barbie fever

I have found my inner - child thanks to ... 

an old love rediscovered

 
It all happened when I visited a local flea market.  There was this old barbie-doll, lying on the floor.  Not very clean, hair a real mess.  But what caught my eye, was the hand-knitted dress she had on.  It was a beautiful purple dress, half knitted and half crochet, with a small purse and a nice hat.

I combed her hair and broke the comb.

I picked her up, to examine in detail and to admire the craftmanship of the knitter who made this ensemble.  It was a perfect fit, put together by someone with an eye for detail !  Then the seller said, 'only 50 cents, dear'.  Who could refuse such a deal ?  The little dress was worth so much more, so I paid and put her in my bag.

a lovely hat, finished with an elastic band and a cute flower

perfect bodice, a lovely stich is used

 At home it started.  I took off the dress, and put it back on, memories flooded my mind.  My sister and I have played with barbie many many hours.  We had rather old-fahioned barbies, and 1 Ken.

I had this Stacey,

for my birthday in 1972 this hair growing barbie

Ken belonged to my sister.  She would never lend him to marry one of my dolls !

My sister had a Francie, a brunette

the last one I got was Malibu barbie

And on sunday afternoon, we crafted many dresses with leftover scraps of fabric, and designed the most outragous outfits.  (I'm talking Seventies here,  when everything silly was possible - remember Abba ?)

That's when I learned about shaping with 'darts', making buttonholes, adding hooks and eyes, sewing hems, ....  you name it, I found out about it.  All thanks to  barbie.  I never used a paper pattern, didn't know it existed...  We just cut and folded on the doll itself. 

We also knit stuff, and crochet ruffles and ribbons to put on the dresses,  and unvented many ways to increase, and decrease, and mix the most impossible colours together.  We were happy with a new ball of wool, some left over handed down to us from grandmother or mother.

Anyway,  I wondered if I still had it in me.  So all last week I've been knitting and sewing barbie stuff.  My husband and sons are wondering if there's anything seriously wrong with me, or if it's just a little nostalgic craze...

these are pics of my designs, probably more will follow.  Barbie fever isn't over yet....

a circle skirt, lots of fabric needed

I used small straps of velcro to close it.

She can get away with this sexy decolleté

a solution for big hair...

how cool is that ?

a summer dress

with a little belt

in gold, ready to party !

I found inspiration on this website : www.stickatillbarbie.se, an amazing 1000 different patterns to knit for Barbie.  but I always change or add something of myself to it.

Greetings from a big barbie fan !