Last summer I got my hands on an uncut version of this wonderful Skipper doll clothes pattern, vintage Simplicity 5861, an original pattern from 1964. Holy hand-stitching, Batman! I have REALLY enjoyed sewing this whole ensemble!

My goal, last summer, was to make each item in the wardrobe to match the image on the envelope cover exactly. And guess what… I’ve gotten the whole thing done! Every single outfit!

I even made socks!

My vintage Skipper wears her little hand-stitched green socks under the pleated skirt, which I made using the pattern for View 3 in Simplicity 5861. Of course I fiddled with the original pattern! (Would you expect anything else from me?)

And of course I learned a lot from sewing together each outfit in this whole wardrobe. In fact, the pattern itself, doesn’t come with a socks pattern. That was entirely my doing.

But I think I’ll wait until later on, before I go into details about how to make the socks. And OH! The trickiness of creating a pleated skirt for a 9 inch vintage Skipper doll! That will take some time to explain, so watch for those blog posts down the road.

In the meantime, I just want to revel in the beauty of this moment…

DAAAAANG! Did I get that right, or did I get that right?

I’m pretty proud of myself right about now…

Although, as the seamstress, I do notice the little bits and bobs that don’t quite match.

If you carefully compare it with the image on the envelope for Simplicity 5861, you’ll see that my skirt is just a wee bit longer than the one on the envelope. My socks appear to be a hair longer too, which is why you can’t quite see the tops of my socks in the photo.

But I’ve had so much fun making this outfit, I’ve already started another one, using different fabric and mixing and matching the skirt with other wardrobe pieces. But again, I’ll talk about that in another blog post, later on.

For now, I just want everyone to notice that in the photo below, Skipper looks a lot like Nancy Drew, of the famous Nancy Drew Mysteries! What do you think?

Did you ever play with Skipper like she was Nancy Drew, or another character from a book you loved? I had two blond Skippers, as a kid, and I liked to pretend they were the twins from The Parent Trap!

In the comments below, share a memory! What characters did you like to imagine, when you played with your dolls?

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For anyone who would like to expand their dolls’ wardrobes, you should really check out my “How to Alter Doll Clothes Patterns” course and my “Design Your Own Doll Pants Patterns from Scratch” classes on the Creative Spark online learning platform. Here’s my bio page on their website, where you can learn more.

 

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Disclaimer/Credit/Affiliate Marketing Link:

*Please note: when you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include Amazon, JoAnn Fabric, Etsy, and the eBay Partner Network. As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. To learn more about how my website uses affiliate marketing, please visit the website’s 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.