SUPER SIZE BARBIE

In my non-blogging life I am a professional dressmaker and sewing teacher.  Dolls and making clothes for them are my hobbies.  But sometimes, just sometimes, my job and my hobbies come together.  I have recently had a client bring me this doll and ask me to make her a dress.

As you can see she is very tall - that is a 1 metre (40") ruler I am holding next to her.  All I know about her is that she is a 'My Size Barbie'  and she was made by Mattel.  She has a copyright symbol with '1992 Mattel, Inc. China" on her lower back but I haven't been able to find out very much more about her.  I've never seen one before and I suspect very few were sold here in Australia.  This one was bought on ebay and is to be a present for the client's granddaughter.

Can anyone tell me anything about these Barbies.  Did they come dressed?  Could you buy other clothes for them?  Can anyone identify when she was made as I know they were made over a number of years and all were slightly different.

She has a very pretty face

and is a very good model.

Over the past few weeks I have made her a basic bodice block and tested it in calico (US - muslin).

This calico was nearly right but still a bit loose in the bust .  It only needed a little tweaking to get it  right.

And I made her a skirt block as well:

although in the end I've decided not to use it.  But I've got the patterns so I can make more clothes if needed.

Also does anyone know what her original hairstyle was like?  At the moment, without her hair tied back she rather resembles Cousin It from 'The Addams Family'.

I'll show you her finished clothes in a later post.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

 

It's a good thing 'doll time' runs differently to 'real time' so my dolls could have their New Year Party even though we are already well into January. 

And it's also a good thing that I won the Nommy Miniatures giveaway on The Travelling Twig blog last year or they wouldn't have had any food for their party. Well, actually they would - I have two slices of toast from an early Barbie Fashion Pack - but that's really not party food.

Instead they had meatballs, noodles and fortune cookies:

They look great and appetising and my dolls are very grateful.  They are also now aware that there is dolly food available and want me to add significantly to the menu.  (Just a side comment here: I am always reminded of the differences between America and Australia when I see the meatballs in the noodle box.  In Australia, you get noodles in noodle boxes but not really anything else.  And you generally only get fortune cookies in chinese restaurants, not with takeaway. )

As you can see, one doll opted to use a plate for her meatballs

but the rest shared from the boxes.

And even our cat attended the party. She stole the cushion from the playset box as we were setting up and claimed it as her latest toy.  So far, it has survived her better than I expected.

 In case you are wondering why this is a different cat to the one who was sleeping on my computer keyboard in the last entry - that beautiful cat disappeared around the middle of last year (that was one of the reasons my comments became a bit sporadic from the middle to end of last year).  We searched and searched but have never seen or heard anything of her since.  In our searching, we contacted our local Animal Aid which takes all strays picked up in our shire, and kept an eye on their website where they list the animals they have for adoption.  After a few months, we saw this cutie who really needed a home.  She is about 18 months old and had been in the care of Animal Aid for 10 months - more than half her life.  So Luma, as we have called her, has come to live with us and I am sure you will see more of her over time as she is a real character.

Anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone.  And I hope you will hear more from me this year than last year.