Time out for shopping!

I found this neat little Barbie stove kit at Joanne's Fabric and Crafts store where it was on sale for half-off--only $4! Its packaging says it is a mailbox to receive Valentines--it doesn't claim any suitability for 1/6 scale dolls at all. But really--the oven has an interior baking rack and a cookie sheet complete with a dozen little heart-shaped cookies to bake inside! That's a wholly unnecessary level of detail for a mail box! I'm thrilled with it.

I wasn't exactly planning to buy another Barbie just to pose with the stove... Let's just say I had already practiced Barbie-item-related-buying behavior so bringing another doll home felt quite natural. This "Made to Move" model is new to me--love the understated face-up and the pretty hair. And the extra articulation really adds a lot to the doll's expressiveness. She doesn't have the "twist n turn" waist but she does have upper-rib cage articulation in addition to the other joints.

The stove kit went together beautifully--all pieces present and easy to manage. It is made mostly out of pre-cut craft foam sheets, with a little embroidery floss and a piece of acetate for the door window. There was a rather strong smell to it--sort of gassy--but it quickly dissipated and is no longer noticeable.

I really like this doll! She can even stand up by herself, though not forever. The ankle joins aren't that stiff--but stiff enough to hold a pose for photos, anyway. I have decided to name her Margaret. Through the suggestion of a friend, I have realized she really wants cowboy boots. Will have to look into that.

Her feet have a nice arch to them, so I believe she will be able to wear typical Barbie high heels. There's a blonde and a brunette in this series too, but they have the big-eye look, and though they are pretty I really like this different look for her face.

Vintage pattern sewing: McCalls 2123, the underpants

It isn't obvious from the pattern front, but McCalls 2123 does include an underpants pattern, which I think is nice. Somehow I always want my dolls to be wearing underpants, and I'm always on the look-out for a perfect pattern.

This one wants you to sew elastic around the waist, but I don't like that method for fashion dolls. For one thing, it's very difficult to slide them up the legs--especially bendable legs--and over the hips. I put them on Midge because her rigid legs are smooth and make dressing her a little easier.

But look how they gap around the waist, even with the elastic. And I even used clear elastic, which is much stretchier and more resilient than braid elastic.

Pos'n Tammy is wearing a pair with my modifications. Really, only one modification.

In this picture, you can see how the pattern piece is cut--how there's an allowance along the top to press under and a seam up the back. McCalls wants you to sew elastic on top of that turned-under allowance, then sew up the back seam, catching the ends of the elastic in it.

But you get a much nicer fit if you sew the back seam only partially--leave 1/2 or 3/4 inch open to the waist, then sew on a dainty little snap at the center back.

The waist will be too loose. So take them off the doll and put them back on her inside out. (The snap will still work.)

Run a gathering stitch around the waist.  I used a doubled thread, plus ran it through the waxer for extra strength.

Tammy doesn't have her underpants on inside out in this picture--but the stitching will be easier to start and end if you do reverse them.

This ends up with a rather customized fit for a particular doll. (Hah! Tailored underpants!) I think using elastic thread for the gathering thread would provide a little more flexibility to fit different dolls. But really, these are so quick to make, it isn't much trouble to make each girl her own.

This is the kind of underpants I like best for dolls, though here it appears as a bikini bottom. I worked out the pattern using methods learned from some Gene Marshall doll clothing.

I like them underpants to fit lower, around the hips, so that they don't add bulk to the waist. Also, I like them to close with a snap, with no elastic or even gathering. It creates a sleek fit that will look better under her outfits.

I like to line them, too, so that I don't have to topstitch around the leg holes or the waist--just looks more finished that way. When I started lining underpants, I had to redraft the pattern to allow for less stretch in the doubled fabric. I should try experimenting with knit lining sometime; maybe that will work better.

The bikini top is actually from an old commercial Barbie doll pattern! It didn't even need many adjustments. This doll is several inches taller than Barbie, but she's petite around the shoulders and bust.

Vintage Pattern Sewing: McCalls 2123 View A Jumpsuit, Scarf and Vest

And now we come to the only view with legs! This jumpsuit pattern shares characteristics with others in McCall 2123: sleeves cut-in-one with the body rather than set in separately, a self-faced jewel neckline, and a long bust dart that starts near the waist.

My favorite part of this view is the scarf. The instructions said to fray the edges for about 1/2 inch to make a fringe, and I enjoyed both the process and the way it came out.

The vest was designed for felt or vinyl--no facings at fronts or armholes and no edge-finishes. The white vinyl I had on hand was flannel-backed, but the extra thickness didn't cause too much trouble. Going through my stash, I really didn't see many suitable fabrics for the jumpsuit, or for the scarf either. If I were shopping at my favorite fabric store, I'd have chosen differently, but these cottons work well enough and didn't cost extra.

Pos'n Tammy in View A McCalls 2123

Pos'n Tammy gets to model it first because she has the best figure to wear all three pieces. It's a little too short through the torso for Misty, and TNT Barbie looks dwarfed in it, and poor little Francie just swims in it.

Tammy could use a little extra sleeve length, but other than that it fits her well.

If I were making it again, I'd use a silkier, drapey-er fabric for the scarf, and for a special outfit, maybe some ultra-suede for the vest.

TNT Barbie, my pretty Coco, in View A, McCalls 2123

For Barbie, I've adjusted the jumpsuit in back to look good in front! In reality, the neck and shoulders are too big for her, and the neckline doesn't sit well. But sometimes beauty is the art of illusion.

