Links, Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection, Stacie Patterns, Tips for Beginners, Vintage Skipper

Who knew modern Stacie dolls and vintage Skipper dolls were an exact match? #SewVintage #Barbie

We see side-by-side images of vintage Simplicity 5861 sewing patterns. One has the original images of a blond vintage Skipper doll wearing each outfit in the ensemble. The other image shows a modern Stacie doll wearing the exact same outfits -- even the fabrics match! -- on the cover of the Simplicity 5861 original pattern envelope. This Stacie doll is Black with an African American natural hair look. She even wears the exact same socks and shoes and headbands/hair ribbons that Skipper wears on the original cover art for this Simplicity Skipper pattern ensemble! At the top of this pair of patterns, it says, "Who knew?"
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

Check this out! Can you believe it? I made the whole ensemble of doll clothes with my Simplicity 5861 pattern for vintage Skipper, and every single item in the ensemble fits not only vintage Skipper, but also modern Stacie dolls!

I loved sewing this set. It was pure joy!

This is the top section of the envelope for the Simplicity 5861 doll clothes pattern for vintage Skipper, including a jumper, circle skirt dress with bolero, and the pleated skirt with V-neck top that's featured in today's blog post.
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.

Of course there were challenges along the way. I started with the View 2 gingham dress that has a circle skirt. I don’t know if you can tell, but I actually made a mistake on this one.

See how the little black ribbon isn’t part of the jacket; it’s actually part of the dress? Whoops! I took this project with me on a road trip, and without the sheet of directions, I messed up and added the ribbon to the jacket instead of the dress.

Oh well, I still love how it looks on my modern Stacie in my reproduction of the envelope:

View 1 shows African American Stacie wearing a pin-striped shirt with collar under a red jumper (in the American sense of the word) with white bobby socks and little black flats. She has a red headband in her natural hair. View 2 shows African American Stacie wearing a black and white checkered gingham sleeveless dress with a circle skirt as part of the dress. She also wears a red bolero with black ribbon tie at the front of the bolero jacket. She has a red ribbon in her hair. She wears white bobby socks with tiny black flat shoes. View 3 shows African American modern Stacie wearing a yellow V-neck top over a green pleated skirt. She wears matching green knee-high socks and black flats. Her headband matches the color of her top. In view 4, African American Stacie doll wears yellow trousers or pants with a multicolored floral shirt that buttons in front. Her shoes are yellow plastic sneakers. View 5 shows African American Stacie modeling a bright blue swing coat with matching scarf. View 6 shows African American Stacie modeling a handmade evening gown with a red bodice, white skirt, and ribbons that are used as straps, as well as decorative ribbons that appear on the skirt running in two parallel lines horizontally along the skirt's white cotton fabric. There's a matching red ribbon in Stacie's hair. These are the exact same outfits on the original Simplicity 5861 doll clothes patterns for vintage Skipper dolls, proving that the two dolls -- modern Stacie and vintage Skipper -- can wear each other's clothes.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

It looks equally cute on vintage Skipper, of course. And on my road trip, I borrowed some of my aunt’s fabric to make a second version of it that had a longer skirt.

You might remember seeing this set in an earlier blog post (click here to read that post):

A vintage Skipper doll models a handmade pink felt bolero jacket with green rickrack trim over a green and pink floral dress that's long enough to be called calf-length.
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 pink bolero used a tiny green button instead of the ribbon concept, and I lined it with the green and pink floral fabric that the dress is made out of.

The lime green rickrack was something I happened to have with me in my sewing basket, and it draws a nice connection between the green of the dress and the green of the bolero.

In all honesty, I can’t decide whether I like the shorter gingham dress better or the longer floral dress version better. Here’s another look at Stacie in the short version of the dress, exactly as it appears in View 2 of the Simplicity 5861 doll clothes pattern. Which version do you like better? Feel free to leave a comment.

