I’ve also been sewing Paris couture fashion for the girls. Today, we’ll talk about the first dress.

This is the downloadable pattern I bought on Etsy a few years ago. That vendor is gone, but this vendor has it. It might be the same scan. (?) Mine was the best pdf I’ve bought for the girls – the pattern is clear, and when I printed View A at 100% and sewed a muslin, it fit the girls well.

What’s really fun is that the instructions attribute the designs. View A, which is that turquoise one at the bottom left, is a “Balenciaga lace sheath. Original – cream colored lace over gold mousseline evening gown with fuschia silk sash, train and bow.” I had a look and found these two contenders for inspiration from Balenciaga’s collection in 1950:

The left one has the big bow but not the wrapped bodice, while the right one has the wrapped bodice but not the big bow. Neither appear to be cream lace over gold, so there must be a closer match out there. Aren’t they lovely, though?

Another interesting detail is that the evening gown on McCalls 3845 for Tyler Wentworth dolls appears to be inspired by the same Balenciaga dress. it’s hard to see but it has a wrapped bodice, as well as the bow and train.

This is the pattern, though, that is challenging to print at the right size though. (Remember the suit?) I’ll take on this one next, now that I’ve got the 11.5″ size right. (This also explains why the bodice on the Tyler dress was so low. The shorter dress is made without the chiffon wrap across the bust, and in the dress for Barbie, the fabric is cut low but the chiffon adds some modesty.)

I decided to try the lace overlay technique on the first one I made after the muslin test. The instructions specify that you should stitch down rows of narrow lace to create the lace layer. I had this piece of black that was about 2″ wide with a pattern that seemed to be in scale. I trimmed off the top edge to avoid having a heavy dark line and sewed down the scalloped edge onto a heavy pink satin. Black and pink is the classic Barbie palette. 🙂

The finished dress has a wow factor, for sure. The netting is a black one with sparkles (yes, I have sparkles everywhere now) and I narrow hemmed it with a scallop stitch. The bow is a very shiny pink and black metallic fabric. The dress is lined in black Bemberg.

The difficulty I had with this one came from the weight of that satin, which was really thick. It also shed, but overall, I’m pleased with the resulting dress.

I have two more versions of this cut out for B, then will try the variation for Tyler.