Frightful Fifties Flair
- wingedmermaid
- Oct 14, 2024
- 4 min read
I'm finally starting to feel more like a true sewist and less like an overly ambitious novice -- and I really think it's thanks in part to DollsatHeartPatterns's "The Regency Evening Gown" pattern. Her pattern was so easy to follow, not only was I able to make my own regency gown in just a few days, but I also learned a lot of new, extremely useful skills. In fact, in some instances, I've preferred some of the regency gown's instructions over the way other patterns say to do things and made adjustments.
I recently downloaded a new dress pattern that I've been eyeing for awhile. Between feeling more confident in my sewing ability and with a new addition to my doll collection on the horizon, I finally decided to pull the trigger and attempt Keeper's Dolly Duds' Fifties Flair dress.
...I'm sure you can guess who the upcoming addition is.
Hi Barbie!
Like many in the AGIG community, Barbie is making her way to my collection, too (though, not until Christmas hehe -- she's a present from my husband). I'm usually not that interested in the American Girl Collector Dolls. Most of them aren't too different from other AG dolls in their construction, and I'm not that impressed by outfits that are made expensive mostly by adding Swarovski crystals. The dolls are typically around $300, and at that price, it's hard not to think, "You could buy two dolls for the cost of this one!"
But when American Girl announced their Classic Barbie American Girl doll, I knew I needed to add her to my collection. I've been collecting Barbie for most of my life -- thanks to my mom. I don't collect the dolls that frequently anymore -- I've downsized my collection a lot, too -- but I will never outgrow my love for Barbie. I think AG did a great job translating Barbie's classic look into an AG doll, and I know not everyone likes her more "adult" look, but I think she still looks young enough.
As I just mentioned, my mom is also a Barbie fan, so of course, she got one, too. We made sure to wake up extra early and were actually able to add our dolls to cart before the purchase window was scheduled to open. It's crazy to think it's been a whole year since that preorder happened!
Getting a Head Start
I don't plan on keeping my Barbie in the box and I also don't want to keep her just in her bathing suit, so she'll need some more clothes. Enter the "Fifties Flair" dress pattern I mentioned earlier. I have some Barbie fabric I bought from Joann's in the late 2000's or early 2010's that I never knew quite what to do with... until now! But I don't have that much of the fabric, so I knew I wanted to do a test run before attempting to make anything with it.
"Sew" Spooky
This was a job for my faithful "sewing helper," Lizzie! I think I like using her to help me sew so often because her body has a little more stuffing than some of my other dolls, so I know if something fits her, it'll fit everyone else, too, and it's easy to move her braided ponytail out of the way when I'm checking the fit of something or figuring out where to place the closures.
And her expression is so cheerful, she motivates me to keep going even when I want to scream and toss my machine out the window lol.
The construction of the dress was pretty straightforward, but I did make a of couple changes. I made a complete lining for the bodice instead of the front and back facings the pattern called for. I like how the lining hides almost all of the raw edges on the inside of the dress, and I don't mind that it requires some hand sewing to complete. I also opted to use premade bias tape for the bodice detail and sleeve bands, just to make things easier. I omitted the interfacing for the "wrap" front because I didn't think it really needed it (maybe for a thinner fabric). I also could've used more bias tape for the bow detail, but I had thin, cream colored ribbon in my stash that I needed to use up (and I would've had to sew the bias tape closed), so I went with that.
I decided not to use the back bow. I didn't really feel like it was necessary -- especially for a practice dress. I'm also trying to see if I can figure out a way to modify the bodice slightly, add a collar, and make a version that looks like Alice's dress from the cartoon version of Disney's Alice in Wonderland. Alice is one of my mom's favorite Disney characters, and I'd love to surprise her with a dress like that for a Christmas present.
I'm not sure if bright orange is really Elizabeth's color, but she does still look pretty cute in this dress. I really like how it looks with brown boots, too. And of course, the best accessory, a little black cat.
One dress down, on to the next!