And for that matter, if I were a mom sewing this for my child to dress her Barbie in, I'd just make those adjustments permanent with my needle and thread instead of with straight pins.

The pose is making a great deal of difference here too! It's not so graceful-looking straight-on. I'm thinking the jumpsuit might hang better in a really silky, drape-y fabric too... I might just have some in my stash somewhere. 

The pattern pieces for View A jumpsuit, vest, and scarf from McCalls 2123.

McCalls 2123: View G, bias-trimmed robe

Francie Repro in View G,  Robe

This robe was a good learning experience in applying bias binding. I have applied miles it before--but only on quilts, blind stitching it down by hand. This application is different and more difficult, I feel.

But because my mother was so good at it, I really wanted to learn too. She made diapers for our baby dolls from flannel with bias tape binding--six tricky curves for each one!

You can't see all the mistakes in this picture! There are places where the topstitching didn't catch the edge on the other side, so I will have to be doing some hand-sewing after all, to fix that up.

If I made another version of it, I would probably get better... but I think for now I will go on to the next view.

This pattern would be quite fast and easy to make, if it weren't for the binding. You could use fleece for it and skip the binding, or do some decorative serging around it.  I thought of lining it too, as a way to finish the edges, but that hood would make it difficult. It was tricky enough with a single layer--it has to be gathered up a little.

TNT Barbie in View G, Robe

Being so loose, this robe fits all my dolls pretty well. Even Barbie's tiny waist doesn't cause any problems with the fit!

If the doll has much hair, though, it won't be easy to get the hood up. Tammy isn't going to be wearing it any time soon!

Both the fabric and the bias tape came from my stash. I remember buying that fabric to make some little outfit for my niece when she was a baby... about 22 years ago. Obviously I didn't. Sorry about that Jean! Sorry carry! If you have a Barbie, I'll give you the robe for it to wear!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

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.

McCalls 2123 View B: gathered waist dress, first version

View B is my favorite of this pattern: the bishop sleeves and the slightly raised waist of the dress are pretty elements from 60s fashion, and the jewel neckline is sweet and demure, letting the focus be on a slender waist.

That makes it Barbie's turn to shine.  There's so much fabric bunched up in the gathered waist--fabric that is human scale, not 1/6 doll scale--but she still looks petite. Instead of tiny, her waist just looks small.

Elsewhere the fit is problematic: there's a wrinkle stretching from neck to bust, pointing, as wrinkles always do, to the trouble spot--the bust that is just not quite accommodated by the fabric covering it.

But it's subtle enough that it probably wouldn't bother a young girl dressing her Barbie doll. And as usual, it doesn't pull when the other dolls wear it.

As it turned out, the elements I had liked in the sketch did not translate to the finished dress. The waist was lower than I expected, and the gathered skirt is fuller and sticks out more than I like for this look.

But the biggest problem was the sleeves. The pattern instructions want you to turn up 1/8 inch, then another 1/8, then top-stitch to form the casing, then slide 1/8 inch elastic inside. There's no way you're going to get 1/8 inch elastic into a casing that is six layers thick (counting the turnings), especially after top-stitching has further reduced the width. I considered using string elastic, but it wasn't stretchy enough. So I just zig-zagged the cut edge to prevent raveling, turned it up 1/4 inch, and fed the 1/8 inch elastic through that--and it wasn't any too easy even so!

Immediately I began plans for modifications to a second try at this dress. I will change the way the sleeve is gathered, reduce the bulk at the waist, maybe raise the waist a bit.

Time out for Sindy

I'm taking a break from sewing to enjoy one of the vintage Sindy dolls that are joining my collection--some of the "Belles of Christmas 2015."

For a long time I resisted Sindy dolls. They weren't familiar from my childhood, being mostly sold in Europe, and they were so much like Tammy as to be almost redundant. Plus it is expensive to buy one in really good condition.

But they grew on me after a while--such a sweet face and nice demeanor.

This one was on ebay as a very cheap "Buy it Now." Her hair was sparse and badly rooted; she smelled like stale cigarette smoke; and her face paint had faded.

She came with the wedding dress and veil, both of which had stains, plus her calico & lace dress and two pairs of jodhpurs--all of which also smelled like stale cigarette smoke.

So right away everything got lathered up and washed with sweet-smelling soap.

Getting rid of the smoke smell can be difficult, but I was lucky this time: now she and her clothes smell fresh and nice and all the stains cleaned away very easily.

Next I figured out a hairstyle for her that would cover up the parts of her head that weren't rooted: a simple ponytail or ballet bun will work--maybe that was her original hairstyle. Her hair is still shiny and nice--not dried out and frizzy like some old dolls.

Last, I carefully changed her expression by adding paint to her face: I enlarged her pupils, thickened her eyeliner at the outer corner, and gave her lips some color.  I just used washable watercolor paints--the color can come off and she can be restored to her original coloring any time.

Here is her "before" picture--can't really see her hair problems very well.  But she did look nervous, so I changed her eyes.

The calico & lace dress she's wearing needs some work too: there's no tears, but the white lace and elastic have turned grey. Will have to experiment a bit with trying to whiten them up again.

Sindy already has a pretty new sister in the collection, and they will I hope soon be joined by two brunettes. I despair of ever adding a red haired one--they are rare and costly.