We've put together the ultimate resource guide to recreating the quintessential fashion favorites of the 1970s for your 18-inch doll such as American Girl®. For more inspiration, be sure to check out our style guide on 5 Spring Trends To Sew For Your Doll.
Giveaway Alert: Scroll to the bottom of the page to enter our American Girl® Julie™ Doll Giveaway!
We all know trends come in cycles, and suddenly the crop tops, scrunchies, or "mom jeans" of decades past are back in style once again. One fashion era that is always being reinterpreted by trendsetters of today is the style of the 1970s.
Key features that are so fun to play around with in design are:
Find the entire collection of 1970s Patterns For 18-inch Dolls on Pixie Faire.
The 1970s Color Palette
According to Pantone®, economic recession and eco-consciousness were top of mind during the '70s, and this influenced consumers taste in colors by drawing them to more muted, earthy tones. Similar colors have been popping up consistently across runways and trend reports over the last few seasons, as people today look for grounded and more minimalistic colors.
1970s Dresses
1970s Chevron Sun Dress Crochet Pattern by Little Abbee
Sweet 70s Dress from Keepers Dolly Duds
Convergence Dress from DKinley Designs
All Occasion Dress from 123 Mulberry Street
Create a cute spring dress for your doll that channels a '70s vibe by choosing a pattern with classic details of the decade, like a wide pointed collar, or pick groovy fabrics and accessories to add '70s flare to a more versatile and classic dress pattern.
1970s Spring Separates
or be mixed-and-matched with other wardrobe staples to create more contemporary looks.
70s Spring Shoes and Accessories
1970s-inspired Pattern Hacks
Sew the perfect Hip-Hugger Maxi Skirt using this Pattern Hack of the Hip-Hugger Bell Bottoms from Flossie Potter.
Add a fun and frilly Bell Sleeve detail to your favorite t-shirt using this pattern hack of the T-shirt Variations Pattern from Liberty Jane Clothing.
ENTER TO WIN An American Girl® Julie™ Doll!
To enter this week's contest, simply click the link below and then enter through the giveaway widget at the bottom of the blog post, there are many things you can do to earn multiple entry points!
Contest Details: You enter through the entry form that is embedded on this page and appears just below this paragraph, if you don't see it, be sure to visit the page from your desktop or an alternate browser such as Google Chrome. It may not appear on all mobile devices. The complete rules and entry details appear on the entry form. This is not a comment contest - in other words, leaving a comment on the bottom of this page is not an official entry method. The only required entry method is to leave a comment under this post and then confirm that you did it in the contest widget. One person will receive the Julie™ doll. You can enter once, or gain multiple entries by completing the other entry methods and increase your chances of winning. Please review all Terms and Conditions on the giveaway page before entering. While we wish we could run this contest everywhere, for legal reasons it is only open to eligible residents of the U.S. and Canada, not including Rhode Island. This contest is exclusively endorsed by Liberty Jane Clothing and Pixie Faire. Not endorsed by or affiliated with American Girl®.
We'd love to hear from you. Leave a comment and tell us - which '70s trend is your favorite! Commenting below and confirming your entry in the widget above gives you one entry method, the other methods are listed in the widget above, be sure to enter in as many ways as you can to receive the maximum amount of entries to win one Julie™ Doll!
Thanks, everyone!
The Pixie Faire Team
My favorites of the decades’ trends is the side braids and the flowie peasant tops.
I loved my bell bottoms
I liked the flowery prints and abstract designs in bright colors.
Mini skirts were my favourite.
So cute!
I liked the crocheted styles of granny squares used in vests. They were colorful and unique. I was a young child back then but I remember my mom had one.
Peasant crop top and hip hugger bell bottoms were the big go to outfit. Miss those simple days.
So awesome!
I was a crocheter in the ’70’s and I still am. I loved wearing granny square vests. And the bell bottoms!
I love the 70’s, still wear bells but embroider on them to make a little modern. Really like the dolls patterns of this era
Julie is the perfect doll. Love 💘 her!!!
Definitely the bell bottoms!
I had a bell-bottom set that looked just like the one pictured here. It was red pants and white top. When it was warm, I worn blue jean shorts with the white top.
