How to Make a Doll Dress from Plastic Grocery Bag (No Sew Project)

Fashion doll clothes are very expensive. However, using this tutorial, you can create a doll dress for a 12-inch doll from a plastic grocery bag in about five minutes!

It's a great way to reuse a plastic bag, which is not good for the environment, and make it into a neat and easy doll dress.

The instructions are very simple. Very few supplies are needed: a plastic grocery bag, scissors, ribbon, or a hair tie. That's all it takes to make a fun doll dress.  No sewing machine is involved!

Fashion doll patterns will fit 11.5-inch dolls like Barbie, Aziam Kidz Yoga, Queens of Africa, Lammily, and One World Dolls. Some items may fit the 10.5-inch dolls, like Monster High and Hasbro Disney Princess. Each of these dolls has different shapes, so some items may fit one and not the other.

Watch our video or read this post to learn more about making a fashion doll dress from a plastic bag.

WHAT YOU NEED to make a doll dress

• Plastic grocery bag
• Ribbon or hair tie
• All-purpose scissors

INSTRUCTIONS to make a fashion doll dress from a plastic bag

STEP 1: Cut the excess off of the plastic bag

Lay the plastic grocery bag on the work surface. Using the scissors, cut a straight line to cut off the handles of the bag. Be sure not to use fabric scissors for this.

Next, cut off the bottom of the bag so that it can be wrapped neatly. Discard the handles and bottom of the bag once they have been cut off.

Step 2: Fold the bag

Turn the bag so the writing is on the inside. Flatten and smooth the bag on the table.

With the writing or printing towards the inside, fold the bag in half lengthwise. This will make a long strip to wrap around the doll.

Smooth out the strip.

Step 3: wrap the bag around the doll

Flip the bag so that the folded edge is at the top.

Begin by putting the doll's arms up and out of the way. Take the folded edge and place it under the doll's arms with the short edge extending around the doll's back.

Start wrapping the folded plastic bag around the doll's body. You can wrap the bag around the doll a couple of times. End the wrapping at the middle back of the doll.

There will be a long tail of extra plastic hanging from the doll. Using the scissors, cut off a portion of the plastic bag so it lines up with the bottom of the doll's dress.

If you want a longer train on the dress, less of the material can be cut off from the tail of the bag.

Fold the end of the bag over and towards the doll's feet.  This will allow the ribbon to be wrapped around the doll and dress.

step 4: wrap the ribbon or hair tie around the waist

Lay the doll on her back, keeping the plastic neatly wrapped around the doll. Take the ribbon and lay it, centered, over the waist of the doll wrapping the ribbon around to the back of the doll.

Carefully turn the doll over and tie the ribbon at the back of the doll.  Tie the ribbon ends into a bow or a double knot.  A knot will make the dress harder to remove.

Adjust the ribbon ends so they hang down.  The ends can also be trimmed shorter.

Flair out the end of the bag as desired.

The finished dress from the front.

If you don't have a ribbon, you can slip a hair tie over the doll's head and move it downward to the waist to hold the plastic in place. Or, use the plastic strip cut off the bottom of the bag for a tie.

Experiment with different wrapping and endings of the doll dress. For the yellow dress on the doll below, the bag's end was folded to make a more traditional straight-skirt dress.

There you have it—an easy, fancy dress for a 12" doll made from a plastic grocery bag! Amazing!

I hope you enjoyed learning how to make a pretty dress for a fashion doll out of a plastic bag. It is easy and fun!