You don’t have to buy many patterns for doll clothes to come across Aileen’s Petite Fashions. These patterns are hand-drawn and clearly vintage. The title is hand-printed and the instructions look as if they’ve been typed. There’s usually a drawing of the doll and garment. At right is part of the one I’ll show you today.

Something about them reminds me of “ditto” copies, which our teachers made in the 1960’s and 70’s. (Dittos were made on spirit duplicators and characteristically were purple copies. The machines were hand-cranked and had a specific sound, and the process produced a memorable scent.)

I don’t know the history of these patterns, but they seem to date from the early sixties. There are a number of APF patterns reproducing original Barbie outfits. I found a list of them, here, though the site is old and it’s not clear whether the patterns are still being sold from this site. I’ve mostly come by mine via Etsy purchases, though often the finished garment is shown in the picture and I don’t realize it’s an APF pattern until I’ve downloaded it.

I recently made my first APF pattern. It’s APF 82 – Easter Parade, a reproduction of a 1959 Barbie fashion from Mattel. It included a black unlined coat, a print sleeveless dress, a purse and a “hat” (which is kind of a hairband, made with a “garbage tie”. Hmm.) Here’s a description on the Barbie Wiki with a picture of the Mattel original. I got this pattern on Etsy somehow, probably in a bulk pattern purchase.

And here’s my first attempt.

I made the coat of black Kona cotton. The instructions, like those on many older patterns, seem to assume that you already know what you’re on about. I used ribbons for the bows on the pockets, because I had no idea how big to cut the bias strip to make them, and couldn’t see them well in the picture to mimic the original. The coat has no front fastening because it’s pretty full. I did finish more edges than instructed and it came out reasonably well. I think it would benefit from a lining as the back collar bit does not give me joy but there you go.

Vintage B is wearing it here with a sheath of emerald satin and a pillbox hat with two feathers. (I love this little hat!) I’ll show you the sheath in another post, once I work out some kinks in the pattern.

I also made the dress from the pattern, using a teeny-tiny cotton floral print that I bought on Etsy. This one seems very generous in bodice, particularly in the upper front. I think if I made it again, I might curve down the neckline that takes the bias band. Overall, the fit is generous, more suited to “little fingers” than sleek couture.

The black seemed a bit austere for an Easter coat, so I cut another of bright pink. This is a French shirting cotton with two shades of pink that gives it a pretty crosswise stripe. (I originally made myself a shirt of this fabric. What happened to that shirt???) I added 1/4″ to the length of the sleeves to allow for a doubled hem, and again used ribbon on the pockets. You can see that this kind of collar doesn’t fit under a coat very well.

And here’s an interesting detail. I recently bought Kenneth King’s book on sewing for dolls and was intrigued that he used bridal tulle as a lining on some garments. It’s very thin, as he notes. Well, Aileen was using bridal tulle sixty years ago – the top of the dress is lined with it. It does work out quite well, making a very thin lining. The skirt of the dress is unlined.