Stylebook Double Breasted Suit

Posted on December 6, 2021 by Deborah Cooke

Stylebook of Doll's Dress for Barbie by Katie Mitsubachi

Double Breasted Suit for Barbie from Kate Mitsubachi's book Dress Style

Time for an update on my sewing for Barbie. You might remember that I was planning to make the Soirée ballgown from this Japanese pattern book, Stylebook of Dolls Dress by Kate Mitsubachi, but I got distracted by the Double Breasted Suit instead. That started a little adventure that led me down a rabbit hole.

First, the suit pattern. Here’s the image from the book at right. It’s very cute.

The patterns in this book are written in Japanese, but there are illustrations for the assembly. You can see in the pattern layout below that the dark grey fabric is the main fabric – that’s the skirt, placed on the fold, the jacket cut twice, the sleeve cut twice, and the bias panel to line the skirt which only needs to be cut once – the stripe is the lining and the light grey fabric is the white used for the hat.

For this one, they’d forgotten to include the collar on the layout for the main fabric, but that was easily remedied.

I was less happy that the jacket is supposed to be unlined. I made one version as instructed, but didn’t finish it. I then cut another suit with a lining.

It was a bit tricky to line the skirt, given the construction order. In the end, I changed it. I cut a skirt lining the same as the main fabric piece, sewed the hem, the center back seam (which I made narrower, to allow more overlap for the snap) and then the pleats. I lined the top of the skirt with the bias piece, then hand-sewed that piece over the lower part of the skirt.

For the jacket, I needed a lining pattern piece. I traced the main jacket pattern and laid the back neck facing over it, tracing it. I then folded back the pattern on the front foldline and traced the self-facing of the fronts. Then I had to mark the seam line, and add a seam allowance on the other side before cutting the lining pieces. I also decided to cut the back collar facing in the main fabric, just as you would do with a bigger jacket, instead of in lining as instructed.

This also changed the construction order. I sewed the darts in both lining and jacket, then the center back seam in the fabric. I sewed only part of the CB seam in the lining, so I’d have a way to turn the jacket. I inset the sleeves in both lining and jacket (I basted these by hand first), then sewed the sleeve hems. Finally, I sewed all around the outsides and turned the jacket. When it was pressed and seamed, I added snaps to the jacket front and skirt back. The pattern suggests seed beads as mock buttons, but I had teensy Barbie buttons in black, so I sewed ten of them up the front.

So, here we are with the finished suit:

Double Breasted suit for Barbie designed by Kate Mitsubachi and made by Deborah Cooke

It’s important to press as you go with Barbie’s clothes as the garment keeps getting smaller and it becomes harder to get to the seam allowances. I made myself a little helper, not unlike a pressing ham, but rolling some cotton flannel into a tight tube, a little more than an inch across. I can get that into the waistband of any garment to press it. Sleeves require a skinnier tube, so I rolled more flannel around a dowel. These two funny little rolls are now part of my Barbie dressmaking toolkit.

What leads me astray with Barbie outfits are the accessories, because Barbie doesn’t just throw something on. She pulls it all together. It took me a while to finish the hat for this outfit, not because it was hard but because it was tiny and had to be handsewn. My pillbox hat doesn’t have quite as crisp of an edge, so I’ll have to figure out how to fix that next time. It’s possible I tugged the thread a bit and gathered it slightly.

I became a big fan of Avery mailing labels while making this outfit. They’re a really useful way to temporarily mark the finished size of any element – you cut a template out of the mailing label and stick it on the fabric. I did that with the crown of the hat, which allowed me to sew the band in place with more accuracy.

For the accent on this hat, after much deliberation, I went with a contrast bow like the one suggested in the pattern. There’s more inspiration on this website, though. (Actually, the whole site is pretty amazing as a fashion reference.)

Can this suit be worn without a string of pearls? I thought not. I used the tiniest jelly elastic I could find (it was at Fabricland and is .5mm wide) along with some seed “pearls” from the bridal department at Len’s Mills. I played around with different lengths and also pendants. This one has a black bead rose. I’d love to have a string of pearls that was shorter, but there are limits to how much the jelly will stretch to go over her head. (And clasps are another rabbit hole. I did find this teeny one.) The jelly has a square knot at the back, which has been reinforced with a dab of glue. There will be more on necklaces in next week’s post. They’re like potato chips – it’s hard to have just one.

Of course, she needs a purse. There’s a clutch bag on the McCalls 7550 pattern which reminds me of the classic dimpled gold clutch from days of yore. (I still have one.) It’s really easy to make and just requires a bead as a clasp. I made this one out of a red faux-leather which is very thin. I ordered a piece of it from I Sew For Doll and am using it sparingly. The clasp is a black bead in this case.

