I’m going to keep this blog post short and sweet. I have recently been given or discovered (usually at second-hand stores) a number of new dolls to design clothing for.
Yesterday was all about the goals I set for myself in 2024, but now it’s time to look ahead. Who should I design doll clothes for in 2025? Please vote by leaving a comment below! You can offer an explanation/reason or just type the doll’s name into the comments.
These dolls are among the “new” dolls in my collection that I’m considering designing patterns for during the coming year:
- a 20 inch vintage Miss Revlon
- vintage Bubble Cut Barbie
- a 4.5 inch Trolls doll
- vintage Ken
- Calico Critters (the rabbit family)
- an 18 inch Fancy Nancy doll
- a 9 and 1/4 inch Fancy Nancy doll
- a 1985 Jem (from Hasbro)
- Uneeda Wendy
- Mrs. Ida B. Wells (from Mattel’s Inspiring Women collection)
- a 12 inch Baby Alive
- vintage Ideal Dodi (friend of Pepper)
- vintage Kevin (see description below)*
Okay, now which dolls should I focus on designing patterns for? Please leave your vote in the comments.
*My Kevin doll is sort of an enigma. His body reminds me of the Malibu Ken doll body from the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. But Kevin’s body says 1968.
Does anyone know if they were making Kevin dolls that early? Or did somebody put a Kevin doll on a Ricky body or something maybe? Feel free to comment on this if you know anything about Kevin. I’m open to your thoughts and ideas.
Dear Chelly,
I’d like for you to design clothes for Little Miss Revlon, Vintage Ken, Jem and Kevin dolls next year and see how they turn out.
Well, I don’t have a Little Miss Revlon, but I do have the big 20 inch doll. Of course, if you’re enrolled in one of my classes, you should be able to re-size the big doll’s clothes to fit a smaller doll.
Vintage Ken, Jem, and Kevin — got it! Your vote is in.
I always think you can never have too many boy clothes even if all of them appear to be Ken-sized. Focus on clothes you can hardly find patterns to make for boys/men. Thanks and Merry Christmas and a successful 2025.
Judy, can you give me some ideas? What “boy clothes” patterns are really hard to find?
I vote for vintage Bubble cut Barbie and vintage Ken.
Also, just finished a bunch of Barbie outfits for my 6 year old granddaughter. Hope to send pictures to you soon!
Marion
I’d love that, Marion. Are you sewing with my patterns, some vintage patterns, or something else?
Your question about the Kevin and Ricky dolls put a thought in my head about a doll not on your list. I don’t have a Kevin doll in my collection, so I only know what he looks like from pictures online. Ricky was discontinued in 1967, so it’s not his body. Besides, the original Skipper body was used for Ricky, which leads me to my vote. I know she’s not on this list, but I would love to see more patterns for the original child-like Skipper body, but designed to also accommodate Ricky (like a jacket or jeans – or pajamas). The commercial vintage Skipper patterns are mostly frilly dresses and feminine tops and coats. I’ve been able to make the cropped pants longer to be more appropriate for Ricky. Maybe the Dodie doll falls into that category. Otherwise, my vote is for Vintage Ken, as I am trying to sew more male doll clothes or for the soft body dolls, which are difficult to adapt patterns to. Thanks, Chelly!
What a helpful comment! I had forgotten that Ricky’s body is the same body mold as vintage Skipper’s. That does make me start to think…
It would be fun to design some boyish clothes for the little 1960’s Skipper. I’ll keep thinking about that.
Hi, BetteAnn! When you’ve mentioned a child-like Skipper body, that have reminded me of Creatable World dolls. Chelly’s Creatable world’s jeans and t-shirt patterns are quite likely to fit your Ricky doll. And they are not frilly!
I think you’re probably right, but I’m not 100% sure. Ricky might have a body more like the Skipper dolls from the 1960’s, and those are very small bodies, closer to the measurements of a modern Stacie doll.
