Hankie Couture is a book featuring dresses (and other outfits) made for Barbie (and other 11.5″ dolls) from vintage handkerchiefs. I’ve had this book for a few years now and finally found some hankies at the thrift store so I could experiment.

The image and the link above both go to the Amazon product page for the book. I have the paperback and (wow) it’s from 2011. I don’t think I’ve had it quite that long. Evidently there’s a new edition from 2019, too.

This book is very pretty, with LOTS of inspiration in the many many images of dolls styled with dresses etc. made from hankies. The disappointing thing is that it doesn’t have a ton of patterns, certainly not for all the outfits shown in the images. There are three bodices – a strapless bodice, a round-neck sleeveless bodice and a square-neck bodice with straps. All of these are attached to rectangular skirts. There’s a circle hat and a purse. All of these are pretty standard Barbie patterns – I have similar templates already in my stash. The one difference is that the strapless bodice pattern is way too big for Barbie. I used my repro vintage B as a model and usually modern patterns are too snug for her – she has the biggest bust of all Barbies – but I took half an inch out of the circumference of this pattern.

What did I make? Well, first I made the round neck dress from a hankie with a navy polka dot border.

Ha. This is fun. I photographed the outfits flat, the way Mattel used to sell outfits for B, then on the doll, too. Of course, I didn’t make the shoes but chose matchy ones from B’s shoe stash.

This hankie was a bit worn, so I used it first in case the dress didn’t come out well. I lined it with navy broadcloth, which makes it look a bit dull. It has a belt made of a narrow strip of the polka dots which is sewn on and has an in-scale buckle at the center front. I made a circle hat and a purse to go with it – the purse is lined and has ribbon handles – and think it came out pretty well.

Then I made a strapless dress from a turquoise hankie with big purple tulips on it. The hankie had a circular design, so I cut it following the curve and made a half-circle skirt. The pattern almost matched at the center back seam! Unfortunately, the hem on the hankie was too close for me to keep the entire white scalloped border – later I realized I could have unpicked the original hem to get more seam allowance. Oh well. – but I sewed the hem with a scalloped hemming stitch which I like.

This was the bodice that was too big – I was sewing on the snaps after doing all the finishing when I realized as much (grrr) so picked it all back and fixed it, adding a petticoat to the skirt at the same time since I had the waist taken apart. The petticoat is the striped part of hankie that I used to line the bodice with a bit of lace sewn on the hem. I still think the bodice is too long for her in the front, but will use another pattern in future.

I wanted to add a little bolero jacket but couldn’t find a pattern. There were two corners with a floral motif from the hankie after cutting the circular skirt, so I trimmed them into a curve and sewed them together for a shawl collar. I made up the rest of the jacket pattern and it came out reasonably well, considering that I’ve never done that before. I’ll tweak it before I make another. It needs a little more ease through the shoulders. There was nothing left for a purse, since the hankie had some stains, but she looks happy enough.

She also reminded me that she could wear this dress with her Kidsilk Haze shrug, which is all true.

Next, I tried the third and final bodice pattern. It’s identical to one I have from another pattern for B, so I knew it would fit. This time, B got a hat, a clutch purse and a bigger tote bag.

I put lace on the hem of the skirt and the edge of the tote bag, and used that yellow polka dot cotton as contrast. This one came out particularly well, IMO, but the hankie was really pretty. Bonus that I had red flowers in my stash that perfectly matched the ones on the hankie!

I folded up a tissue to put in the tote bag, to give it a bit of ballast against the top-heavy flowers. Mr. Math peeked inside then said “ah! she’s been to the fabric store!” which made me laugh.

Here are the two hats, which I made slightly differently. The hat with an open top is kind of an established style for B, not just because some have a ponytail like mine. It’s hard to make a closed hat fit B’s head and not look ginormous, because usually B has a lot of hair.

The one on the left is more like the instructions in the book – except that the author recommends a zigzag edge around the inner circle which would leave a raw edge. I turned in the edges instead (fiddle fiddle) then top-stitched around it. For the navy hat, I made a hat band of contrasting fabric, then sewed the two brims together along the seam line. I hand-sewed one edge of hat band to the flat brims of the hat, using that stitching line as a guide, then clipped the curves and put all the seam allowances insde the hat band before sewing the other edge over it all. I’m much MUCH happier with this version, although it was finicky. I also bound the outer edge of the navy one with a contrasting self-cut piece of bias – sewn to the outside, pressed very narrow, and hand sewn on the inside – and I like that too. (Even though, yes, there are a couple of red stitches showing on the outside where I made the binding wider on the inside.) In either case, there was a bunch of hand sewing to assemble the hat.

All in all, this was an interesting adventure. They’re fiddly makes, because they have to be completely lined, but I had fun. Of course, I have another one cut out on my sewing table, but then I’ll head back to sewing for the bigger dolls (or maybe even myself!)

I haven’t been watching tv at night during the past month, which means I haven’t been knitting in the evenings. This has slowed my progress a lot, but I’m casting off a sweater this week that I’ll be able to show you next week. Another one coming off the needles!