Happy Halloween !

Meet our two My Size Barbies, Gracie (Enchantress) and Casey (Dance Hall Hostess). We dyed their hair, changed their hairstyles, painted Gracie's eyes. They're lots of fun, and so easy to sew for ! Their stands are Hubby-made.

Gracie's costume was an experience in slippery knits. First time I tried sleeves, too. Pattern 'Slinky Dress' is from LivingSoft's Doll Shop Deluxe - see 'Links'.

Casey's orange dress is a bodice from Bernice at the Yahoo My Size Barbie group, with an attached rectangle for a skirt. I bought the lace from a yard sale the same day I made the dress !

One of my first 'sewing' efforts -

it's actually an altered women's blouse

This drove our camera nuts ! All the shiny silver dots are intact, but the camera just couldn't deal with 'em.

As you can tell from Gracie's longer hair, this was an early effort. It's basically a women's GoodWill blouse, tucked in at the front to simulate an Asian-inspired dress. It actually zips in the back, another early, ugly, effort.

Now that I look at it, I want to redo that frog with a smaller one, but otherwise, it was fun. There were enough scraps left to make a little party dress for the regular-size Barbie pictured there. I like to use stuff up completely !

This is Simplicity 8817 and Doll Shop Delxue.

If it's the lining on one, it's the part that shows on the other !

This set was a lot of fun ! The jacket is Simplicity 8817, the rest is Doll Shop Deluxe. I made the jacket first, and grabbed the first 'lining' fabric my fingers came to, only to realize that I really liked that print. So, when I wanted to make something else, I remembered the 'Flo-Jo' doll's packaging - she had on a pink shirt with a yellow jacket, lined in the same pink as her blouse. Bingo !

So, the jacket is white with green lining, and the tie-neck halter is green with white lining ! I love it still. The slacks are simple black - every doll needs a pair of black pants ! - and her cute saddle shoes were 25c from a yard sale. I just love saddle shoes.

Gracie was the only MSB (My Size Barbie) in the house at that time...

Then along came 'Casey' !

Dolls don't stay blonde at Chez Insanity very long...

'Casey' was named and dyed by Beloved Hubby. She came to us about two months after Gracie, and it's been fun having two such different dolls to sew for !

After numerous failures trying to sew princess seams for Barbies, I decided to try them in a larger size. This was the first thing I made for Casey - it's pieced together from two damaged pillowcases I got in a $2. box of misc. fabric I got at a yard sale, using a DSD pattern. As you can see, I *can* do princess seams, can even do 'em for Crissy...but still can't for a standard Barbie ! (sigh)

The girls' usual perch.

Notice something odd about Gracie's hair ?

You may have noticed the great stands the girls sometimes use. Those were designed and crafted by Beloved Hubby ! We may sell 'em someday, who knows ?

They usually stand on a speaker, because when they're down and around, they sometimes startle me, being about the same size as Dearest Son ! Gracie has on a todder top and Tinkerbell shoes I got from GoodWill, and I made the pants from a pair of adult stretch corduroys I got from a yard sale. By experimenting a bit, I was able to keep the original outer seams.

Gracie's cheongsam is yet another of my Asian-inspired outfits, I just love 'em. It's an altered DSD pattern, and I had to craft the collar by hand, the one included was far too small. This is the first time I put in a back zipper with a machine, and it worked !

She's also wearing a wig intended for an American Girl clone. For $1.50 on markdown at a local craft shop, I figured I'd find a doll to fit it, or I'd scalp it for reroots ! It gives both of them a really exotic look. On an AG, I'd imagine the hair drags the floor, it's so long on them !

Casey's ready for summer !

Seen the fabric before anywhere ? :)

This is one of my more recent efforts, even though it's been months since I made something for the MSBs. It was still cold outside when I made this skirt and top ! Another set of DSD patterns.

If you haven't already, you'll see this fabric on the other dolls' pages. I've made something for nearly every doll I own out of it - it's from an old pair of pants I got when a relative cleaned out her closet. I arrange to be the final stop on the hand-me-down family train, 'cause everyone knows I will cut up people clothes for doll clothes with no remorse ! And I take the in-good-shape stuff nobody wants to GoodWill, which makes it easier on everyone. Heck, I'm there once a week anyway !

Sailor Grace !

I just love Asian wear and Sailor dresses !

This is my second-to-last creation for the MSBs. There's one more spring dress I don't have a photo of yet - hopefully I'll get to it tomorrow, it's really pretty !

If there's one thing I love more than Asian-wear, it's sailor collars. Just can't resist 'em. I adapted this one, since DSD only has sailor collars in an expensive upgrade to their human-size Dress Shop, and I refuse to pay 300% more just to get a collar. DSD also doesn't have directions on how to sew this, so I guessed. It's split in the back to accomodate the zipper, but I'm still not satisfied with the way it breaks in the front.

I bought a 99c Simplicity todder's pattern, planning on using their directions, last week, so I may soon have a better design to photograph. If I use the actual pattern, it'll be pretty loose on the dolls, but it'll fit !

Toddler patterns for My Size Barbie dolls ?

Well, it mostly works ! :)

I know, I still have to get Casey's spring dress photo taken, but here's the latest. Finally got around to getting a picture taken !

I love sailor clothes. Dresses, blouses, all of it. And while I've made several doll-sized, I've had to guess how to sew it every time. Directions were absent, illegible, or in another language, like Japanese. Sure, they turned out OK, but I wanted to know how it should go together, see how it could look when I did it right. So I got a toddler pattern during a 99c sale, Simplicity 5982, and determined that Gracie and Casey were a size 1/2, well, at least fairly close.

And here's the final result. Sorry it's all one color, but I wanted to use up scrap material - pants that tore in the wash. Keepers if it works, toss without tears if it doesn't. Fit isn't the best, but it looks nice loose. Now I know that I wasn't far off on the earlier attempts, and I can work the other sailor patterns with confidence. What a great experience ! I can also work on adding some style and fun, and even work this one again, make a nice, almost authentic anime fuku - a Japanese sailor schoolgirl uniform. Very few of those in any anime are skin-tight !

The matching shorts used up just about the last of those torn pants, and are a simple-to-sew pattern from Doll Shop Deluxe.

Casey and the Kitty - how pretty !

Doll Shop Deluxe and the 'Retro Star' fabric, yet again.

*Finally*, Casey's spring dress photo ! I was very proud of this one - it was originally intended as a swap with another MSB group member. That person didn't follow the 'make it yourself' rules, and sent me a tube dress off eBay. Nice, but I'd have really liked to have had something that person made. And I wasn't about to add to the embarassment by sending an elaborate outfit...I'd planned to add a matching hat, slip, undies, and shoes, but that might be embarassing to my swap partner. Instead, I finished a much simpler summer sundress I started months prior and sent that. No complaints.

While I never got to the slip and undies, she does have a cute matching hair bow, and her foam sandals were a lucky find at Dollar Tree. Her belt is a scrap of tulle tied into a fluffy bow - I'm not sure yet if it looks better with or without it !