The Walkaway Dress Pattern for Vintage Barbie: Simplicity 4510, View 4 #VintageSewing #WalkawayDress

This shows the Simplicity 4510 doll clothes sewing pattern (vintage) from the early 1960's. It includes a view 1 wedding gown, a view 2 bolero jacket and A-line skirt, a view 3 holiday dress with a one-shoulder bodice, a pencil skirt, and a tulle overskirt, a view 4 "walkaway" dress for Barbie, a view 5 bikini and swimsuit coverup, and a view 6 nightgown with lace bodice. — 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.

You’ve probably seen the challenge on YouTube and all the love-it or hate-it sewists who’ve given their two bits about the “Walkaway Dress,” in various human sizes. It has been an internet sensation!

But what about Barbie? If the “Walkaway Dress” was such a hot item in the 1950’s, did they ever design one for Barbie dolls?

Have a look at the View 4 dress in my vintage Simplicity 4510 doll clothes sewing pattern, and I think you’ll see that this pattern certainly gives us the feel of the Walkaway Dress. But is it easy to make? That’s the key, isn’t it?

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In View 1 we see strips of vintage-looking floral fabric; View 2 shows how this floral fabric has been made into two panels, each having a side dart and a lining; in View 3, we see a rectangle of the same vintage-look floral fabric, made into a strip that has been sewn on three sides and inverted; in view 4 the two pieces with darts lay side by side beside the central strip of fabric that was sewn on three sides and inverted. — 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.

I embarked upon this project because (as you’ll see in Figure 1 above), I had a lot of cute fabric scraps that were long and skinny. What on earth do you do with these strips of long fabric, besides turn them into quilts? (And I should admit here, that I’m not much of a quilter…)

So when I discovered that the bodice of this pattern was segmented, I thought, “Perfect! I’ll use my scraps to make a dress bodice!” And if you’ve been following my blog posts much, you already know that I prefer to line my garments whenever possible.

Figure 2 above shows how I made each bodice front piece with a lining. Figure 3 shows the garment front’s center piece, which the instructions recommended using just a swatch of eyelet lace for, but which I instead created a center panel for, and which I also lined. Figure 4 shows the two garment front pieces beside the center panel, which in the next series of photos, you’ll perhaps understand a little better…

Figure 5 shows how one of the darted side panels has been sewn to the central strip of fabric (sewn on three sides and inverted) while the other darted side panel lies beside the central panel. In figure 6 we see that now both side panels with darts have been sewn to the central panel of a bodice front. Figure 6 shows the side pieces have been pinned to the bodice's front panel creating a narrow waist, but in figure 7, someone has widened the waist, exposing more of the center panel of this bodice front. A woman's hands hold the unfinished (pinned) bodice to a vintage Bubble Cut Barbie doll (brunette). In one final photo, we see the finished bodice on the Barbie doll, and we can see that the widened waist is a bit too wide for Barbie's narrow waistline, making her look plump around the middle, so to speak. — 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.

So you can see that there are three panels to this bodice front: a left side (with a side dart), a right side (also with a side dart to allow give for the bust), and a center panel (which the Simplicity 4510 pattern instructions suggested should be a piece of eyelet lace, but which I opted to use matching cotton fabric for).

I do like how the bodice turned out, and quite honestly, I was very glad I lined it. The only thing I would have done differently is to allow it to be more snug at the waist. Of course lining a garment does add bulk, so maybe I made a good choice to widen it at the waist.

If you compare Figure 6 and Figure 7 above, you can see that I made an adjustment to the way I pinned it. I was worried (as you can see in Figure 7) that it wouldn’t fit my vintage Barbie in the waist. But now that the whole garment is completed, I really think I could have gone with the original pinning (shown in Figure 6), which drew the two front panels closer together at the waist.

The text reads "back view" and we see the finished dress lying on a green cutting mat. It has a lovely V-shaped dip at the back of the dress. In the bottom half of this illustration, the brunette Bubble Cut Barbie wears the V-cut open back dress, modeling its back closure, showing that there was, in fact, room to make a more narrow waist for the doll. — 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.

Now does the Simplicity 4510 pattern actually imitate the Walkaway Dress? Not exactly.

It gives an overall impression that reminds us of the Walkaway Dress, but with the actual Walkaway Dress, you have a full wrap that encompasses the bodice and an upper layer of the skirt. That’s not the case with the View 4 dress from Simplicity 4510.

On the left, we see the envelope art for Butterick B4790, better known as the "Walkaway Dress." On the right, we see a close-up image of the View 4 Barbie dress from vintage Simplicity 4510, a dress that somewhat resembles the Walkaway Dress, in that both have a ribbon or bias tape that comes together at the waist; both have cap sleeves; both have a full skirt; both have panels that come together at the front. Yet the Barbie dress doesn't seem to have the exact same design, just more of a look-alike feel to its design, in part because the actual Walkaway Dress has a dress with a second layer of skirt and a second layer of bodice, which the Barbie dress doesn't have. — 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.

Rather, we end up with a bodice that gives the appearance of wrapping in front, when in fact, it doesn’t. And you’ll notice that I didn’t include the little ribbon tie (or bias tape) in front that both the actual Walkaway Dress and the Simplicity 4510 View 4 dress have.

And now, was this vintage Barbie dress easy to sew? I think it would have been easier to sew if I had followed the instructions exactly as they are written, without giving my bodice a lining.

The image shows the Difficulty Scale for Chelly's flowers. These are purple flowers with turquoise blue center. Lowest on the difficulty scale is a single flower. The most difficult projects have five flowers. — Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

If I had used my flower scale for difficulty on this imitation Walkaway Dress, I would have said that without a lining, it would probably be worth three flowers. With a lining, it would probably be worth more like four or five flowers. So I actually made it harder for myself by giving it a lining.

But on the whole, I’m happy with how it turned out. The View 4 dress from the Simplicity 4510 vintage doll clothes sewing pattern for Barbie is a lovely dress pattern, with a full skirt and a pretty 1950’s “vintage mid-century modern housewife” style.

I gave my dress away to a family I know, at Christmas time, and I’m sure their little girl is truly enjoying playing with it, and that’s what counts, right?

A Brunette Bubble Cut vintage Barbie wears a handmade dress which has a front panel between two side bodice panels. The dress has a full, gathered skirt. Its sleeves are cap-style, and Barbie's shoes are red like some of the multicolored flowers on this dress, made of white cotton printed with blue, yellow, red, and pale blue flowers. — 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.

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*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.