Can a vintage Barbie wear Tressy doll clothes? #DollClothesPatterns #VintageBarbie

Standing in front of a turquoise blue mottled background, a vintage Barbie, with her dark brown hair pulled back in a pony tail, wears a handmade pink dress over a white blouse with lace trim. The pink dress is dotted with different colored polka dots (burgundy polka dots, white ones, and pale pink polka dots too). She wears white plastic flats. The ChellyWood.com logo appears in the corner.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

Based on the image above, it certainly does look like a Vintage Barbie CAN wear vintage Tressy doll clothes patterns!

I blogged about this outfit a bit last week, and I mentioned that this was part of an ensemble I put together for a little girl from my area whose family knows me. As you can see in the image below, I re-created the dress and blouse combination in view 2 from this Simplicity Tressy doll clothes pattern 5731.

The image shows a close photo of Simplicity Tressy Doll Clothes Pattern 5731 (Copyright 1964). The doll clothes patterns offered in this pattern set include a long green ball gown with 1960's bodice style; a knife pleated skirt with a 3/4 length sleeve shirt; a pajama; a pair of pedal pusher pants with a 3/4 length sleeve shirt; a ruffled blouse with an American style jumper; a V-neck dress that goes above the knee; a swing coat with 3/4 length sleeves.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

Last week’s blog post focused on the “frilly” blouse from this vintage Simplicity Tressy doll clothes pattern number 5731, and in that blog post, we discovered that the blouse was a bit too bulky when worn by a modern Made-to-Move Barbie.

A purple fabric frame surrounds a photo of a Made to Move Barbie dressed in a white shirt and a multi-colored skirt that has a sort of maroon-burgundy-white-pink swirly pattern on the skirt's cotton fabric. The photo is taken from slightly above the doll's head. This angle makes the shirt look sort of frumpy and thick-in-the-middle.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

There’s some bulkiness to the back closure area on my vintage Barbie too, but since I used Velcro as a closure, I think it worked out well anyway.

This image shows the frilly blouse that goes with Simplicity Tressy doll clothes pattern number 5731, and the blouse/shirt has been made from white cotton. It's displayed on a vintage Barbie, and the doll has her back to the camera. The back closure is exposed, and it shows a bit of bulk to the back closure area. Under the blouse, she wears a pair of burgundy-colored shorts that have one back pocket.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

The little girl who would receive these doll clothes was only four years old. With someone so young, I really think Velcro is the preferred method of closure. Little girls that age can struggle to make more traditional snap closures work right.

Once I had sewn the Velcro on my blouse, I thought, “Oh no! what if the jumper dress (in the USA sense, not the UK sense) doesn’t close in the back?” because as you might imagine, if the original pattern calls for snaps, you may run into fitting issues if you use something else, especially for a layered outfit like this one is.

So I was truly pleased to discover that the vintage Simplicity 5731 jumper dress really looks sharp on my vintage Barbie, as you’ll see in the image below:

In this photo, we see a vintage Barbie with dark brown hair pulled back into a pony tail. She also has bangs (fringes). She models a pink and multi-colored polka dot jumper-style dress with a white blouse underneath. In this side-view photo, you can tell that the sleeves have cutwork lace trim and the top of the blouse also has some sort of lace trim.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

I’m not trying to brag here, but isn’t that just the cutest little outfit? I love it! And it really does look a lot like the image on the pattern’s envelope, wouldn’t you say?

In this image, the Chelly Wood doll (a Spin Master Liv doll that has had her face repainted and her wig dyed grey to look like the real doll clothing designer, Chelly Wood) holds up Simplicity "Tressy" doll clothes pattern number 5731 with 7 different doll clothing items pictured on the front of the pattern.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

And remember how I was originally considering using orange with this ensemble?

