Sewing for Barbie

 This year I visited 3 fashion exhibits.  One at the Victoria and Albert Museum, one at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and one at the Fashion Museum in Bath, England.  Each one was full of wonderful clothing and I came home inspired to create new outfits in miniature for my many dolls.    This dress at the  Fashion Museum in Bath, England was one of those designs that intrigued me.  The lattice style bodice is beautiful.  I've spend many hours trying to determine how to adapt this style to a dress for Barbie.

 I went through my collection of sewing patterns for 11 1/2 inch dolls and decided on a McCall's Pattern.  McCall's Barbie Sewing Patterns are easy to use and have simple pieces and directions.  I made the bodice following the directions and before I sewed the facing on the piece, I used  1/4 inch ribbon crisscrossed over the bodice to imitate the original bodice.  I used Dritz 406 1/4-Inch by 10-Yard Wash Away Wonder Tape  to secure the ribbon to the bodice while I sewed the facing to the bodice.

The skirt is a vintage hankie from my collection.  It is lined with the same cotton fabric that I used for the bodice.  Hankie Couture is a terrific book that is full of outfits made for 11 1/2 inch fashion dolls using vintage hankies.

 



Now that I've mastered the bodice, I'll sew this dress with a different skirt.  If I use skirt fabric that is closer to the color of the ribbon, I should achieve a look that is similar to the original dress. 

 

American Girl Doll Aprons

 Welcome to the first apron designs of my collection of reversible aprons for American Girl and other 18 inch dolls.  The first thing that I learned to sew when I was a little girl was an apron.  I still love them.

These aprons are reversible and each one is slightly different. 

 One side of each apron is made with cotton toweling fabric.  In July, I visited a terrific fabric store in Lancaster, Pa.  They had a variety of toweling fabric in vintage prints. 

The other side is a variety of cotton fabric that I've collected.

Creating these aprons is great fun.

This bright red cherry fabric is one of my favorites.

 

I like to display mine on a dress form. If you're interested in purchasing the wire dress form for the aprons, let me know and I will provide you the details.

These aprons are available in my Etsy Shop.  Shipping is always free for the items in the Dressing Our Dolls section of my shop.

 Let me know which one is your favorite.