Wednesday 19 January 2011

Barbie Refashioned



A big retro A-line dress.



Most of the sewing here has been for these ladies this week. Bought from a series of charity shops most of them were naked. To give them some modesty, I have used scraps and some pieces of cut up jumble sale clothes. The blue flowery dress was the end of a sleeve and so came with the ready made frilled hem. The Barbies who have come with clothing seem to be dressed as either saccharine pink princess or are scantily dressed in well, a tarty way. These are only two pictures - there are more.
Making clothes for dolls is strangely addictive, it is so quick and uses up small pieces of fabric. It is also nostalgic, reminding me of my mum making doll's clothes for me and also of how much I loved dressing up my dolls. (No Barbie for me though, we had Sindy)
My nearly four year old is also a hard task master...sitting by the machine, "Can I help?" and "Come on Mum".

6 comments:

  1. Great Barbie clothes! I had sindy too, the ballerina one :) Thanks for the Howies mention i hadn't heard of them....i think i must have bought 4/5 metres of that grey material :) Hope you are having a good week xx

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  2. As much as I am horrified by barbie's body, I gotta admit that dressing her is SO MUCH FUN. That's how i got started down this sewing road.

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  3. Even Barbie can benefit from a little refashioned loveliness! How perfect. And you're creating some great memories with your daughter, too :).

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  4. I agree Sigrid I too oam horrified at Barbie's body shape and why in this day do they still produce her like that? If you had asked me before I had a little girl about Barbies I probably would have sworn my daughter would not have had any to play with but the reality is she fell in love with one in a second hand shop when she was nearly three and it has gone on from there. But I draw the line at buying a new one. Maybe this is hypocritical, I don't know. I am hoping to make more clothes that are easier for little fingers to take off and put on without help.

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  5. Wow! Those are some seriously swish Barbie outfits. Is that ricrac I spy in Ms PolkaDot's hair?

    We too have naked Barbies but I have had very little luck in trying to dress them. My underestimation of the amount of fabric required to cover Ms Barbies chest resulted in an a-line shift dress slashed to the waist at the back. Not a very demure look.

    I will take a leaf out of your book and try skirts and peasant tops.

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