Getting Dolled Up with Remnants and Oddments

The Barbies in the wake of the holiday weekend

This was the scene in the playroom after the holiday weekend a few weeks ago. I was informed by a girl grandkid in a loud and plaintive tone, that: “Nana, the boys were taking all the Barbies’ clothes off!” Did I mention we have 3 almost-seven-year-old grandsons? Apparently they played a big part in why the Barbies are making this look like a dollhouse of ill repute! My mom, who painstakingly made the dollhouse, would be so distraught if she knew! Anyway, something needed to be done to restore those Barbies to the heightened state of clothes horses they were intended to be.

But it wasn’t as easy as I thought. Sewing miniature clothes is no picnic, in my book. Especially when you can’t get into all those out-of-the-way storage spots where all the cool remnants are stashed.

all sorts of ribbons are way up high

Unfortunately, lots of ribbons and various embellishments are stored in these boxes on a high shelf, to which I’m currently unable to climb. So I had to make do with this little assortment of notions remnants, like cord, rickrack, piping, that my grandmother might have called “oddments.” Oddments sounds like remnants. But these aren’t really cool stuff, they’re mostly leftovers that I’m too thrifty to throw out.

oddments

Barbie doll clothes patterns

I found two patterns in the stash; one I got at a yard sale a long time ago, and one that’s more recent. I looked at the old one, the Butterick Miss America Collection, and was stunned to see that it had less of the original pattern and more, much more, hand-traced patterns with a hand-lettered, very detailed sheaf of instruction sheets.

contents of the pattern envelope

Giving myself a break, I stopped after 3 dresses. That’s because I didn’t want to search too deep for materials. Maybe, once I get more mobile. At least 3 Barbies are clothed for the moment.

In their new dresses