By Meghan Streit
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

Jan Garland has been making clothing by hand for decades. When her daughters were young, she even made outfits for their dolls to match the children’s own clothing. Little did Garland know that the market for doll clothes would explode with the advent of the wildly popular American Girl dolls in the late 1990s.

American Girl, which was founded in 1986, sells dolls that celebrate girls’ lives throughout American history. For example, the "Kit" doll comes dressed in 1930s-style clothing and includes an informational book about the Great Depression. And the "Julie" doll is a prototype of a young girl living in San Francisco in the 1970s. The popular brand now includes books, a magazine, and retail shops that are a favorite with real-life American girls.

A room of her own
Garland began making clothing for the American Girl dolls with her mother in 1999. Almost a decade later, she has hand-made about 300 doll-sized outfits, ranging from matching sleeping caps and nightgowns to traditional ethnic costumes.

Since moving to Monarch Landing, Garland has transformed a large walk-in closet into her very own workshop, complete with sewing machine, materials, and display racks. A former Sunday school teacher and a grandmother of seven, Garland’s doll clothes have brought smiles to the faces of many little girls, including, of course, her own granddaughters.

"My 14-year-old granddaughter has quite a few of the outfits," Garland says with a laugh.

Garland makes a few copies of each doll outfit, so in addition to giving them as gifts to her grandchildren, she also sells the clothing at craft fairs. She says she typically sells about 60 outfits every year.

Living at Monarch Landing, where many of her neighbors are also grandparents, Garland says she gets a lot of requests for the doll clothes from friends.

The perfect gift
"With Christmas coming up, there are several people asking about them," she says.