Today’s blog post attempts to answer the question, “Can Ideal Tammy dolls wear vintage Barbie clothes?”

I’ll be focusing on one vintage Barbie doll clothes pattern in particular: the ice skating outfit from View 4 of the Advance 9939 doll clothes pattern from 1961. The two dolls–Ideal Tammy and vintage Barbie–have very different body measurements, and you can learn more about Tammy’s body measurements in this older blog post.

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Today’s blog post, however, focuses on one Barbie outfit from a vintage Barbie doll sewing pattern, Advance 9939. Specifically, I made the ice skater outfit, shown in View 4 from that pattern.

The reason I’ve isolated this particular outfit is because a.) it comes with underpants (or bloomers), which help us decide whether or not the waistline and leg circumferences are a similar fit and b.) its top has long sleeves, which helps us decide whether or not Tammy’s little spread-out fingers will fit through a sleeve designed for a vintage Barbie.

The “panties” or bloomers that come with the ice skater outfit are actually one of the best I’ve found in a vintage pattern, but the “why” behind that is extensive and as such, it will have to wait for a blog post of its own someday. However, Tammy does fit nicely in the bloomers at the waist and thigh.

Tammy’s thighs are meatier than Barbie’s (more like a real person’s thighs, in my humble opinion). So my big concern was that the panties wouldn’t fit her in both the fitted waist and the leg holes.

But as you can see in my photos, these bloomers really fit her perfectly, almost as if she was the original doll that these panties were designed for.

The waistband of the ice skating skirt, however, was not such an easy fit. Now, keep in mind that my long-sleeved shirt is tucked into the waistband of the skirt (as shown in the View 4 image on the Advance 9939 envelope), so maybe that’s why the skirt needed a bit more room for Tammy’s waist.

I was really happy that I added an extra snap, though, because it was this extra snap extension that allowed Tammy to fit in the skirt with the shirt tucked into the waistband. I also altered the original pattern’s waistband length, allowing for more room.

I usually make this longer-waistband alteration when sewing doll clothes for any doll because it allows for more clothing swaps between dolls, and I often find that the original pattern’s waistband is just too small for the doll it’s supposedly designed to fit, even in vintage commercial patterns.

As you can see in my photos above, my “Waistband C for Skating Skirt” has been cut from a damaged pattern piece. I’m guessing two seamstresses (perhaps two sisters or two best friends) were sharing the same Barbie pattern because a bunch of my pattern pieces have been cut in half, like this waistband. I assume the original seamstress/sewist was always cutting pattern pieces on the fold.

I mean, yeah, it’s an ingenious way to cut back costs between two families, by sharing patterns after cutting all the pieces in half, but when I received my Advance 9939 pattern in the mail, I have to say I was pretty disappointed to discover this little nugget of information (which the seller failed to disclose, having simply posted it on eBay as a “cut pattern”). Sort of a dirty trick!

But I digress. Let’s move on to the skirt and shirt.

Again, I was surprised to discover that this ice skater outfit does not have a body suit for Barbie, but rather, the Advance 9939 pattern uses a long-sleeved shirt for the ice skater outfit, coupled with bloomers and a very flouncy skirt.

The skirt is made from four half circles pieced together, which is something I’d never seen before. So it’s not a true circle skirt, but in my opinion, it’s even better! Just look at the fluidity of its swirls! — Amazing!

As a little girl, I used to have a pair of red jelly ice skates for Barbie, and I would have loved the way this skirt is designed to swirl on the ice! I recently bought a pair of these adorable red jelly Barbie skates on eBay, and I have to say the nostalgia of holding them in my hands was heartwarming.

During my childhood, when my parents weren’t around, I used to fill a cake pan with water and leave it in the freezer, so my Barbie could actually ice skate on her little red jelly skates! Oh, the memories! Unfortunately, they do not fit my Tammy doll, which is why she’s stuck with her silver cowboy boots instead.

Once I finished sewing the shirt piece, I was pleased to discover that Tammy’s little spread-out fingers do fit through the tapered long sleeves in this View 4 ice skater’s shirt from Advance 9939.

This long-sleeved shirt pattern has little darts in the neckline, which struck me as odd, but once I got it all sewn up, I could see that these darts really helped create a nice shape around the neckline, both for Tammy and for Barbie. As most of us know, vintage Barbie is quite chesty, and I think these darts are essentially designed to making the whole shirt fit her, bust and all, without having a wonky wrinkle in her arm pit.

In fact, I’ve been super pleased with this long-sleeved shirt pattern from Advance 9939. I have a few other vintage long-sleeved shirt patterns for Barbie, but this might be my favorite one that I’ve made so far.

Of course I added a lining (see the light blue plaid, shown in the image directly below), even though the pattern’s instructions didn’t call for that.

But even with the added bulk of the lining, the shirt still fits both Tammy and Barbie quite nicely.

For Christmas this year, my husband bought me some jersey fabric with very tiny pinstripes from one of my favorite Etsy stores, iSewForDoll, and I’d like to re-make this View 4 shirt from my new striped jersey fabric, to see if it still turns out this well.

My fear is that, because of the flower-pedal style of the shirt pattern (see images above), the stripes will look jagged in the back and on the sleeves.

But for a solid fabric, like this blue polyester-cotton blend that I’m using, it creates a fantastic long-sleeved shirt. And you can’t beat the overall look and fit of the final product, when making the whole outfit for the View 4 ice skating ensemble from Advance 9939.

My final ice skating ensemble fits Tammy nicely, but again, if you’re making this outfit for your own Ideal Tammy doll, I’d recommend adding a centimeter or two to the length of the waistband, just to make sure the skirt fits over the top of the long-sleeved shirt.

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.