Barbie® Needs New Clothes

I don’t know about all of you, but we are in a frenzy over here trying to get ready for school. But Bianca, you don’t even have children that go to school yet, what’s the big deal? Well, I am married to the very best Physics & Environmental Science teacher ever!! And, I like to think that my girls daycare is “school” (it helps ease the guilt-blow every morning when they are dropped off).

With that said, the Sugarbean’s last week of her little school is this week and then she starts bonafide pre-school. (sniff, sniff) She’s a thousand kinds of excited. The Sugarbaby starts her school this week. Big sister has taken it upon herself to show baby sister the ropes of her school and to help ease baby sister’s fear of school. Who knew 4 month olds had such anxiety? I’m just glad they will share this week of school together. It definitely helps to ease this mommy’s anxiety level. For the record, it doesn’t get any easier the second time around.

All that to say, we’ve been preparing. Tesla & Mari received a couple of new dresses for preschool from their Grandma. I’ve been fast and furiously labeling bottles, Charlie Banana diapers, and changes of clothes. Also, we purchased a couple of graph paper composition books for our #1 teacher and bags and bags of school supplies to donate to kiddos. Whew! With the help of my MIL, Tesla also has a few wetbags for the dirty diapers too. I really do need to learn how to sew in a zipper!

Because of ‘em, I had a few scraps of fabric I could put to use. All fabric is Robert Kaufman that I picked up a long time ago at City Craft...and I’ve been hoarding it for a few years. I opted to use those scraps and make some new clothes for Barbie!\

First, I made a cocktail because I knew working with teeny tiny seams would totally test my patience and I needed to be in my chill zone. Thank you Sonic Happy Hour and Tito’s Vodka! huzzah! *cheers*

Then, I logged in to my Pinterest and pulled up this awesome tutorial for making Barbie® clothes. I scratched down the dimensions and this is where I didn’t really remember what she did and just sorta winged it on my own.

Original dimensions call for 6x2” for the bodice and 5x12” for the skirt. As you can see, I didn’t really have one long 12” piece for the skirt, so I sewed three pieces together. The additional ribbon she mentioned was for sleeves, but this one would have it. I like the elegant look of a strapless dress.

After sewing the three skirt pieces together, I zig-zagged the edges of the bodice and the skirt. Then, I basted one longer side of the skirt to gather tightly. I pulled and gathered until it seemed to fit around the doll properly. After gathering, I took the bodice top and with it backwards, I “fitted” it to the doll and marked where I would add a dart with a pin. Since I didn’t sew all of the way up or do any cutting, it isn’t exactly straight. I don’t think Barbie will mind.

Then, matching right sides together, I pinned them together, attached them. and I had the dress. Next, I added an additional band around the waist because I had a tiny bit of fabric and I didn’t like how “unfinished” it looked. Finally, I added velcro to the back and fit it to the doll and BAM! That’s it!

As Mari says, “Barbie® no longer looks like a cochina!” For those of you who don’t know, cochina is a dirty girl or a nasty girl. We often use this when we don’t want Mari to show her panties and insist she wear shorts under her dress. The message clearly sticks because she knows Barbie® shouldn’t be one either!

It took me about 20 minutes, but that’s because I had to refill my drink. ha ha! If you have some scraps, go on out and make some dresses to rid the world of cochina Barbies®! Are you all going crazy trying to get ready for school too? Do you think Barbie® clothes are too revealing? Do you think they are too pricey?