You might remember the Blue Glitter Dress from Stickatillbarbie.se (pattern number 619) that I showed you in December.Here’s a Ravelry link, and here’s the link at the Wayback Machine for that page (patterns #601-650).
I made another one in plain black. This is an acrylic fingering yarn that’s labelled as baby yarn, that I bought at Walmart for a couple of bucks. I liked how soft it was, but (of course) that means it’s splitty, too.
Here’s the finished dress, which looks much better in plain black than in that glittery stuff:
I knit this one longer, so it would fit the Silkies, and that turned out to be a good thing. Even though the stitch counts and needles are the same on the bodice of both dresses, this one is much skinnier. Only the Silkie girls can wriggle into it. This time, the hem wants to roll, even though it’s in garter stitch. The acrylic yarn won’t take a block, so I sewed a line of beads into the garter stitches to weigh it down. That didn’t actually work – I had to fuss with the hem to get this picture and it flipped up again right afterward – so I’m thinking I might thread some wire into the hem to hold it in place.
Otherwise, I’m quite pleased with it, though – and I’m done with knitting ballgowns. They take forever!
This project has been on my needles longer than I expected. Usually, knitted garments for the girls are quick projects, but this time, the yarn was a challenge.
Here it is:
What the camera isn’t picking up is the glitter. This is a sparkly yarn with a bit of metallic thread included in it. It’s structured with a central cord that might be cotton, then the lumpy-bumpy-glittery color bit is wound around that in a spiral. When you knit, the spiralled thread slides up and down, which makes for some bigger bumps – and a bit of frustration. I don’t know what the yarn actually is as I found it without a label at the thrift store, but I’m sure it’s not intended to be knit on 2mm needles.
Finally, finally, I finished the dress. This is the Blue Glitter Dress from Stickatillbarbie.se. It’s pattern number 619 – here’s a Ravelry link, and here’s the link at the Wayback Machine for that page (patterns #601-650).
The glitter really doesn’t photograph at all. 😦 Too bad, because it’s very shiny, just the thing for a festive party. Without the sparkle showing, it just looks lumpy. (Although this makes me wonder if I should use the rest for a tweedy little suit. Hmm.)
I didn’t love this pattern as much as some of the others from this designer. It’s a top-down knit, starting with 60 stitches – which is a lot. I see on Rav that some knitters have taken that down to 50 stitches, and I would do the same if/when I knit it again. With this one (and part of that might be the yarn. It’s pretty crunchy) the shoulder band is way too big. I ran a few rows of stitches through it on the back side with buttonhole thread to tighten it up.
I did modify the pattern to knit it in the round. The body is knit fairly straight according to the directions, but I substituted my shaping from the dresses with the fur skirts.
I could not get the stitch counts to work out on the mermaid flare. Picking back this yarn a couple of times really wasn’t fun. 😦 The increases are done before and after a knit stitch, and those two M1’s so close together were a challenge in a yarn with no stretch. I’m not sure what I did wrong, but after picking it back twice, I rewrote the instrcutions for the flare increases. You can see in the picture that I divided the skirt into quadrants, offsetting the increases so they’re centered on the right front, the left front. It’s the same on the back. They’re still on either side of a knit stitch, with 3 rows worked plain in between each increase row. This way, my stitch counts worked out.
There’s four rows of garter at the hem before binding off, which echoes the six rows of garter at the shoulder band. I’m pleased with the dress now it’s done, but the next one will be in regular fingering weight yarn. I think it will be in that solid black baby yarn.
It’s possible that I’ll add another set of increases and made the skirt a half an inch longer. It really looks short on the Silkies. I’m also wondering about adding a tulle ruffle under that flare…
I seem to be finding a lot of ways to avoid setting in the sleeves of my black cardigan in Kidsilk Haze. That’s certainly not a job for the evening or even one particularly suited to the dark days we’ve been having. I need to turn on a bright light, buckle down and get it done.
But in the meantime, I’ve been knitting dresses for the girls. I saw a picture on social media of someone’s knitted dresses for fashion dolls. They were unspeakably cute with fluffy skirts, knit of novelty yarn. She said she was using a free pattern, so off I went to hunt down options. I chose #146 from Sticka till Barbie as my base pattern, then made a bunch of modifications. Mine needed to fit vintage Barbie with her curves and the existing pattern had pretty much a straight bodice. I added decreases and increases. I also modified the instructions to knit the dress in the round, and made the increases/decreases mirror each other because that makes me happy.
And here are the girls, posing in a diorama-in-progress that I’m making for the 16″ girls:
The diorama, of course, is another timesink, but a lot of fun. I like working in the foamboard – it’s easy to cut and light, and the gratification is almost instant.
The gift boxes are from an Etsy vendor who sells printables. It’s right here. They are a bit fiddly to assemble, which is why I’ve put together just two even though I bought this almost four years ago. So cute, though, and they fold up so precisely.
Here’s a better look at the dresses.
For these skirts, I used an eyelash yarn called Bernat Boa. (That’s a Ravelry link.) This yarn is discontinued, but I found my little stash at the thrift store. The bodices are knit of fingering yarns – the black is an acrylic baby yarn, the purple is leftover MadTosh. I made the skirt longer for the purple one (15 rows before decreasing instead of 12). The bodice looks longer on that one because the articulated Silkstone is thinner and taller than vintage B.
It’s interesting how the same yarn can feel different in different colours. That always mystifies me. The purple Boa doesn’t feel as silky as the black and red. I remember a lot of colours of this yarn, so will keep checking the thrift store for more. (I also have some variegated pink, but no fingering weight to match.)
I think the original pattern was knit of something more like a fringe yarn than this eyelash yarn, because the skirt isn’t as puffy in the pattern picture. I have some Lion Brand Fun Fur (also a thrift store find) so will try that out next.
That’s a link to the Lion Brand website – how lovely for a manufacturer keeps the link live after the yarn is discontinued! Here’s a Ravelry link so you can see what other knitters have made with it. I hopped into the advance search and sorted for doll clothes – sure enough, there are a few versions of this dress.
These are also like potato chips. It’s hard to knit just one. I need to find something to go with that pink, and try out the other yarn…
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:
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.
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.
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.
Sometimes you need a quick project and some instant crafty gratification. Here’s a recent favorite of mine – some knitted purses for Barbie.
The patterns are from a website of free knitting patterns for Barbie called Sticka till Barbie. It’s in Sweden and is amazing. (The pictures are teeny, but it’s worth a good look.) There really are more than a thousand patterns for Barbie and about 300 for Bratz dolls—including 8 years of ABBA costumes. (Click ABBA on the menu bar to see, then they’re sorted by year.) There are project pictures on Ravelry and since they’re larger, it’s easier to see details there – here’s the designer page on Ravelry.
On the right is A-7 – a circular drawstring bag. I knit mine iwith some red MadTosh and black Malabrigo Sock, adding a bit of detail above the colour change. I put a little cardboard square in the bottom. The drawstring is a manufactured cord instead of a knitted one.
On the left is A-5 on the same page – a striped tote bag. This one’s knit sideways – you do the stripes first, join the strip into a ring, then pick up stitches for the handles. Someone on Ravelry suggested a provisional cast-on and 3-needle bind off, which seemed like a good idea to me. I grafted the loop together, though.
These are quick knits and a bit addictive, plus a great way to use up scraps of sock yarn. I know I’ll be knitting more!
If you knit for dolls, this site is a great resource.
Alive & Knitting 