McCalls 2123 View B: modified version

Here is how View B looks with my modifications. It's pretty much the silhouette I wore all through high school and I still love it.

I felt that my first version of this dress, made exactly as directed, had way too much fabric gathered into the waist. The pattern piece for the skirt was 19 inches long; I cut five inches off from it, so the version you see here has only 14 inches in the skirt. It looks much more natural to me!

I wish all the people who complain that Barbie is unrealistically thin would take note: When dressed up, she looks perfectly normal!

Whenever I work on gathered skirts in the future, I think I will just whack off  5 or so inches right from the first, and not bother making a version that's too puffy. I learned doll-dressmaking from some very talented women who dressed porcelain dolls; they felt strongly that a very full skirt, gathering up as much cloth as you can manage, was the sign of quality costuming. Anything less looked skimpy to them. They were sewing for a very specific look though--not Barbie's look.

My other modification was to the sleeves: instead of making a casing for elastic, I left the last inch of the seam open, folded the seam allowances back and sewed snap closings in, and then hand gathered the sleeve edge with a doubled, waxed thread. You can't really see much difference, but it is a lot easier to get on the doll! Especially on Maxie and Misty, who have larger hands. When I make this dress again I will trim off some of the turning--don't need a full 3/8 inch when finishing it this way, and the gathers will go in better on a single thickness of fabric. I could even move the gathers up the sleeve a little and get a frilly cuff effect.

Here's a look at one of my new Christmas dolls: Pos'n Tammy. You see her face has been redesigned; stylistically she fits much better with her friend Glamor Misty. Her redesigned figure is also much like Misty's--just a little shorter through the torso.

A nice feature that this Tammy, Misty, and Maxie all share is "rubbery arms," for lack of a better phrase. When dressing them, you can easily squeeze their arms together to get them into the armholes. They also all have very pretty hands.

Tammy here has an unexpected feature: if you move one arm up or down, the other goes with it! Same with her legs! You can push them out of sync a very little bit, but judging by the resistance you can feel, it's probably better to keep them aligned. And of course, they bend at elbows and knees--flexibly, not with wires that click, like Barbie does.

She is a pretty addition to my Tammy collection, and I just happen to have the Pepper that matches her, so maybe there will be some big sister/little sister sewing coming up soon.

Collecting Barbie hair colors--a very good day at the sale!

I went to the Antique Fair today hoping to find a blonde Francie to complement my new brunette one. I've never seen a Francie there, and I couldn't even locate the dealer who usually has the most Mattel dolls for sale, but there she was at another booth, in very good shape and for a good price. Her hair is thick and her eyebrows all there, and her face color is very nice.

So here is the new girl looking all golden next to her rosy cousin.

Francie is so easy to dress, I'm looking forward to stitching up lots of things for her. 

I have the old McCalls pattern of designs for Francie, so that makes it extra easy to arrive at some basic slopers for her. The styles that are suitable for her just happen to be ones I especially love.

These poses are rather informal--hurried, even! I didn't want to keep them out in the sun too long.






Here are five different versions of Twist n Turn Barbie hair colors. From left to right they are: Chocolate Bon Bon, Summer Sand, Sun Kissed, Go Go Co Co, and Platinum. They are all vintage Barbies except the platinum one, who is a reproduction. Someday I will probably pick up the titian-haired repro, just to have the whole set.

Now I get to tell a funny story about how I acquired one today at the sale!

Last year at the sale I bought the doll in the swim suit. At the time I thought she was the ash blonde version. Today I saw the girl in the green polka-dot dress, and I loved her so much and she was such a good price that I bought her, even though I thought she was ash blonde too, and that I was going to have duplicate dolls.

After walking around the sale awhile, I saw a strawberry blonde Midge, and I wished that I had not spent my money on a duplicate doll when I could have bought this nice Midge in a hair color I don't have yet. I resolved not to be disappointed, but to find ways to enjoy having these twins.

Once I got her home, I put the two dolls together and was amazed to find out that their hair is not the same color at all! The new girl was definitely ash blonde, in comparison to which the other was clearly light brown. Some fast research was called for, and now I can identify all the colors and am thrilled to have all these five! Definitely not regretting that strawberry blonde Midge--she will wit for another day--along with brunette Midge!

The same dealer who had the Midge doll had some lovely vintage Skippers that I couldn't pass up. She made me a really good deal for both of them. I already had the pretty blonde doll, who is the anniversary repro version. So now I have a nice brunette, plus a titian-haired girl to replace an old one who had lost most of her nose and all her left thumb. Their hair is still nice and shiny and full.

Finally, here are all my girls out on the patio on this lovely golden summer afternoon. Well-not quite all! I still have more Barbies and Kens to bring out and photograph another day.