?

[@HattoHem]

The pattern would probably have to be altered a lot but it would potentially be used as a starting point

[@chubby_star]

Smantha palyset