Simplicity

Simplicity Logo.

Simplicity (full name Simplicity Pattern Company) is a manufacturer of home/personal sewing patterns that was created in 1927. They distributed the "Simplicity," "Burda", "It's So Easy" and "New Look" brands of patterns and many other notion and craft tool lines, and as of 2017 also are the head company over Butterick (which also owned McCalls, Vogue, and KwikSew brands).^[1]

In Relation to American Girl

For a time Simplicity distributed two major lines of craft items. The first, American Girl Crafts kits, are all-in-one craft projects. These were sold through multiple craft stores and outlets. Also available were stickers, organizational supplies, journals, and/or crafts for dolls as well as children.

Starting in 2015, American Girl started to release officially licensed doll clothes patterns. Designed for modern looks and listed as "Crafts", these offer patterns for making mix-and-match components or fancy clothing such as party dresses. Starting with pattern #8280, four styles had children's sized patterns to accompany the look in sizes 3-8 or 8-16^[2]; starting with #8400, selected patterns included child- and doll-sized patterns together in "Learn to Sew!" style. The pattern line was discontinued in 2019 with the last pattern released being #8864, for a total of twenty-five main patterns.

Items are shown on Truly Me dolls and shoes and props are from various American Girl items and outfits (including Historical/BeForever outfits and Girls of the Year).

All patterns (including child patterns) have the following disclaimer:

"American Girl Doll not included. Dyes from fabrics and other supplies may bleed onto your doll or her clothes and leave permanent stains. The use of light colored fabrics and materials will help to reduce the risk. American Girl and Simplicity are not responsible for any damage caused by the use of craft supplies for doll apparel."

"Learn To Sew, You Can Do It!"

Starting with #8400 and #8401, "Learn To Sew, You Can Do It!" patterns were offered. These patterns come with both doll and child sized patterns (3-8 size range) for a single themed set of items. The instructions are simply written for the level of a beginner seamstress, often have minimal pieces, and include the definitions of common sewing terms step by step. Five of these were released, four focused on clothing bottoms and one on a shoulder bag accessory.

List of American Girl Simplicity Patterns

Patterns, historically, reuse numbers and designations and sometimes use different numbers for the same pattern. For the purposes of documentation, they are being listed as "American Girl Pattern ####" as originally documented on the Simplicity website. Child-sized patterns are documented on their doll-clothes pattern page if separately offered.

Web Sites

Official Site

References

↑ Please note: Since the initial rise in popularity of 18" playline dolls in the early 1990s, many pattern companies have and continue to release patterns under Simplicity and Butterick (which also owned McCalls, Vogue, and KwikSew brands; they, along with Simplicity, were the other major distributor of home sewing patterns until they combined under the same firm (CSS Industries) in 2017, and as of 2020 is owned by Design Group). To prevent overload of any pattern styles and/or licenses, this article and wiki will only discuss the officially American Girl licensed patterns that were released from 2015 to 2019.
↑ Sewing pattern sizes do not 1:1 correlate to ready-to-wear sizes and should be individually measured and sized to children.
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 ^3.3 These patterns have children sized complimentary patterns; please see individual page for further information.
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 ^4.2 ^4.3 ^4.4 These patterns are "Learn to Sew" patterns with patterns sized for both doll and child; see above.

[1] Please note: Since the initial rise in popularity of 18" playline dolls in the early 1990s, many pattern companies have and continue to release patterns under Simplicity and Butterick (which also owned McCalls, Vogue, and KwikSew brands; they, along with Simplicity, were the other major distributor of home sewing patterns until they combined under the same firm (CSS Industries) in 2017, and as of 2020 is owned by Design Group). To prevent overload of any pattern styles and/or licenses, this article and wiki will only discuss the officially American Girl licensed patterns that were released from 2015 to 2019.

[2] Sewing pattern sizes do not 1:1 correlate to ready-to-wear sizes and should be individually measured and sized to children.

[childsize-3] 3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 ^3.3 These patterns have children sized complimentary patterns; please see individual page for further information.

[childinc-4] 4.0 ^4.1 ^4.2 ^4.3 ^4.4 These patterns are "Learn to Sew" patterns with patterns sized for both doll and child; see above.

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