The image on the left shows an African American modern Stacie doll from Mattel wearing a handmade black and white gingham sleeveless dress with a circle skirt (view 2 from Simplicity 5861 doll clothes patterns from the 1960's for vintage Skipper). The photo on the right shows the same dress on the same AA doll with a red bolero worn over the top of the sleeveless gingham dress. In both photos, the doll wears white cotton bobby socks and a pair of black flats that are decorated with a tulle ribbon at the front of the shoes.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

I have skipped over the View 1 dress for a good reason. I don’t think I’ve done any blog posts on this pattern set yet, and I want to save the details for a more complete blog post that focuses on the lessons I learned with that dress.

So we’ll move on to the View 3 set: a V-neck blouse with a pleated skirt.

This image shows a vintage Skipper doll and a Black Stacie doll, modeling handmade socks. Both dolls wear a pleated skirt, but Skipper's is green, while Stacie's skirt is a miniature houndstooth print in brown. Both dolls wear a yellow shirt, but Stacie's is sleeveless, and she also wears a brown houndstooth jacket over the top of her yellow shirt in one of the five images of these dolls. Skipper's top is yellow with a V-neck, and three-quarter length sleeves. The focus for this image is on the dolls' socks. Skipper wears green socks that go up over her knee slightly. Stacie wears knee-length yellow socks.
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.

As you can see in the image above, I wanted to make the little socks that appear on the pattern envelope in View 3, but Simplicity 5861 didn’t come with these socks. So of course I designed my own pattern for them! And you can access that pattern right here.

I also did a detailed blog post on how to work with the pleats. That blog post is at this link.

I always love to experiment with a vintage pattern, too, and so I created a mix-and-match set with the bolero from View 2 and the pleated skirt from View 3. You can read more about that project in this blog post.

A Mattel Stacie doll models a handmade ensemble including a small snap-up-the-front jacket, made of brown houndstooth fabric, and a matching pleated skirt, made of the same fabric. The jacket has three-quarter length sleeves. Her socks are made of yellow jersey fabric, and her red Mary Janes are perfect little miniatures with phenomenal details like the tiny red strap, the black sole, and the little gold buckles. Her socks come up to her knee-length. Her jacket's sleeves are reminiscent of the length that was popular in the 1950's and 1960's. The doll's hair is worn in a tall afro on her head. The jacket is buttoned up (using snaps), so we can barely see her yellow shirt underneath.
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 shirt and pants set in View 4 can mix-and-match with the skirt and top from View 3, if you make them in yellow and green, like I did. So that’s a fun little fact as well.

But I actually played around with some alterations on the shirt and pants in View 4 when I was making that pattern, creating a pair of shorts and a top with shorter sleeves. I really liked how that turned out:

Here we see three handmade vintage Skipper outfits, which were sewn using Simplicity vintage doll clothes pattern 5861. On the left is a floral shirt which buttons in the front. It coordinates with a pair of straight-leg, elastic waist yellow cotton pants. In the center is a black and white gingham dress with a circle skirt that looks sharp with a red cotton bolero that has a black ribbon tie at the neckline. Then on the right, we see a plaid shorts set: a short-sleeved shirt with matching shorts that have an elastic waist. All of these doll clothes were made using Simplicity 5861 to fit vintage Skipper dolls. The three outfits are laying on a blue cutting mat with a centimeter scale, so we can see how very tiny they are! The Chelly Wood dot com logo appears in the lower right corner of the photograph.
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 plaid shorts won’t go with the floral top, but the pants will definitely look nice with the little plaid top.

It’s so nice to know how to do alterations like this! It really helps you expand your patterns one step further.

And as you can imagine, I’m now going to insert a plug for my course on doll clothes pattern alteration right here… because, well, why not?

 

But we still need to look at two more views from my Simplicity 5861 doll clothes sewing pattern!

When I completed the little blue winter coat in View 5, I wrote a blog post about lining coats and jackets. Here’s a link to that topic.

I love the little pinwheel fabric that I used for this coat’s lining!

A row of shiny silver snaps graces the front of a coat which is made of blue cotton for the exterior fabric and red, white, and blue pinwheel printed fabric for the interior lining of the coat.
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.

But I want to do another blog post, later on, about what I learned when making the scarf that Stacie wears in View 5 of Simplicity 5861.

