Yesterday American Girl launched their new ‘Create Your Own’ line. You are able to design your own doll or your own clothing! I am super excited about this even though I know there are others out there that feel their customs are no longer as special due to this new development. I do not feel as if my customs are any less special and apparently there are many people out there who feel the same way because as I was trying to do research for this post the AmericanGirl.com site kept crashing or going ridiculously slow. Â Today we are going to focus in the Clothing side of the ‘Create Your Own’ line. Beware: This is a picture heavy post. Fourty one pictures to be exact! Enjoy!
After clicking on the ‘Create Your Own’ link on the AmericanGirl.com website, the first image you will see is this:
Let’s explore the Design One Of A Kind Fashion first. There are six different design your own items: a Doll Sports Outfit, a Girl Tee Shirt, a Girl Backpack, a Doll Tee Shirt, a Doll Tunic and Leggings, and a Doll Dress. There are also 5 different themes to choose from when decorating: sports, school, sparkle, animals, and explore. I am going to start with the Sports Outfit costs $34 to design and the picture below shows what your starting point is. Â Because this is the sports outfit, I decided to keep the theme sports. This outfit is nice because you can design three different pieces but unfortunately the shorts are as is and do not allow customizing.
I chose to check out the Backgrounds first. Below you can see that there are twenty-two different options for Backgrounds. I put one on the tee-shirt as an example.
I am not really sure what they difference (in this case anyway) what the difference is between Backgrounds and Patterns. But when I click on Patterns, there are five to choose from and again I put one on the tee-shirt as an example.
‘Chose Your Color’ Graphics gives you a choice of eighteen colors and twenty-three graphics and it simply means you chose a graphic and the color you want it to be on the shirt. Again I have an example below.
Standard Graphics are basic generic graphics and other than adjusting the size you really cannot customize them. There are ten options and I selected one as an example below.
In this instance with the Sports Outfit the Fashion Details are Raglan sleeves. The options are light gray, dark gray, red and black. I have shown them below in the dark gray. I think for this outfit, this is probably my favorite and most realistic design element.
The last design element to explore is Type. You can choose the color and font of your type as well as resize it and have it say what you choose. I have shown below one of the many combinations that could be made and it includes an example of the Type as well.
In designing this outfit you have the choice of:
headband: Backgrounds and Patterns
tee-shirt: Backgrounds, Patterns, ‘Choose Your Color’ Graphics, Standard Graphics, Fashion Details and Type
shorts: AS IS! NO CUSTOMIZING!
socks: Backgrounds, Patterns, ‘Choose Your Color’ Graphics, Standard Graphics and Type
Next up we will look at the Girl Tee Shirt which costs $28 to design. I decided to check out the school theme for this tee-shirt. Below is the blank canvas ready for customization.
First up is Backgrounds. I found this to look weird but that is my opinion. I don’t like that it is just a large rectangle. I would have wanted the whole shirt to have had the same background. But that is just my opinion. Other people may like that. Anyway, there are thirteen options and I have an example below.
For the Girl Tee Shirt, Patterns are set up the same as the Backgrounds. I don’t find it to  look quite as odd as the Backgrounds but I still would have preferred it to be an all over print. There are five Patterns to choose from and you can see my example below.
Well apparently you have to stay inside the box on the front of the tee-shirt with every design element because it was the same for the ‘Choose Your Color’ Graphics. Well, no matter check it out below. There are nine color options and six design options.
The Standard Graphics are not able to be customized with the exception of resizing them but there are fourteen options to choose from and you can see one down below.
So for the Girl Tee Shirt there is no option of Fashion Details so I will move on to Type. Again you can choose fonts and colors and adjust the sizing of whatever you decide you want your shirt to say. I gave an example below.
I feel that the design elements for the Girl Tee Shirt are much more limited than that of the Sports Outfit.
Let’s check out the Girl Backpack now which can be designed for $45. I think for this one I will go with the explore theme. Below you can see what you start with.
There are thirteen Background options for the Backpack. I kind of like the Background I used as an example.
When it comes to the Patterns offered, there are five offered and I really am not a fan of any of them. Nevertheless, I have an example for you.
Under the ‘Choose Your Color’ Graphic there are nine colors and six graphic choices.