However I do have vintage Skipper pants that could likely be coupled with the T-shirt pattern from my Creatable world dolls, to fit Ricky. That actually might work quite well.
Thank you, Debora. I will look into that!
Hi, I vote for
20 inch vintage Miss Revlon and Uneeda Wendy (even if for her it is more difficult to find a pair of shoes that fit those huge feet of hers).
I’d like to make more clothes for Ken, but pattern usually propose mainly a suit that is long and difficult to make. I have made a lot of pants and shirts but more or less they are always the same.
Love the Ricky doll and in fact it is quite difficult to make any dress for him, specially shirts with long sleeves. Another male doll for which is difficult to make any cloth is the male pattern of Pippa doll, if I recall well its name is Pete.
I have triven to make a pair of pants for him but it is difficult and I am afraid it is very different from the Dawn friend.
I have just bought a new small sewing machine and it is working well. I hope it will be easier to make hems for skirts. Since now I have been able to make new handles for a old shopping bag and I am very proud of it. It’s been an unexpected goal.
Anyway i have found on Facebook this and I like it:
I’m not making any resolutions.
I think it’s time for the years to be better, not me.
A smile and best wishes for a Meryy Christmas to you and every one reader.
Marco
Awww… Thanks Marco. Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones as well. 🎄
Your vote has been received! I have a new vintage Ken (he’s new to me anyway), but I think he’s the “little bit shorter” Ken doll from 1963 because he has those “swingy” arms. I’d like to design some doll clothes to fit him, but I’m not sure how helpful they would be, as he’s sort of a rare size for Ken. Not a lot of people collect the 1963 version.
I have a brown Ken with flocked hair, a blonde one with painted blonde hair and one mod hair. I am not very sure their size is different.
Uh, I forgot to suggest maybe a cloth for Cinnamon, Crissy’s little sister, but I am not sure if it is a common doll. They say that Crissy and Velvet have the same body size.
Crissy and Velvet do have similar, but not identical body measurements. I did a #TapeMeasureTuesday blog post about the differences in their bodies. (See link.)
I’m sorry but I don’t actually own a Cinnamon. I remember that doll, from when I was a child. If I remember correctly, she’s sort of a large-ish baby doll. I’m not sure I’d have room for her in my house! (Currently I’m trying hard to down-size my collection.)
But I did just buy a 20 inch Miss Revlon, so I guess where there’s a will, there’s a way! Perhaps I’ll get a Cinnamon doll some time down the road.
I’d love to see some clothes for the Disney Nuimos.
Aren’t all NuiMOs 6 inches tall? And if so, don’t they fit in the clothes I designed for the 6 inch Disney Princess dolls? Just curious.
My suggestion is not in the list. I’d like to see patterns for the teeny-tiny Barbie Mini-mini Extra. I’ve offered one for my niece for Brazilian children’s day, in October, and was so charmed I had to buy myself one. Only they have nothing to wear but the clothes they came wearing.
Are these Barbie Mini-mini Extra dolls even smaller than Chelsea? If so, that would be quite a challenge, to create patterns for them!
So far, I don’t own one, and therefore pattern-making is only possible for the dolls I already own. But thank you for opening my eyes to a new doll from Mattel!
Yes, I think Barbie Extra mini is a Chelsea-sized Barbie and the Extra Mini-minis are about 8 cm tall
Hi, may I add a suggestion for vintage Ken doll, a pair of bell bottoms pants? I have never seen them for Ken, only for Barbie. 🙂
Best wishes for a happy new year! M
Oh Marco, I love that Idea! I’ll see what I can do…
Hey everybody, I just read through all of the suggestions one more time, on January 8th (after everyone has had a little time to submit requests). All of your requests have gone into my pattern request journal. That doesn’t mean I’ll get to them in 2025, but I do go back and reference my pattern request booklet from time to time, just to see what inspires me. So THANK YOU for your suggestions!