People use my Contact Form to ask me all kinds of questions about sewing doll clothes. One question I’ve seen a few times in the past couple of years is…
What pattern would you recommend for sewing a Barbie-sized poodle skirt?
A classic poodle skirt is usually made using a circular pattern with a waistband. Traditionally, the skirt will be embellished with a felt image of a poodle appliqued onto the fabric of the skirt. The final product will look something like this:
But which pattern is ideal for sewing a poodle skirt for your Barbie? My answer to this question varies, depending upon which Barbie you’re sewing for.
Vintage Barbie dolls are shaped very different from modern ones. To get the exact measurements of a vintage Barbie and compare it to a modern Barbie, please look back at this blog post. (Warning: in that blog post, both dolls are nude.)
So I will first address the question of sewing a poodle skirt for a vintage Barbie. If you scroll back to the image at the top of this page, you’ll see the Chelly Wood doll holding up (and standing next to) an old pattern for vintage Barbie dolls.
This is a Mattel Toy Makers’ “Sew-Easy” doll clothes pattern #2896. On this particular pattern, if you use pink for the skirt fabric and attach a pre-made poodle iron-on patch, you can easily create a poodle skirt for the project shown as #3 on the front of this pattern (see image at right).
Here on ChellyWood.com, I do not yet have a poodle skirt pattern designed and posted. Over the summer, I did work on one, but it turned out to be too small.
Alas, this happens to pattern makers — even those of us who make doll clothes patterns all the time — so it’s “back to the drawing board” for this project.
However, for those of you who requested a poodle skirt pattern for Barbie dolls, your item will remain on my request list until I get the kinks figured out for that particular pattern.
Meanwhile, click here to find the Mattel Toy Makers’ “Sew-Easy” doll clothes pattern #2896 on eBay. But before buying patterns on eBay, you might want to look over last week’s tips for buying patterns online.
If you’re wanting to make a poodle skirt for a modern Barbie doll, please check back with me next week. There’s another commercial pattern that I can recommend for modern Barbie dolls, and we’ll take a look at that one next Monday.
And here I been thinking about poodle skirts as well! I just got my hands on a nude vintage Midge, and a Fashion Queen head (that’s now on a newer Fashionista body), and wanted to do them both up in something period-appropriate. Got an Alan too, but I don’t think he look good in a poodle skirt. XD I’ve spent a lot of this nightmare of a year moving furniture around to try to get myself some better crafting space… still got the aftermath cleanup to do and then planning a sewing marathon. 🙂
You got an Alan and a Midge? Fun! Sounds like today’s topic was perfect for you.
I like this idea. I had an original skirt with a poodle on it, when I was growing. up. Thank you for sharing.
I’m glad you liked the topic. Thank you for leaving a comment!