As for the Standard Graphics, there are twenty-two to choose from and I think this one I chose as an example is pretty neat. Again, other than resizing, you are not able to customize these graphics.
The final option for customizing the Girl Backpack, is Type. There are nine different color options as well as four different fonts to choose from. You can also resize your Type however you would like.
You are also able to use multiple features on the single backpack. For example; you could have a Background, a Type and a Standard Graphic. These are pretty neat and will probably appeal to the much younger crowd but I do not ever see me designing one of these.
Moving on, let’s check out the Doll Tunic and Leggings which are available to customize for $32. I will go with the animal theme on this one. So what you start with is shown below and is a simple long sleeve tee-shirt and a pair of what looks to be leggings style pants.
The Background options are different for the Tunic as well as for the pants. There are thirteen options to choose from. The first four are different colors but the same pattern but have a ‘sweater’ look to them.
There are seventeen Background options for the Pants. The first four make the pants look like blue jeans in different colors; dark blue, light blue, gray and black. The next four are the same ‘sweater’ look that is available for the tunic. The rest are solid colors.
When it comes to Patterns there are five options and they are the same for both the Tunic and the Pants.
As for the ‘Choose Your Color’ Graphics, there are nine colors and six graphics. You can adjust the size as well as rotate the graphic as I have done as an example on the Pants below.
For the standard graphics, I had fun playing around. I chose a fun pug dog in a sweater and I chose to add a pair of oversized glasses to him. Then for the Pants I took the glasses and put them all over the pants to look like a print. There were a total of twenty-one different Standard Graphics.
When it comes to the Fashion Details, they are available for the Tunic only. There are rhinestone look images in the shape of a Peter Pan collar in four different colors as well as knotted skinny belts in a choice of four different colors.
Type offers nine different colors and four fonts. You are also able to resize, rotate or stack with any of the other design elements.
The possibilities truly do seem to be endless.
Next up is the Doll Tee-Shirt for $14 and we will explore it in the Adventure theme. Below I have the blank canvas. As you can see there are no Fashion Details offered for the Tee-Shirt.
There are thirteen Background options. I think the one I chose has sort of an acid wash look. I wish that the Background would cover the entire shirt but unfortunately it is confined to the rectangle on the front of the shirt.
Patterns are unfortunately the same. They are confined to the rectangle on the front of the shirt. There are however five options.
The ‘Choose Your Color’ Graphic offers nine colors and six different Graphics. Again we are confined to the rectangle on the front of the shirt.
There are twenty-two Standard Graphic choices and you are able to resize them as long as you stay in the borders of that rectangle.
The Type option is basic and just like every other ‘Create Your Own’ item there are nine color options and four fonts to choose from.
The Create Your Own Doll Tee is a bit of a let down to me. I can see me designing many adorable tee shirts if only it wasn’t for that annoying rectangle we are stuck inside of.
The final Create Your Own item that American Girl released was a Doll Dress that can be customized for $32. We will explore it with the Sparkle theme.
For the Backgrounds there are thirteen choices with the first four being an all over sequin look in different color choices.
There are five different Pattern choices with one being the example I have below.
The ‘Choose Your Color’ Graphics are pretty much the same as with every other customizable item. There are nine color choices and six graphic choices.
When it comes to the Standard Graphics there are twenty-four options with most of those being polka dots.
Finally another item with Fashion Details! The dress offers a choice of four different colored skirts, four different colored belts and four different colored necklaces.
And finally there is Type. Again there are nine colors and four fonts but surprisingly enough the fonts are different for the dress than they have been for any other item in the ‘Create Your Own’ line.
The dress is very cute but for $32 dollars I would think there should be more to it. That is a bit much for a simple sleeveless A-line dress and should come with accessories for that price.
All in all I am really excited about this line. I hope that as time goes by that they will expand this line and improve upon what they have already created. There are only so many white tee-shirts with a rectangle full of design that I will want to buy. But if they offer a variety of colors or expand it so that the Backgrounds and Patterns can cover the entire shirt instead of just that rectangle, I am more likely to buy more tee-shirts. Have you checked out the ‘Create Your Own’ line yet? I hope I was able to open your eyes to all of the possibilities of what is available just on the clothing side of it. Tune in next week and I will be going over the doll portion of the ‘Create Your Own’ line!
-erin
minnieme18 