What are the measurements of a “Tall Barbie”… Height? Waist? Bust? I recently received this question in my inbox, so I decided it was time, once again, to compare measurements! (I don’t know about you, but I think it’s fun to compare measurements on dolls…)

To my knowledge, there are actually three different dolls that would qualify for the title of “tall Barbie” dolls. There’s the “My Size Barbie,” which ranges in size from 28 inches tall to 38 inches tall, depending on the year of manufacture. I do not own one of these dolls, but I hope to purchase one someday.

Next we have the relatively new 17 inch Endless Hair Princess Barbie, which I do own. Her measurements are as follows:

• Top of head to base of foot: 17 inches, which is 43 centimeters
• Bust circumference: 6.5 inches or 16.5 cm
• Waist circumference: 5 inches or 12.6 cm
• Leg inseam (distance from crotch to bottom of heel): 8.5 inches or 21.5 cm
• Arm inseam (distance from the underarm to the wrist): 4.5 inches or 11.5 cm
• Torso (distance from the shoulder close to the neck, down to the hip): 4 inches or 10.1 centimeters
• Neckline (distance from shoulder to bust, to allow for a discreet neckline): 1 1/4 inches or 3.3 cm
• Leg circumference at top of thigh: 3 3/4 inches or 9.5 cm
• Arm circumference at top of upper arm: 2 1/4 inches or 5.7 cm

And last but not least, there’s the Tall Barbie from the Fashionistas line. These are her measurements:

Also, her arm inseam is slightly longer than “normal” Barbie, and as one might expect, her leg inseam is longer. But it was the torso that threw me off when designing doll clothes for her.

The wedding dress pattern that I’ve recently posted for Tall Barbie on my website uses the same bodice pattern that my regular Barbie’s dress used, which gives this wedding dress a sort of pregnant look, like women wore in the Napoleonic era. (Google images of Josephine, first wife of Napoleon to see what I mean.) I believe we call this style of dress an “empire waist” dress because of the role Empress Josephine had in popularizing this fashion (empire => empress).

So it’s not bad to use a regular Barbie pattern when sewing a dress for Tall Barbie, but be prepared for the empire waist look, rather than a natural waist look in such a dress. To see what I mean, take a look at the photo at the top of this post. The Fashionista Tall Barbie (pictured in the middle) is wearing a purple felt top that was sewn using the exact same pattern as the white felt top worn by my Made-to-Move Barbie. Do you see how the purple top shows more of her belly? It’s almost more of a crop top. That’s what you’ll get if you sew a shirt for Tall Barbie using a pattern designed for a regular Barbie.

Additional Information:

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Recently, some of my followers have wondered what motivates me to give my patterns away for free.

First of all, I’m a librarian by trade. Librarians love free stuff! We believe that the more a person knows, the more enriched their life will be. So it may sound kind of crazy, but I want ChellyWood.com to become a sort of library of free patterns that help people learn to sew doll clothes.

If you’d like to learn more about my motives, feel free to visit my Chelly’s Books page.

My Gallery Page is the easiest way to search through all of my patterns to find what you want. Each image on the Gallery Page takes you to links for patterns and tutorials.

Need help printing my patterns? This link offers a tutorial showing you how to download and print my FREE patterns using Google Docs. (For the older print-a-pattern tutorial, which uses Microsoft Word, click here.) To review my difficulty scale (demonstrating how hard or easy a pattern is by the number of flowers displayed), take a look back at this blog post.

Please note: you must enlarge my patterns to fit a full-sized piece of American computer paper (8.5 x 11 inches or 216 x 279 mm) without margins, before printing. These designs use a scant 1/4 inch seam (4 mm to be exact).

My patterns are now available through “Creative Commons Attribution.” This means that I created my patterns (and therefore I own rights to them), but I’m willing to share them with everyone who will tell people about my website.

Here are some helpful ways to tell the world about my patterns:

• You can pin them on Pinterest.
• You can like them on Facebook.
• You can tweet about them.
• Use any other form of social media that appeals to you!

Are you new to sewing? I’ve got a playlist of tutorials for the beginning sewists on my YouTube channel. It includes video tutorials showing you how to do a basic straight stitch when sewing by hand, how to use the whipstitch to hem a garment, how to sew on snaps, and even how to design your own doll clothes patterns, for those who are new to design and alterations.

In case you haven’t heard, I have actually designed some commercial patterns for Lammily LLC. You might want to visit the Lammily website to see what they’ve got going on.

If your question wasn’t answered here, feel free to submit a question. I’m always happy to help my followers find what they need, so they, too, can make amazing doll clothes and crafts!