Options for American Girl clothing?

[nwmomof2]

I'm hoping you frugal mamas have some ideas for me. My 7 year old daughter has had an American Girl doll for a little more than a year now (her great-grandmother got it for her for her 6th b'day). We don't have many of the accessories or clothes, only what the doll came with, which has been fine until now. DD is now playing with the doll a lot more, and is asking for doll clothes and accessories for Christmas. Do I just suck it up and pay for the pricey AG brand clothing? I've looked on ebay and the AG lots actually sell for quite a bit. I've also heard that the Our Generation doll clothing sold at Target doesn't quite fit AG dolls. Anyone BTDT and have advice? (Oh, and I'm not particularly handy with sewing, unfortunately.)

[HollyBearsMom]

Now that the holidays are near go to every church bazaar, local christmas fairs, etc that you can. I see so many home made dolls clothes for AG dolls at these places. They were huge last year and I am sure they will be again.

At the Lutheran Church Octoberfest this year one woman had a HUGE selection. All kinds of styles, even Halloween costumes that were really cute. Prices ranged from $2-3 dollars for simple outfits to around $20 for some pretty elaborate outfits like a ballerina costume complete with sparkling tutu, satin-y leotard decorated with sparkley rhinestone, satin-y lace up the leg, toes shoes and a tiara.

[fustian]

Have you looked on etsy? Quite a few people make doll clothing and put it up for sale there as well. I'm not sure if you're going to get it as cheap as $3/outfit, but you should be able to find plenty that are cheaper than the "official" AG merchandise.

[fustian]

Oh, and if you can knit you can make quite a few little jumpers and dresses very quickly for dolls. My daughter doesn't have an AG doll, but she does have a similarly sized waldorf doll that I knitted quite a few things for. If I remember correctly, when I was looking for free knitting patterns for dolls there were a lot that were specifically meant for AG dolls.

[HollyBearsMom]

Agree you can find some good things on Etsy however if $$ is really tight watch out because some of the vendors charge an outrageous shipping fee. Make sure you calculate that into the cost.

The last thing i went to buy I was at how much the shipping was. The total was order was $25 and the shipping was $9! That is 36%!!!! And that was in the same state, not cross country. Needless to say I went elsewhere.

[mclisa]

Scout around on Craigslist. My sister found someone whose daughters were in high school and she was cleaning out her attic. Great find.

[HollyBearsMom]

Just left AC Moore and they had simple outfits ie tee shirts/jeans and dresses for $9.99 and full outfits complete with shoes/accessories for $19.99. They always have 40% off one item coupons and they take competitor coupons like Michaels.

[nwmomof2]

Thanks for the ideas! Today I went to a church holiday bazaar and got 5 adorable doll outfits. Still paid $75 (I live in a high COL area, and only wish I could find some for $3 per outfit!), but felt better about supporting a nice older woman on a fixed income, rather than made in China AG. I also checked out etsy, where it seems most doll outfits are in the $15-$20 range. I've never heard of AC Moore, so I don't think we have them here. I do knit and have some leftover yarn sitting around that I can use - good idea!

[EmsMom]

I know that this is very hit or miss and kind of late in the year, but I have had at least three amazing yard sale finds of American Girl clothes. We must have $700 worth of clothes for about $20. I also bought some off of our old babysitter who had tons of clothes and accessories. But if you like to yard sale or have a friend who does, always poke around in the toys and doll clothes. They get mixed in with all kinds of doll clothes. But I would also try the craft shows. I have seen some very nice AG doll clothes at craft shows.

[HollyBearsMom]

Originally Posted by nwmomof2

Thanks for the ideas! Today I went to a church holiday bazaar and got 5 adorable doll outfits. Still paid $75 (I live in a high COL area, and only wish I could find some for $3 per outfit!), but felt better about supporting a nice older woman on a fixed income, rather than made in China AG. I also checked out etsy, where it seems most doll outfits are in the $15-$20 range. I've never heard of AC Moore, so I don't think we have them here. I do knit and have some leftover yarn sitting around that I can use - good idea!

glad you found some outfits!!

[sunanthem]

You could try watching goodwill online store's auctions, they always have A.G. stuff going through there.

[mamalisa]

Originally Posted by fustian

Have you looked on etsy? Quite a few people make doll clothing and put it up for sale there as well. I'm not sure if you're going to get it as cheap as $3/outfit, but you should be able to find plenty that are cheaper than the "official" AG merchandise.

I got some beautiful things from BetsyStyle on etsy. They were in the $15 range though. But still a lot cheaper than the AG store!

[Paxjourney]

I've purchased some at Etsy. We don't have american girl dolls, But the Target brand ones. Anyway another thing we did was purchase some premmie size outfits (dresses mostly) at a resale shoppe.

[Stayseeliz]

  www.dorisdollboutique.com has cute stuff at a great price! They have a first time customer discount too!