Finally, she needed gloves – which are actually mittens even though we always call them gloves. (Why do we do that??) I’m getting better at making these, although they’re still not perfect. Again, the mailing labels help. I traced the finished glove dimensions on a label, and cut it out as a template. I then hemmed a square of the fabric for the gloves so the wrist edge was finished, folded it, stuck the label on the fold and sewed around it. I trimmed it to the glove shape after sewing, not before. They’re tricky to turn as they’re so small, but a little crochet hook helps. These are made from a stretch knit with a shiny coating that looks like patent leather. It’s a very thin fabric. I got it at Fabricland in several colours, including metallics, specifically for gloves. Next time, I’ll try a second row of stitching parallel to the first. It might keep her from poking her finger out between the thumb and fingers of the mitten.

Barbie is modelling this suit on the construction site for my new diorama of a shop. I’ll talk more about that process another day.

What do you think of outfit #1 in my Kate & Me challenge? (The problem with sewing for Barbie and having multiple dolls is that now they all want a new suit.)

Miniature Room Kits

Posted on November 29, 2021 by Deborah Cooke

Earlier this month, I discovered these room kits to create scale models. I thought this study were so cute that I ordered one – and then, you know, another (but we’ll get to that).

Harper's Library 1:24 scale miniature room kit — Miniature Bookstore or Sam’s Study or Harper’s Library

These are scratch-build kits, which means you get a box of materials and have to build everything yourself. I thought I might learn some tips and tricks for building my 1:6 scale dioramas. This first kit comes with an LED light – that chandelier lights up when it’s done. It’s a bookstore but I’ll make mine a study by leaving off the SALE sign and the genre signs.

I bought the kit from Minihooo – that’s a link to their website, which has prices in US dollars. My order had free shipping and was dispatched from China. But then, I was at a hobby store with the mister the following week here in Ontario and they had the kits on display – except they were from Robotime or Rolife. The kits looked the same, just the company name changed.

I came home and did some searching online, and discovered the kits are stocked by Mary Maxim here in Canada, with prices in CA$. I bought Jason’s Kitchen from them.

Jason's Kitchen 1:24 miniature kit — Jason’s Kitchen

My first one is called Miniature Bookstore at Minihooo, but online you can find it labelled as Sam’s Study or Harper’s Library. (Yes, the Rolife kit has – or has had – two different names.) There are a lot of people building these kits and documenting the process on YouTube – I feel as if I’ve discovered another dimension of the universe, one that I never realized was there.

While searching all of this, I saw this apartment model and wanted that kit, too. (It was the pool that sealed the deal.)

Miniature Luxury Apartment 1:24 scale dollhouse model kit

I first saw it in MInihooo for $105US (It’s now $135US there. On Black Friday, it was $79.This is a moving target!) but had a look around at other options. There were six different listings on Amazon.ca for the same kit, ranging from $64 to $98 CA, some with free shipping and others not. The company names were all different, including Rolife, Robotime, Wadile and CuteBee. I bought the one from Cute-Eyfud which is fulfilled by Amazon. It appears that they are identical kits, but some may have only Chinese instructions. (There’s one on Amazon.ca with a lot of negative reviews about the Chinese instructions.) If you’re tempted by these kits, be sure the one you choose specifies that it has English instructions. There’s a similar variety of kits on Walmart.ca, at least half a dozen for each style, all listed as being from different manufacturers and supplied by different vendors. The kit is often (but not always) called Time Apartment.

I suspect they’re different distributors for the same kits and that the kits are assembled by the same company. The price variations could be because of the marketing – Minihooo, for example, has a pretty website and sells directly from it; Cutebee seems to have only a storefront on AliExpress. There appear to be slight variations in terms of what comes with the kit, especially glue and paint. There are differences about included dust covers, too – I’ll guess that these kits came with dust covers once but no longer do, so some people get them and some don’t, depending on when that particular kit was made. It might also be that the kits have variations in the additional stuff when ordered in Asia rather than elsewhere.

Amazon being Amazon, the kit I ordered last was the one that I received first. Of course, it came overnight even though I don’t have Prime. The other two came the same day, two weeks later.

The box for Time Apartment is like a little briefcase, with a cute carrying handle. The brand on the box is Cute Room. All the other text is in Chinese.

The other two both say they’re Rolife kits and that they’re made by Robotime. My bookstore is called Sam’s Study.

Let’s look at what’s inside.

The only kit that had paint and glue included was the kitchen that came from Mary Maxim. The study says it has paint included but it’s not there. The apartment says you need to get your own glue. I suspect this is due to how they were shipped – if coming by air, the kits couldn’t include any liquid. The kit from Mary Maxim must have come by boat. The Time Apartment kit also has that mothball smell I associated with dollar stores and Chinatown. It has a music box, too, which is a bit of a surprise. They all have lights and wiring with the box for the batteries but no batteries included, which is fair enough.