In the 70’s I loved the colors and the fabric prints. I was just a kid in the 70’s but I’ve always loved the era. :o)
I graduated high school in the early 70’s. I love the maxi skirts, peasant tops and bell bottoms. It takes me right back to my teens and early 20’s.
I loved the bell bottom jeans, the stacked shoes and the baby doll tops of the 70’s. Also the Boho style.
I love the florals! You just don’t see that today.
Love the 70’s patterns!
Bell bottoms and peace signs
Love the 70’s.
I was travelling around Europe, and embroidering my bellbottom jeans. And orange backpack on the long Eurail train rides. I was getting skinnier, and when I bent over to pick up my backpackin a train station my low waisted jeans went down! Thankfully, I had cute bikini panties that stayed up!
My favourite 70s style was bell bottoms and peasant tops.
Love the bell bottoms and white lace peasant tops.
I was a fashion student in college in the early 70s, so I relate totally to Julie. I read WWD and kept up with trends of the times. I designed many outfits with maxi skirts in amazing paisleys and prints. Memory lane is all rolled up in the Julie doll and I LOVE designing for her for that reason.
Love the boho look of the seventies. Very artsy
I used to wear bell bottoms, so this is a trip down memory lane for me! Love it and the outfits. Thanks for the contest.
This is my era! I vividly remember wearing these fashions! Maybe I should dig out some old photos and recreate the clothing for my dolls.
The bell bottoms have it
I’ve always like the peasant tops and dresses and maxi skirts associated with the flower child looks. I think those looks originated in the 60s but they were still going strong in the 70s.
I love bell bottoms, maxi skits, smock tops, and crop tops from the 70s. That is my era!!! Just wish I still had the figure for them. Haha!
I loved the bell bottoms and easy care polyester of the 70’s
Oh the memories. My favorite is the colors. I love the colors and they all look good on me.
So many fashion memories! I made a swirl skirt in Home Economics and peasant dresses….Laura Ashley dresses, jean maxi skirts……….
I remember the 70’s. I really liked the hip-hugger bell bottom pants/jeans with the crop tops.
I really love the sleeves of the 70s and the really cute jumpers. The bright colors as well!
That is one pretty doll. Thanks for the opportunity. I loved to embroider my jeans in the 70’s. That would be really fun for the doll. Happy stitching!
The trends I like are the crochet detailing and accessories and the ruffles.
I liked the peasant shirts. I remember making several to go with my gaudy bell bottoms. Thank you for the contest!
I love them all. Being a 70’s child this brings back lots of good memories. Love the bell bottoms and crop top.
I adore peasant blouses! Such comfortable clothes in the 70s!
I love the colours and the flowery fabrics of the 70’s The toned down colours were earthy anda grounding. Hope they come back
Bell bottoms and suede earth shoes. To be sixteen and look like Julie again. I still have Prom dress, could a new dress in my granddaughters dolls future.
My favourite look from the 70’s is wide bell bottom hip hugger jeans with fancy embroidery on the bells. I had a pair when I was in Junior High. I wore them every chance I got. I miss those days🤗
I loved when we would take the bottom of our shirts and put them up through the top and pull down creating a crop top. Summer fun!
I just love Julie & her wardrobe. Takes me back to my college & high school!
Julie is one of my absolute favorite AG dolls because her era was MY era for my teen years! I wore the same kind of clothes that she has! I love her. Thank you for this giveaway!
Big frizzy hair – Afros and Joplin style!
Love the 70’s. The bigger the bell bottoms, the better they were.
I love the bell bottoms, I always have, I used to wear them!
I liked bell bottoms with embroidery on the bottom of the jeans. We also embroidered chambray shirts.
My favorite 70’s look are floral print, hip hugger, bell bottoms!
I like the peasant blouses and have always been a fan of paisley prints.
Love the styles from the 70s!
I live the bell bottoms, I always have, I used to wear them!
The bell bottoms are awesom. I have always loved them. Great pattern collection. I always love 70s fashion.
I loved Jessica McClintock fashions. So glad I was a girl!
I still love peasant blouses.
Love the 70s look. Reminds me of the times my older cousins wore the bell bottom pants with short tight shirts and platform shoes we called claudhoppers.
