If you’re a Tammy doll collector, you’ll very likely be equally familiar with Sindy, the Pedigree version of Ideal’s Tammy. Sindy, of course, became tremendously popular in the United Kingdom in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Today’s blog post asks the question, “Can vintage Sindy dolls fit in clothes made for vintage Tammy?”

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In the image above, you’ll see my vintage Sindy doll modeling one of the sun dresses that I designed to fit a regular modern Barbie, so we can see that Sindy is able to swap clothes — at least to some degree — with the popular icon of fashion doll fame.

But what about vintage commercial patterns? Well, it should first be stated that the two dolls I own are not from the same era. My Sindy is a 1970’s version (likely from 1978, like the one that appears on Toy Box Philosopher’s website), while my Tammy is a 1964 model.

So there’s a half-inch difference in height between the two dolls, as you can see in the image below:

It’s my understanding that the earliest form of Pedigree Sindy was an exact duplicate of Ideal Tammy, in which case the question in this blog post is already answered for us: yes, the two dolls should be able to swap doll clothes patterns.

But what if you own a Sindy from the 1970’s? Well, as you may remember from last week’s blog post, “Sewing hack: what to do when you don’t have enough fabric“, I’ve set a goal to make all the doll clothes in the Simplicity 4883 Tammy doll wardrobe, and as I do, I’d like to show Sindy in each garment I make.

We’ll see if I can make this happen!

So here we see my 1970’s Pedigree Sindy wearing dress view 1 from my Simplicity 4883 Ideal Tammy doll clothes pattern set.

She looks absolutely lovely in this dress, although it’s not period correct for a 70’s doll to wear a 60’s style sheath dress. But honestly, I don’t care. In the modern era, there’s no shame in wearing clothes from a bygone era, and I think Sindy has the right personality to pull it off!

This dress has a less floofy looking ruffle than the ruffle I created for last week’s denim dress, but I like this ruffle a lot. For the white cotton, multi-colored floral dress that Sindy’s wearing in these photos, I followed the directions that came with the original Simplicity 4883 Tammy doll clothes pattern.

And to be honest with you, I enjoyed making the denim dress more than the white cotton floral dress, just because I love when my doll clothes are lined. It makes sleeves and necklines so much easier to do!

To remind you, in the image below, Sindy is wearing the denim dress I wrote about last week, and you can go back to that blog post to learn how I altered the dress to suit my preferences. Just click here to read last week’s post.

You’ll notice that Sindy’s dress — the denim dress — looks like it is much longer, but that’s due to the alterations I made to the ruffle, not the actual length of the dress on Sindy.

Compare the image above to the image below:

You can see that the sheath dress made of cotton multi-colored floral print fabric is approximately the same length on Sindy as it is on Tammy. So even though Sindy is a half inch shorter than Tammy, oddly, the Simplicity 4883 view 1 dress fits them with an identical length.

The main difference in fit, between these two dolls, is in the bust, in my opinion.

When you tie the little belt around their waists, Pedigree Sindy’s dress seems to wrinkle a bit more in the bust than Tammy‘s does.

But I still think it fits well enough for hours of fun play time!

Now bear in mind that I followed the pattern directions for the white cotton dress with multicolored retro flowers, and that means I added snaps down the back of the dress rather than the Velcro that I used on the denim version.

I think, if I were making this dress again, specifically to fit Sindy, I’d go with the Velcro closure. Why? Because look at the difference in fit, when Sindy wears the denim dress with its Velcro closure:

That’s a much smoother look for her bust, probably because Velcro can be easily adjusted to fit a little tighter, as needed.

However the denim dress with its Velcro closure certainly fits Tammy nicely too.

And as I said, this doll — at least, from what I’ve been told — uses the exact same mold for head and body as the earliest Sindy dolls.

So to answer the question that today’s blog post has been focused on, yes, Pedigree Sindy can wear at least one of the dresses in the vintage Simplicity 4883 sewing pattern set for vintage Ideal Tammy dolls.

I’m planning to make even more of the outfits in the Simplicity 4883 pattern set, and I’ll keep you posted about how well Sindy fits in the other outfits, in future blog posts!

If you’d like to learn more about Pedigree Sindy and her connections with Ideal Tammy dolls — or to just learn about Sindy in general — I recommend visiting one of these websites:

• The Toybox Philosopher
• The Little Sindy Museum
• Pedigree Toys and Brands Ltd
• Our Sindy Museum
• Doll Reference

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.

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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.