Inside, there’s an inventory of parts in each kit.

The Time Apartment has a list with measurements and diagrams, but they’re not in scale to each other. I needed to use a ruler when checking the parts. The Rolife kits have printed sheets with each part displayed to size in colour. That made it easy to check them – you just slide the piece along until you find the match. The Rolife kits didn’t inventory all the beads and bits, though, while the Time Apartment did. Out of the three kits, I’m missing one little piece of wood for the ladder in the library, but I can easily make a replacement.

They all have little sayings on the boxes which maybe didn’t translate very well. Under the carrying handle for the Time Apartment is printed “Love Handmade & Enjoyed Life”. The sleeve for Jason’s Kitchen says “Eating in such a nice kitchen alone, you may not feel lonely.” And the sleeve for Sam’s Study says “Pick up a book and taste a sense of isolation. I seem to touch my soul at this very moment.” Hmm.

How small is 1:24? Well, the scale means that 1 inch in the model is 24″ in real life. That means that Mr. Math, who is 6 feet tall, would be 3″ tall in this scale. It’s pretty teeny. And one of the first things I noticed was that these kits aren’t in the same scale, even though they’re all listed as being 1:24. Only the Time Apartment is in that scale. I think the Rolife kits are 1:12. (Mr. Math would be 6″ tall in this scale.)

Look at the books:

You make the books the same way, by folding the pages like an accordian and pasting them into the covers. Of course, books can be different sizes, from paperbacks to coffee table books, but the Time Apartment books are 3/8″ high. (And the back covers are the mirror image of the front covers!)

That means they’re 9″ high in scale. The Rolife books are 3/4″ to 7/8″ high – in 1:24, they’d be 18 to 20″ high, which is big even for a coffee table book. In 1:12, they’d be 9 to 10″ high, which makes more sense.

The kitchen counters don’t provide a clear comparison – the Time Apartment seems to have a long counter and a small sink (that’s the marble paper covering on it), while the Rolife kitchen (orange) has a small counter and a big sink. But look at the cutting boards, and the cooking utensils. And those laser-cut clothespins!

And finally, the armchair – this is just the template, but I’ve put it beside the Time Apartment’s half-flight of stairs and kitchen table parts. That would be one big armchair in 1:24! Assembled with the legs on it, it would be as tall as one floor of the apartment.

Of course, the scale matters less between models than that everything within the model is in the same scale. If you wanted to add something, you’d need to keep the scale in mind. Also, because the items in the Rolife kits are a little bigger, the models will be easier to assemble – and there will be a teensy bit more wiggle room for fitting and matching. A smaller scale is pretty merciless, as I’m learning.

I’d started on the Time Apartment while waiting for the other two kits, since I’m making it pretty much as instructed. I’m using carpenter’s glue for the wood and white glue for the paper. I have some E-6000 for the metal, plastic and beads. I also have an X-acto knife and am going through a lot of toothpicks with the glue. I’m making good progress and will show you when it’s done.

It’ll take a bit of time, which is good as I have to think about the Rolife kits. There’s a lot of orange wood in those kits, which means I’ll probably be painting many of the pieces before assembling them. These are fantasy rooms, after all, and I have no fantasies that include orange furniture.

Two Doll Dresses

Posted on August 11, 2021 by Deborah Cooke

It’s been quiet here for a couple of weeks, partly because I’ve been pushing to finish a book and partly because I have a lot of projects on the go. I’ve had new project disease this summer, both in my writing and my crafting, but finally some things are getting finished up.

Today, I have two doll dresses to share with you. I like to sew and knit for dolls and Astro-Jen is a fellow enthusiast. She has different dolls than I do, though, so I picked up these two at the thrift store to check the fit of things. One is an EverAfterHigh doll – Briar Rose – and one is a Monster High doll – Clawdeen. They were both naked with tangled hair when they came home with me, but otherwise in good shape. I cleaned them up and untangled their hair, then bought them some shoes online. They’ve been sitting naked (except for their shoes) on my bookshelf for a while, and when I found this pattern, I knew it was time to do something about that.

Yet Another Monster High Dress knit by Deborah Cooke

I don’t know much about the body molds for these dolls, but many patterns suggest that they are the same. MIne aren’t. My MH doll is longer and thinner. The issue may be year of manufacturer: like all Mattel dolls, these have a copyright date on their back waists for the body mold. The EAH doll is 2012 and the MH doll is 2009.