Not all fabrics make good doll-sized scarves…

In this image, a modern Stacie doll from Mattel models a handmade blue winter coat with three-quarter length sleeves and a little blue matching scarf. She also wears red flats made of plastic. This is an African American Stacie doll with natural-looking hair in a top-of-the-head pony tail type bun. She stands mid-stride in a room with a purple background and a white floor.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

Although this scarf looks almost exactly like the one pictured in View 5 of the original Simplicity 5861 doll clothes pattern, I actually found a better fabric to use for making that scarf.

But that will have to wait for another day.

This vintage Skipper doll clothes pattern includes (view 1) a red jumper-dress with a dropped-waist that's belted, under which is worn a red and white striped collared shirt with 3/4 length sleeves; (views 2 and 3) a black and white gingham check dress with a circle skirt (that's primarily view 3) over which is worn a red bolero with 3/4 length sleeves (view 2); a yellow V-neck shirt worn over a green pleated mini-skirt worn just above the knee (view 3); a pair of yellow ankle pants with a 3/4 length collarless floral print shirt that has buttons running down the front (view 4); a blue winter coat with a scarf (view 5); and a red and white ball gown with ribbon trim, having a red bodice and white cotton extra long skirt (view 6).
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.

Let’s move on to the dress in View 6.

Today’s blog post is the first time I’ve mentioned this project on my website, and I love the way this pretty dress turned out!

Black Stacie (the modern Mattel Stacie doll in an African American version) models a red and white ball gown. The strappy bodice is made of red cotton fabric with little red ribbons that appear to tie at the shoulder. The gathered skirt is made of white cotton, and it's floor length. There are two red ribbons running horizontally across the skirt fabric about 1 and a half inches from the hem of the dress and again one inch down from the bodice of the dress. The doll has natural African American hair pulled up into a pony tail on top of her head, and she wears a matching red ribbon at the base of her pony tail-style bun. The ribbon is tied in a bow. the doll smiles with bright eyes looking slightly to the left of the photographer.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

As you can see, this dress looks gorgeous with the red bolero (scroll down a bit), and the little ribbon in Stacie’s hair really adds a touch of formality to the dress as well.

But I want to say more about this dress in another blog post, as this Monday post is getting a wee bit long…

A modern African American Stacie doll appears ready to run into the arms of a friend of family member, as she models a long ball gown with a little red bolero. The skirt of her long dress is made of white cotton, gathered at the bottom of the red bodice. The skirt has tiny red ribbons running horizontally along the fabric of the skirt, essentially marking thirds of the skirt. The bolero she wears over this strappy ball gown is made of red cotton with a black ribbon tied at the neck. Her little expression is joyful, and she wears her hair up in a high pony tail, with natural African American wiry curls forming a natural-looking bun atop her head. Beautiful little curls waft down along the hairline of this doll's face. She's very pretty in her red and white evening attire!
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

*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.

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.

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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.

This image shows four rows of artist's renderings of doll clothing items. The top row shows four different styles of pants. The second row shows four different styles of shirts. The third row shows four different styles of skirts. The fourth row shows four different styles of dresses, with skirts in long, short, and mid-length styles. The text reads at the top, "Classes in Doll Clothing Design" followed by this paragraph: "Have you ever wished you could create patterns of your own? Click on the links to Chelly's online courses below, to learn more about her paid courses in doll clothing pattern design techniques."

For any class on Creative Spark, you don’t have to follow a schedule. Just sign up when you’re ready.

It’s a one-time fee for the course, and there’s no specific time limit to finish your course. You can just take your time and learn at the pace that suits you. So go check out my paid courses on Creative Spark, using this link.

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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.

2 thoughts on “Who knew modern Stacie dolls and vintage Skipper dolls were an exact match? #SewVintage #Barbie”

  1. What a good thing the vintage outfits fit Stacie as Mattel doesn’t make clothes for her or Skipper. Luckily modern Skipper is not dissimilar to the Petite Barbie body. By the way I think these little outfits would look cute on Hermione and Ginny from the Harry Potter series. They can wear vintage Cricket outfits as she is the same size as vintage Skipper.

    Reply

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