About Us

My name is Traci Akierman. I am the designer behind KeLibu.

People often ask me how I came up with the name KeLibu (pronounced Kee Lee boo). It’s a mash-up of my daughter’s and son’s initials and their nicknames.

As a kid, my two sisters and I had a lot of dolls. My dad would make furniture for them and my mom sewed them clothes and bedding. When I was 8, she started giving me scraps from her stash and I would hand sew clothes for my Barbies and Cabbage Patch Kid. They were hideous but I thought they were great.

I gave up sewing when I was a teenager and didn’t pick it up again until I was in my late 20’s. I learned as much as I could from books and the internet about how to sew and properly finish seams. I wasn’t satisfied with how my clothes were turning out straight from the pattern, so I started trying to learn how to alter patterns and clothing for better fit. I started experimenting with making my own patterns.

Somewhere in the middle of my sewing journey, I became a mom.

When my daughter started playing with 18 inch dolls, I decided to start making her some clothing for them. I drafted up a few patterns and made a few things. Then I started looking around for patterns online and found that other designers were publishing doll clothes patterns and I decided to give it a try.

At first, I tried to stick with typical wardrobe items. Over time I realised that I could merge my love of costuming, cosplay and sci-fi/fantasy with pattern design. Then things started to really click for me.

I currently make clothing and patterns to fit American Girl® dolls, Our Generation® dolls, Maplelea Girl® dolls, Journey Girl® dolls, Kidz ‘N’ Cats®, Maru and Friends® dolls and A Girl for All Time® dolls.

Come play with me!