And here’s a better look at those new dresses:

The pattern I used is Yet Another Monster High Dress by Samira Jessica. It’s a free download at Ravelry (that’s a Ravelry link) and an irresistibly cute pattern as well as an easy knit. The first one (turquoise) is knit of Koigu KPPPM without a contrast colour. I used Sugar Bush Drizzle for the underskirt, and just picked up the stitches at the waist to knit it in. Drizzle is a lot like KSH – it has the same content but I think the colours are cleaner. I like the muted and sometimes smoky colours of KSH for myself but for dolls, the bolder hues work well. I added a line of eyelets before the hem for a ribbon, then KFB again to create a ruffle at the hem. Because of the fullness of the underskirt, I had to undo the garter stitch hem of the main dress and add a similar ruffle to that hem.

My Ravelry project page with more details is here.

The purple one is knit of Shibui Knits Sock with contrast in Lichen and Lace 80/20 sock. For this one, I worked back and forth at the neck until the arms were cast off, leaving a back slit, then joined in the round and continued. I knit the body a little longer than the first one, added two rows of contrast garter stitch at the hem and ruffled the hem, too. Because this dress is a bit longer, I didn’t knit an underskirt. I added a button at the back neck, which is a bit big but exactly the right colour, and made a loop to close it.

Now they can sit on my shelf in their dresses and boots.

Two Japanese Sewing Books for Barbie

Posted on July 16, 2021 by Deborah Cooke

I love Japanese sewing books so was pretty excited to find these two for vintage Barbie dolls.

The first one is called Stylebook of Doll’s Dress by Kate Mitsubachi. The second is Barbie Mode: Dresses for Classic Barbie Dolls, also by Kate Mitsubachi.

Barbie Mode: Dresses for Classic Barbie Dolls by Kate Mitsubachi

These books are both out of print and unavailable new. There are some vendors selling PDF scans of them on Etsy, but this made me uneasy – as a writer myself, I know that “unavailable new” isn’t the same as “in the public domain”. They’re probably still copyrighted material, and since I intend to use the patterns, I hunted down used copies of both books. They weren’t cheap, but they are beautiful. Most of the text is in Japanese, except for titles.

First there are photographs of the garments, as you’d expect. The next section is one I particularly like – it identifies the model of doll wearing each garment, and one book includes a picture of that doll as originally sold.

double page spread from Kate Mitsubachi book

Then there are the patterns and instructions, again, all in Japanese. It’s a bit of a drag to be unable to read the specified notions or recommended fabric, but the illustrations are pretty easy to follow if you know how to sew. (It’s interesting that one book has the seam allowances included on the pattern pieces and one doesn’t.)

My plan here is to do a Julie & Julia thing and make all of the garments in both books. Here’s my first candidate:

Soirée and Cape from Stylebook of Doll's Dress for Barbie by Katie Mitsubachi

I’ll keep you posted on my progress!

A Knit Messenger Bag for Barbie

Posted on July 7, 2021 by Deborah Cooke

This pattern is from the website of free knitting patterns for Barbie called Sticka till Barbie that I mentioned before. Here’s the designer page on Ravelry.

This purse is A-1 (the first pattern under Accessories/Accessoarer) which is orange on the pattern. It’s a clever little pattern, mostly knit in stockinette with the bag seams in reverse stockinette and the flap in garter stitch. Instead of crocheting the shoulder strap as specified, I knit mine. I used sock yarn—the purple one is that Mad Tosh Twist Light that I used for the Timely Twin Set (still more left! LOL) and the red is some Diamond Yarn sock yarn. Here they are:

messsenger bags knit for Barbie by Deborah Cooke

Size-wise, it’s more of a messenger bag than a purse, but I like the results a lot. The purple one is for my EverAfter Briar Rose doll, so it got a rose button for a clasp.

DIY Barbie Carrying Case

Posted on July 5, 2021 by Deborah Cooke

Thanks to Astro-Jen, I’ve rediscovered my Barbie dolls and how much I like crafting for them. I’ve also added a few new dolls to my collection, including the 1993 Reproduction that I’ve been using as a model, and two Silkstone lingerie Barbies. They’re glamorous girls.

The increase in Barbie “stuff” – clothes and dolls – had me looking for better Barbie storage. I really like the Silkstone Signature Carrying Case, but it’s discontinued now and the NIB ones I found on eBay were at least $300US plus shipping to Canada. (Here it is on the Mattel site.) I needed a more economical solution, which meant it was time to get creative.

