How to sew a dress for Barbie with your own hands? How to build a pattern and simulate the style of the outfit? Which fabric and finish to choose? Read the answers to these and other questions in this article.
Barbie is out of competition
Maiden love for Barbie has been living for decades. Times change, children grow up, but the universal favorite remains at the peak of popularity. And although now on the shelves of toy stores you can find many other dolls, for example, the heroines of such famous cartoons as Winx or Monster School, each girl must have Barbie, or even not one. And as it usually happens, babies are very fond of dressing them in different clothes.
But, unfortunately, not all parents can afford to purchase expensive sets of dolls with wardrobe. However, each mother can make some wonderful outfits for the darling of her child. Moreover, it is quite simple to sew a dress for Barbie. In addition, a child can be involved in the process, which will make creativity even more interesting. In addition to a wonderful pastime with her daughter and positive emotions, such an activity will contribute to the development of the taste and imagination of the girl, and in the future it will be very useful to her.
What is needed for sewing
It is easy to guess that for the manufacture of clothing you will need a suitable fabric, sewing accessories, scissors, a measuring tape for measuring dolls, paper and a pencil to build a template. You also need to think about decorative elements. If it will be a ball gown for Barbie, then here as everywhere else all kinds of sequins, beads, lace, ribbons and flowers will be appropriate. To get a chic outfit, special attention should be paid to the choice of fabric. A combination of guipure and shiny satin, velvet and golden brocade will look interesting. However, there are huge opportunities for a flight of fantasy.
All in an adult, or take measurements
As in the case of sewing clothes for people, to make a dress for Barbie, you need to take measurements from the doll. To build a pattern, you need to measure the width of the shoulders, the volume of the neck, chest and waist, and also calculate the depth of the neckline and the distance from the shoulder to the extreme point of the protrusion of the chest. Separately, you need to measure the width of the back and chest, because these values vary greatly in Barbie, and the front of the bodice should be slightly wider than the back, and the chest should be measured both by its convex part and above it. So, all measurements were made, and then the question arises: how is the dress pattern for Barbie built? In fact, it is needed only for the upper part, because the skirt of simple models is made from a strip of fabric assembled on a thread.
The basics of building a pattern of the top of the dress
All measurements are recorded on a piece of paper and begin to build a template on cardboard. Why on cardboard? Because after one outfit is sewn, it is unlikely that you will be able to dwell on it, and each new dress can be created on the basis of an existing workpiece. First, two perpendicular lines are drawn on the cardboard: vertical - the height of the bodice, and the measurements taken are marked on the horizontal. The first of these is the shoulder line. Further, from this line, the distance of the height of the chest is measured vertically and another perpendicular is drawn, on which the chest volume is laid out, divided into the width of the back and front. Next comes the turn of the waist line and the corresponding measurement. In order to draw a waistline, the height of the front for the front panel and the height of the back for the back are measured downward from the shoulder line. These lines may not coincide, since the doll has large breasts, and so that the dress for Barbie fits perfectly and does not pull, it is correct if the front of the bodice is slightly longer.
Modeling outfit
The next stage is tucks. Since the front part and the back are immediately built on the drawing, they only work with the front of the bodice to draw tucks. To do this, find the middle on the chest line and raise it to the shoulder line.
From the intersection on both sides, we postpone a measure of the width of the shoulders and a quarter of the circumference of the neck, and approximately 0.5–0.7 cm wide from both sides we make a tuck from the shoulder to the chest. Tucks also need to be done from the waist to the chest line - about 0.5 cm wide: two in front and two in the back, symmetrical about the center. Moreover, it is not necessary to sew them up and cut off the fabric; they can be beautifully laid with drapery folds. Next is the turn of the neck and armhole. If you are planning a dress for Barbie without shoulders, then the design of the pattern should be done only on the waist and chest lines. Also, based on such a template, it is easy to make a blank for a dress with one shoulder or a deep neckline on the chest. As a rule, any dress is fastened with Velcro on the back, so the back is made of two parts. According to the created patterns, you can not only sew, but also crochet a dress for Barbie.
Assembly of parts, or sewing dresses
When the templates are ready on the cardboard, they can be cut and transferred to the fabric, and then proceed directly to the assembly of parts. So how to sew a dress for Barbie? To begin with, it is necessary to cut out all the details from the fabric, not forgetting the allowances for the seams. After proceeding to stitching the details: at the beginning of the tuck, then the shoulder and side seams. The next step is neck processing. To do this, you can use a slanting trim or sequin braid. In the same way, it is easy to process armholes if it is not planned to sew sleeves into them.
After the upper part is ready, proceed to the manufacture of the skirt. As already mentioned, in simple dresses it can be a strip of fabric, gathered on a thread and sewn to the bottom of the bodice. However, there may be another option - for example, a lace skirt with a large number of tiers. To do this, lace a few tiers on a strip of fabric, sewing a little. Usually, the skirt has just one seam at the back, in which a slit is left to sew the Velcro fastener. Velcro is made about a half centimeter wide and high for this cut and the whole bodice.