What I liked the girly- girly styles, flower patterns, long dresses. T-shirt dresses, and romantic long sleeve shirts with wit lots of lace and frilly ties. Oh, and Hot Pants! They were very popular in 1970 in California where I lived!
I loved the bell bottom pants they were fun to wear. Love the doll clothes.
Halter tops were my favorite as a teenager.
Love the bell bottoms
Looking back at the fashions of the 70’s, I loved the look of Bell Bottoms and the peasant tops. I never wore them because I was too fat and in those days you had a difficult time finding clothes to fit. Would love to have a Julie doll, she’d look so cute in bell bottoms & peasant top.
I so remember making one of those skirts in long and short. Gee I remember making purses out of my jeans. Thanks for the memory. Love those bell bottom pants.
I love the bell sleeves.
The flower print bell bottoms take me down memory lane.
Peasant Blouses were may favorite fashion of the 70’s
Love the bell bottom jeans and the peasant top!!
Love the bell bottom jeans and the peasant top!!
My favorites were the bell bottom pants and peasant blouses. I was a pre-teen and teen during the 70’s so I remember it well.
Colours of the 70’s, bell bottoms, jumpers, hot pants, $ was more scarce but we seemed to dress very classy-not many sweat pants back then.
All of your designs are beautiful, if I must pick one it is the crop top with bell bottoms. I always liked that look. Thank you for this opportunity.
I was not born in the 70s but I like bell bottom pants and the long flowing skirts.
Groovy, man!
I love the abstract fabric prints, the beads,and the bell bottoms!
I love bell bottoms, and the funky patterns.
I loved the bell bottoms.
I love the bell bottoms with a wild floral print tom. Ah! To be back in the 70’s.
Since I was a teenager in the fifties I was a little old for the trendy stuff in the seventies! But I did have a hot pink mini dress that I loved! I would enjoy adding Julie to my collection!
I like the peasant tops the best.
I love the colors of the 70’s
I guess hippie styles as it reminds me of my college days.
I admit, I enjoyed the 70’s. I truly am glad there were no cell phones to prove that time.
I loved the bell bottom pants and adding a piece to the bottom of pants to make them wider.
I was a teenager in the 70’s. Julie and the fashion of the 70’s hold a special place in my heart.
Hip huggers, bell bottoms, Midi, mini or Maxi skirts, and crop tops.
I like the hip hugger bell bottoms.
Love the bellbottom jeans and crop top. Such a cool 70’s fashion!
I graduated high school and college in the 70’s and I remember all the funky fashions we wore. My favorite was the long maxi skirts and Gunne Sax long dresses with all the pretty lace and voile fabric. So feminine. I remember celebrating the Bi-Centennial in 1976 with a patriotic party and we made 1776 style costumes to wear. So much fun. Kept all the costumes and my kids wore them years later for Halloween. Julie would look so cute in a Bi-Centennial costume.
I would like to see some seventy clothes come back in style. The long skirts is an escape from nylons.
I was in high school in the 70’s and loved my bell bottom jeans. These patterns bring back so many memories.
I like the big bell bottoms and platform shoes so my pants weren’t dragging.
Just love the outfits and the doll. I graduated high school in 1972 and undergrad 1976! My post grad school, the Jaguar is their mascot! Thank you for the hacks! xoxoxo
Hip hugging bell bottoms, crop tops, crocheted vests.
I remember the 70’s styles very well. I loved the bell bottoms and hip huggers. I’m so glad to see them showcased.
I was a “70s” teen and these styles make me feel nostalgic!
I have always loved bell bottoms and maxi skirts but was too short to look good wearing them.
I loved the peasant blouses and the bell bottom jeans. Your patterns are the best and great color combos.
I love 70s colors! Avocado green, orange, brown and yellow! Sign me up! I also love platform sandals and tie dye of course :)
Deborah
April 07, 2020
I taught myself to sew and knit in late sixties! So many great memories and I would love to make them for my grand daughter, Liara’s, doll. Thanks for all the remembering, especially my first mini skirt and bell bottoms, that I made. They were rather poorly constructed, unfortunately, but I loved them! Ta, Deb.