I had bought two boxes at Michaels to store my girls, but the dolls were just stacked inside. They’re decorative storage boxes made by Ashland and I’m quite sure I bought them when they were BOGO because I have two exactly the same. They have a handle on each side, a clasp on the lid and are really pretty. They’re the larger ones, roughly 11 by 14 inches and 6 inches deep. I turned one on its side and Eureka! It’s a carrying case!

materials for DIY Barbie wardrobe by Deborah Cooke

First, I removed the handle from the left side, which made the other one a carrying handle and gave the box a vertical instead of horizontal orientation. I then cut the existing ribbon that kept the box from opening more than 90 degrees and began to build interior partitions. There’s room for 3 dolls on the inside of the lid, and I borrowed the idea from that Mattel case of having ribbons to hold them in place. That meant I needed a liner.

Several years ago, I took a bookmaking course, which was fascinating, and I still have some of the supplies. I used the Binder’s Board for this project. This is really really thick acid-free cardboard. I bought a package like this at Curry’s back in the day. It’s been waiting for this project, evidently. I cut one piece to the width of the lid interior and a little more than the height of the dolls (12″) with a flap the depth of the lid. I scored that line and folded it, then cut two squares to go above the “shelf” and hold it in place. Then I cut three pairs of slits (2 cm apart) for the ribbons.

lid liner for DIY Barbie wardrobe made by Deborah Cooke

DIY Wardrobe for Barbie made by Deborah Cooke

This shelf ultimately was a fail, because it was too deep. I hadn’t accommodated the thickness of everything together and ended up cutting it out, which made a mess of my panel. I also didn’t realize at the time that Silkstone Barbie was 1 cm taller, so the ribbon was too low for her. (That’s why she looks a bit drunk.) The ribbons could have been a bit longer, too.

I took it apart and redid the back panel to fit the entire back, and just hold the three dolls. I ran out of the paper, so used a different one instead. You can see the finished liner on the right. (She still looks a bit drunk, but has no excuse in terms of the ribbon.)

The ribbons were pushed through the slits before I glued that backing in place – I was going to knot them but it was a snug fit. I put a dab of extra glue on them in the back just to make sure they didn’t move.

For the other side of the wardrobe, I created a box the width of the box interior. Again, I scored and folded it – I needed the sides to install the clothing rod. The clothing rods are bamboo skewers, coloured black with a Sharpie marker, and fed through bamboo beads that act as escutcheons. The side panel is notched out, then another side panel sandwiches the end of the rod on each side. I positioned the “closet” so that there was just over 2″ at the bottom and – like the other side, created braces for the shelf at the top. After taking the “before” picture, I decided to split the closet to make it more stable, and add a second clothing rod on the right side.

Here it is wallpapered and with drawers:

closet side of DIY wardrobe for Barbie made by Deborah Cooke

In the left image, you can see one of the challenges of using these paper boxes – this one isn’t square. (Paper isn’t the most dimensionally-stable material.) It’s narrower at the back of the closet than closer to the opening. So, fitting the board for the back of the closet to the box meant that the shelves bent outward. In the end, I taped it square before covering it, and lived with the small gap that developed around the perimeter. The pattern on the paper disguises a lot! I also didn’t need braces at the top to keep the shelf in place – it was very snugly tucked in there.

I made my first drawer out of the kind of cardboard that is on the back of writing pads, folding it as shown below. Because I decided to use brads for the knobs, I cut an additional panel for the back of each drawer front so the ends of the brads wouldn’t snag anything. Here’s my first attempt at a drawer and the component materials. (That’s the drawer at the top right.)

First attempt at drawers for DIY Barbie wardrobe made by Deborah Cooke

I thought this drawer was too flimsy, so I made two new ones out of the Binder’s Board. I couldn’t fold those, because of the width of the material, so I cut the six sides and taped it all together, then covered each drawer with decorative paper. They’re lined, too.

The blue floral print is decorative paper from the Rifle Paper Company, which I bought online at The Paper Place. (Because of the postage cost, this is my big expenditure on this project. All the other supplies came out of my stash.) For surfaces that I expected to see a lot of wear, I covered the paper with clear Contact vinyl with a matte finish – it’s pretty much invisible but will make the surface more durable. I used it behind the dolls and on the drawers. I used a bookbinder’s glue because I had it – it’s acid-free – but white glue would work, too. If I hadn’t messed up one drawer and the back panel on the front, I would have had enough paper to do it all the same. As it was, I chose to add a second print from my bookmaking stash rather than order more paper.

The finished inside looks like this:

The shoe boxes are from a PDF download that I bought on Etsy – you print them out on card stock, then fold them and glue the flaps. I applied a clear gloss Avery label on the lids of the black ones, too. This is the PDF I bought.

I put felt pads on the bottom of the box for feet, as well. In this shot, you can see the two metal rivets from the second handle. I couldn’t get them out, but they’re shorter than the felt pads so all is good. I put felt pads on the lid, too, so the wardrobe isn’t tippity when it’s open.

