I have another American Girl CraftĀ for you today. You may remember that the 2012 American Girl Doll of the Year was McKenna. McKenna was a gymnast. My oldest daughter, Snowflake, loves McKenna and had a McKenna themed party for her 11th birthday. I found some creative ideas for the favors for her party, including this idea of making a gymnastic ribbon for the dolls.
I’m going to show you how to make your own gymnastic ribbon for your doll. It is an easy and inexpensive craft that any American Girl Doll and/or gymnastic fan will love.Ā 
Supplies
- dowel rodcut into 3.25″ lengths
- Ribbon – You will need one 28″ length and one 21″ length of ribbon for each completed craft (You may need less than 21″ depending on the width of your ribbon.)
- Hair elastics(these are the same as I used. I found mine at Target)Ā – one per completed gymnastic ribbon
- Hot glue gun
cut into 3.25″ lengths
(these are the same as I used. I found mine at Target)Ā – one per completed gymnastic ribbonI got this cute idea from Sew Crafty Mommy and modified it a tiny bit.
Start with your 3.25″ dowel rod and the 28″ length of ribbon. Glue the ribbon using your hot glue gun. You will want to glue the top as well as both sides of the ribbon. You may find it helpful to glue the entire long side of the ribbon to the dowel rod, that way it won’t twist up or be awkward while you are gluing the other ribbon to the dowel rod.
Use your 21″ long ribbon and the hot glue gun. Start as close to the top of the dowel rod as you can get. Glue the ribbon. Continue winding the ribbon around the dowel rod and gluing it with the hot glue gun. At this point only wrap a few turns around the dowel rod.
After a few turns around the dowel rod, add your hair elastic onto the ribbon. Pull the elastic up to the dowel rod. Make sure to securely glue the ribbon on either side of the elastic. It will get pulled on quite a bit. You could also wind the ribbon around and secure it with two sections of the ribbon. I did mine with only one section of ribbon around the hair elastic and we haven’t had any problems with ours.
After adding your hair elastic, continue hot gluing the ribbon as you wind it down the dowel rod. Make sure to glue the end very securely and trim any excess ribbon.
Easy Peasy…gymnastic ribbon is complete! I made ours with a gymnastic hoop as well. We gave them as favors for our McKenna American Girl Birthday Party. They would look adorable in these American Girl Crafts – Bags Tags. The hoop and the ribbon both turned out so cute and my girls as well as the girls who came to the party really liked them.
. The hoop and the ribbon both turned out so cute and my girls as well as the girls who came to the party really liked them.
You can see how McKenna is able to hold the ribbon. This way she is holding it looks pretty realistic. You can also put the hair elastic around her wrist.
McKenna did a little routine for us with her hoop and her ribbon on the beam. She is such a great gymnast! Way to go McKenna!
More American Girl Doll Fun:
Super cute! Love the detailed picture. My daughter just got a look-a-like last week (but sold her Josefina) and we are getting busy with AG Crafts!
Thanks! Hope you and your daughter have a lot of fun with all your AG Crafts! Sounds like fun. I’m busy sewing for ours this week as well. Hope to get them all ready for back to school. š
Take care,
KC