Here we see five different fabrics pictured: the solids are pink, wine colored, and orange. The prints include a multicolored swirling floral fabric and a maroon or wine colored floral fabric with a white background of color.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

I’m glad I switched to white for that blouse. It really would have looked wonky to have made my lace-trimmed blouse out of orange, I think. Take a look:

Here we see the white "frilly blouse" from vintage Tressy doll clothes pattern #5731, and in closer detail, we now see that the sleeves end not in ruffles but in straight lace edging. There's also a white ribbon (trimmed on both sides in silver glitter) running down the front of the shirt like placket. On either side of this placket, we see lace also trims both sides of the ribbon. There's also a puffy white lace collar at the doll's neck.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

White is just such a versatile color! It goes with everything!

And you’d be surprised, when a child asks me to make them some doll clothes, how often I hear the request, “Can you just make me a plain white shirt?”

That’s because even little girls as young as four years old know that no matter what you pair it with — shorts, skirts, jeans, pants, or jumper dresses — white will go with just about everything.

A long string of doll clothes includes (front to back) bermuda shorts with a pocket, a white long-sleeved shirt with a lace collar, lace sleeves, and a front placket that's edged in lace, a floral print short skirt, a pink jumper (American sense of the word), a burgundy tank top, a pink raglan-sleeved short-sleeved shirt made of cotton, and a long burgundy floral print skirt with an elastic waist. The entire wardrobe hangs from handmade (and one store bought) plastic hangers -- some of which also have a cloth shoulder area), and they are hanging from a black string of yarn. The ChellyWood.com logo is in the lower right corner.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

Most of the commercial patterns I display and talk about here on ChellyWood.com are also available for sale on eBay. However, if you’ve never purchased a pattern on eBay before, it’s a good idea to read the article I wrote called, “Tips for Buying Used Doll Clothes Patterns on eBay.” It will save you time, money, and will likely prevent buyer’s remorse.

And by the way, if you use the links I’ve provided to make your eBay purchase, this website will receive a small commission, which helps fund the ChellyWood.com website, so I can continue to provide you with all the free patterns and tutorial videos offered here.

In case you haven’t heard, my Creative Spark class, “How to Alter Doll Clothes Patterns” is now live on the Creative Spark platform. You can sign up any time you want!

And don’t panic if it seems like too much to take on right now — sometimes our lives get really busy. I get that. But for any class on Creative Spark, you don’t have to sign up any time soon. Just sign up when you’re ready.

If you’re interested in taking my paid course, you will pay a one-time fee, and there’s no specific time limit to access your course. You can just take your time and learn at the pace that suits you.

To read more about my free sewing patterns and tutorials, please visit the “Helpful Tips” page.

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*ChellyWood.com earns money by linking to JoAnn Fabrics, Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and other online affiliate programs. Links provided above may be affiliate links. For a full list of my affiliate programs, and to understand how cookies are used to help this website earn money, please see my “Privacy Policy” page.

Chelly Wood and the ChellyWood.com website are not affiliated with the pattern company or companies mentioned in this blog post, but Chelly finds inspiration in the doll clothes designed by these pattern companies. To purchase patterns from Simplicity, McCall’s, Butterick, Vogue, or other pattern companies shown and discussed in this blog post, please click on the links provided here. These links below the “Disclaimer” section do not help raise money for this free pattern website; they are only offered to give credit to the company that made these patterns.

5 thoughts on “Can a vintage Barbie wear Tressy doll clothes? #DollClothesPatterns #VintageBarbie

  1. It is a cute outfit. I remember as a child that my cousin had Barbie and I had Tressy. I only had one genuine Tressy outfit and can’t remember if we ever put it on her Barbie. I did try Barbie outfits on Tressy and they fit but they didn’t look as good a fit on her as on Barbie. Barbie’s shoes definitely did not fit Tressy which was really annoying. Even today I have a hard time finding shoes that fit her.

    1. How long is Tressy’s foot in millimeters? I have a large collection of fashion doll shoes, and I may be able to find some that do fit her among my shoes. That way you’ll know which doll brands can swap shoes with her, and maybe you can buy her some extra shoes on eBay or something.

  2. these outfits are beautiful! You are really great! Thank you for all you do. GOD BLESS you.

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