The front of the box had an Eiffel Tower which ends up sideways with this orientation, so I covered it over with decorative paper, also covered with Contact vinyl with a matte finish. I added some gold tape on the edges all around. I made a label on Canva, a free online graphics utility, printed it out on parchment paper and edged it in gold, too. The sides of the box still have sideways images, but I can’t repaper them without removing the corners and clasp, which I don’t want to do. I’m going to live with that.

Here’s the front, with my label – and some teeny tiny stickers from the dollar store that look like rivets. (Ha.)

This wasn’t a very expensive project, but it did take some time. You could, of course, make one for a doll of different size, changing your choice of box and the size of the inserts, and design a different interior to accommodate your collection. If I did another one, I’d look for a patterned Contact vinyl and save the step of putting the film on the paper. I’m thinking of making one for my EverAfter doll out of a decorative box that looks like a book. Since it has a flat lid, I’d make a section for the doll then a wardrobe beside her.

What do you think?

Barbie Measurements Over Time

Posted on June 28, 2021 by Deborah Cooke

Last time, we started to talk about Barbie’s evolving dimensions. If you’re going to sew for Barbie, and you’re going to make something fitted, you need to know which Barbie will be wearing the finished garment.

Barbie body styles, photographed by Deborah Cooke

Fortunately for we Barbie dressmakers, each doll has the date of her body mold stamped on her bum. It’s interesting that this can get so mixy-mixy with face sculpts – the middle doll, for example, is a thrift store find who has a Bob Mackie face sculpt. (I’ve yet to fix her hair.) Mattel started making the Bob Mackie faces in the 1990s but she has a 1966 TNT body, by the date on her bum. The Black Label Basic Barbie from 2009 on the far right has a 2003 Model Muse body. The one in between has a 1999 Bellybutton body, but is a much later doll. (Notice also how the hand poses and sculpts change over time. There are lots of variations in this.)

Like good dressmakers everywhere, I got out my measuring tape and made a chart. I don’t have all the dolls to measure, but here are the five above. The measurements are in centimeters:

Measurement	Vintage	Silkstone	TNT	Bellybutton	Model Muse
Intro Date	1958	2000	1966	1999	2003
Bust	14	13	14	12.5	12
Waist	8	7	8	9	7.5
Hip	12	12	12	13.5	11
Back Waist	6	6	6	6	6
Inseam	13	14	13	13.5	13.5
Height	29.5	30.5	29.5	30	30

It’s easy to see why a dress or suit drafted for Bellybutton wouldn’t fit vintage, especially in the bust.

The other thing that changes over time is Barbie’s foot size. I’ve bought mixed bundles of new shoes on eBay and there are always some in the package that don’t fit vintage Barbie. There are fairy boots in the mix, for example, with teeny tiny feet. There are also styles that look like they should fit but don’t, like this one:

I’ve left this image big so you can see. The turquoise shoe on the left is from one of those packages of mixed shoes. The one on the right is a Silkstone Barbie shoe. Not only is the quality of the casting and finishing better, but the dimensions are different: the turquoise one is narrower at the ankle. Vintage, Silkstone, TNT, Bellybutton and Model Muse can wear the shoe on the right. Of the five, only Bellybutton can wear the one on the left. She doesn’t have as high of an arch so her foot is narrower below the ankle.

Here’s another Silkstone shoe compared with a budget version:

The black shoe on the right is a Silkstone shoe. The pink one on the left is from a pack of mixed shoes. Again, you can see that the quality of the mold and finishing is better on the black shoe, but also the heel is higher. For Silkstone, these shoes have left and right as well, with a buckle molded into the slingback strap – you can see it on the back side – while the budget version doesn’t have that detail. These shoes both fit all five dolls, but I always think they look like the toes are too long. Of course, I’ve had shoes with elongated toes like that myself, so it’s a style thing.

So, what’s a dressmaker to do? My first plan is to buy only patterns that are modelled on the kind of doll who will wear the finished garment. More about some of those patterns for vintage Barbie next time.

A Question of Fit

Posted on June 25, 2021 by Deborah Cooke

I often have fitting adventures when I sew for myself, but I never expected to have so many fitting challenges for Barbie. Among my recent fails has been this top for Barbie. It’s a cute pattern and very cleverly designed, but it was my first big lesson about fit for my 1/6 scale friend.

This is another free pattern from the Sticka til Barbie website: a sleeveless top with some great bias shaping detail. It’s pattern 174 (that’s a Ravelry link) which also includes a trumpet skirt.

Knit Top 174 from Sticka til Barbie website, knit by Deborah Cooke

This little top is knit flat and seamed up the centre back. I knit the first one (reddish) in MadTosh Merino Light and it was very snug on my vintage Barbie. VERY snug. It was tough to get on her at all. Hmm. What was wrong? I used up one stitch for the seam, but that didn’t seem excessive.

My friend Terri is a tailor and we talk about fit a lot. One of the things she considers when fitting women is shape, and the location of curves. She talks about drawing an imaginary line down center front and another down center back, then one down each side seam. This divides the bodice into four quadrants—but they probably aren’t the same size. One woman with a 40″ bust could be buxom with a narrow back, so maybe each front “quadrant” is 13″ wide and each back one is only 7″ wide. Another could have a broad back while yet another could be asymmetical. Knowing where your curves are means that you can adapt the pattern to fit. So, this little top isn’t taking that into account at all. Vintage Barbie is very buxom, yet this top divides into four equal quarters. It has no back or front. Of course, it will be snug for Barbie.

With this in mind, I knit a second (green) top in Malabrigo Sock, joining it to knit in the round – which gave me one more stitch because there wasn’t a seam – and added two stitches to the front, one on each side. This one is still snug – in fact, it’s not a lot bigger than the first one because the Malabrigo Sock is a thinner yarn. Hmm.

I switched to larger needles for the next one and a thicker sock yarn. This is the bright red one. I also added one repeat to the length. It came out bigger, longer and thicker. It’s a better fit for vintage Barbie. I’m not so fond of how thick it is, though.

The curious thing is that in the pattern picture, the top looks loose in the bust. What’s different? The doll modelling the top is not a vintage Barbie.

Similarly, I had issues with the sundress from McCalls 7550 being too snug in the bust for my vintage Barbie. After writing that blog post, I made the suit (shown in shades of taupe on the pattern envelope) in some scraps of silk dupioni. The jacket was snug but fit all right as long as she had nothing underneath. (Not perhaps the best look for semi-formal wear.) The dress was so tight that it was ridiculous, and the jacket wouldn’t go over it at all. That one went into the trash.

Once again, the doll modelling the clothes is not a vintage Barbie and that’s the key.

There is a difference in measurements between vintage Barbie and newer Barbie, as shown on this free download of slopers for Barbie. (This blog post includes instructions on drafting patterns from the sloper. Look in the sidebar of the website for Downloads, then you want BarbieBasicPatternSet.pdf) There are two styles accommodated here: vintage Barbie and what she refers to as the newer Barbie body style from the early 2000’s.

There are, though, a lot more variations than that. I have a number of Barbies, some having been my dolls and some from the thrift store, and when I line five of them up, it’s easy to see the changes in body style and dimensions. Have a look at them naked:

From the left – vintage repro Barbie, Silkstone Barbie, Twist-and-Turn Barbie, Bellybutton Barbie and Model Muse Barbie. The bust size changes between these three body types, as does the height – and the dimensions of the foot. It looks like the curves of the original Barbie were made less dramatic, beginning with the Bellybutton Barbie – vintage and TNT are very similar in shape, but Bellybutton has a smaller and higher bust as well as a thicker waist. Then the vintage shape made a comeback with Silkstone and other collectibles, with some changes. Silkstone is slimmer and taller than vintage, for example, with a higher bust. Model Muse is another thing altogether, the slimmest of all of these and also taller than vintage, TNT and Bellybutton. This doesn’t consider other 11.5″ dolls from other manufacturers and their dimensions or the current body styles. Given the scale, it’s pretty easy to see that something that fits one of these dolls might not fit the others. Model Muse can wear the two tops at the top of this post – in fact, they’re a bit baggy on her.

Of the slopers posted in the link above, “old style” will fit vintage and TNT. “New Style” will fit Bellybutton. That body type was used on a lot of dolls, including My Scene dolls (which have bigger heads), and can be easily identified by the cross-hatch “panties” – and the bellybutton, of course. Silkstone can wear “old style” but it will be loose around the middle. I haven’t figured out Model Muse with her tilty hips.

This means that Barbie is that most annoying of dressmaking clients—the woman whose measurements change over time. (Even her height and shoe size changes.) Just as with any other dressmaking, I need to know my client’s measurements to get the best fit.

We’ll talk more about that next time.

1/6 Scale Market Bags

Posted on June 21, 2021 by Deborah Cooke

After trying the purses for Barbie from that McCalls pattern, I was inspired to try some market bags. I watched a couple of YouTube videos which were for 1/12 scale minis then fiddled around on my own. Here are the first results:

1?6 scale market bags designed and created by Deborah Cooke

These bags are about 2″ high, 3.5″ with the handles. They’re lined and the handles are leather cording. They have little charm fleur-de-lis clasps and elastic loops to keep them closed as well as beads for feet. The one at the far left has a jewelry charm for a clasp instead. The one on the far right was the first one, and it’s a bit narrower than it should be. I widened my template for the others.

The brown fabric is a silk linen blend suiting that I bought in Paris in the 1980’s. I made myself a suit from it – long gone! – and these are remnants. The black fabric is quilting cotton. The bags are lined with French shirting fabric (that bit of red stripe), Liberty Tana Lawn (the other two brown bags) or silk/cotton voile. The roses on the bags are paper roses (are you singing along with Marie Osmond?) and the bouquet is a cluster of ribbon roses that I wrapped in tissue, like they just came from the florist.

The box is a desk organizer from the dollar store with a nicer paper glued in for backing. It’s 6 x 9″ and is the foundation of a display case for the store diorama that I’m creating for Barbie and her friends. Yup, another rabbit hole has opened wide…

McCalls 7550

Posted on June 15, 2021 by Deborah Cooke

McCalls 7550 is a mini-wardrobe of vintage styles for 11.5″ fashion dolls like Barbie. It’s a current pattern, and I’ve linked it to the Simply Delightful website for Vogue, Butterick and McCalls patterns. You can buy it in hard copy or as a digital download, either there or from a local fabric store. I have a hard copy.

I liked the vintage look of these garments for Barbie and made the sundress shown in blue and white on the pattern envelope. It’s a halter back dress with a full circle skirt and is Dress E.

Here are the pattern line drawings:

I made this first in a green quilting cotton but wasn’t as happy with the result as would have been ideal. Piecing that bodice is fiddly and it’s a challenge to get those seams to lie flat on the front. My corners didn’t turn as nice crisp points even though I trimmed the seam allowances. And the bodice is tight on my vintage Barbie. I think there are three reasons for this: first, the doll photographed is a newer and less curvy model; and secondly, the fabric is probably thicker than would be best, and thirdly, I didn’t follow the directions closely for the back.

Here’s Babs showing off that version:

McCalls 7550 view E sewn by Deborah Cooke

The front looks good, but see at right how the back gaps open. (And yes, I sewed on little contrasting buttons.)

Even on this version, I did make some changes. First, I sewed lace on the hem on the tulle underskirt. Secondly, the bodice is lined, but after piecing it, you’re instructed to sew around the raw edges of the center back and waistline – when you join the skirt, there will be a raw edge inside the garment. I couldn’t see the point of having a lining if that was the case, so I tucked the raw edges in between the bodice and the facing. I had done the same for the center back, but then didn’t have enough fabric for a good overlap for the snaps – that contributed to it being tight. Finally, I added a ribbon around the waist, sewing it into the center back seam on each side, then tying it at the front and tacking it down there so the bow can’t come undone.

I made the dress a second time, and read the directions for the back more closely this time. This version is better. This is another quilting cotton but it’s not as thick as the green print.

I forgot to tuck the ribbon ends into the center back seam (duh) so had to sew them by hand. This time, I only used one layer of tulle instead of two, but I put lace on the edge again. This one also got a ribbon rose and (again) contrasting buttons. 🙂 I made the same changes with putting raw edges inside the bodice and facing, but only used a 1/8″ seam allowance at the center back instead of 1/4″. This fit vintage Barbie much better and the opening below lies more smoothly. I think it should be finished more, though, so there’s a version three.

McCalls 7550 purses sewn by Deborah Cooke

I also tried both purses from this pattern in a shiny fake leather. I love the clutch – which is upside down in the picture! – and it was both quick and easy. The other purse is a bit floppy, plus I thought the strap was short and thick. The flap curls on that one, too, so maybe the fake leather needs to be doubled over or interfaced. Maybe the bag needs to be lined. Modifications are required!

For version three of the sundress, I applied fusible knit interfacing to the center back seam allowance for the skirt. This will ensure the edges can’t fray after the garment is done.

And here’s version three with the new purse!

My model is a Silkstone Barbie, new to me. She’s Lingerie #2 from 2000 and I bought her NIB on eBay. Her hair needs to be redone since the elastics have disintegrated over time and her lingerie is a bit yellowed. I’ll give it a handwash to see if that will clean it up. I hadn’t seen a Silkstone Barbie before and there are cool things about her – a little more detail in the sculpt and the material makes her heavier. Her knees don’t bend, though.

I was so busy trying to get her to hold her new purse that I didn’t realize she was doing a drunk-lean on the steps.

This quilting cotton is probably the thickest of them all and that made the flamingo dress a bit challenging. I’m tempted to try one in Liberty Tana Lawn just to see how much easier it would be in a thinner cotton, but I need a break from this dress.

Fiddly fiddly sewing for Barbie! I like the challenge, though, and I’ll show you some market bags that I created in 1/6 scale next.

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Category Archives: Miniatures & Dolls