Creative Spark Online Learning, Old Patterns from Chelly's Collection, Vintage Barbie

How do you stop obsessing about a project? #SewingProjects #VintageBarbie

 

The photo shows a close-up of the cover of a Simplicity 8281 fashion doll clothes pattern. The following outfits are pictured in the artwork shown here: View 1 is a wedding dress with ruffle and veil; view 2 shows a floor-length cape with lace trim; view 2 also shows a tank top with layered long skirt; view 3 shows the same tank top with a pair of pants; view 4 shows a cottage core style dress with a ruffle and short, strappy bodice; view 5 shows a wrap-around skirt with a raglan-sleeved dressy shirt that has side darts; view 7 shows sweat (athletic) pants and an athletic jacket with collar; and view 6 shows a long-sleeved T-shirt with a vest and gaucho pants (referred to on the pattern as "culottes").
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.

My brain has been stuck on the idea that I need to sew the red and white striped T-shirt from my Simplicity 8281 vintage doll clothes pattern for not just months, but YEARS now.

Of course I have other, more important projects underway.

And now it’s time for my disclaimer statement: many of my links are affiliate marketing links. As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. To learn more about this, please see my Privacy Policy page. Thank you!

In this close-up image of Simplicity Barbie doll clothes pattern number 8281, we see a Barbie with a Farrah Fawcett hair style modeling a red and white striped long-sleeve shirt under a light blue denim vest with red trim and matching light blue culottes (AKA gouchos). This is shown on the pattern as "view 6" and is surrounded by a number of other doll clothes like a green sweats suit with jacket, a yellow sun dress, and a bridal gown with veil.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

I also need to admit that today’s blog post is a re-post. I’m reposting it here because next week I’m going to share the finished product from View 6 of Simplicity 8281. I finally, FINALLY got it done after two full years of obsessing!

As I’ve said, I’ve been busy! When I first started dreaming of making the View 6 stripy shirt, I was busy making a bunch of doll clothes for a family I know, but they had requested purple and pink doll clothes. The red and white striped shirt would not have gone with the doll clothes ensemble they had requested.

This outfit was part of their ensemble:

A black Barbie with pink lips, a dark chocolate complexion, and straight black hair, models a pink tunic made of jersey fabric over a pair of wide-leg grey cotton trousers or pants. A tiny pink shoe peeks out from under her grey pants. The tunic she wears has multicolored large circles on it, but it's more like decorative spots than true polka dots. The tunic has a boat neck and the sleeves gather at the wrists. The ChellyWood.com logo appears in the lower left corner.
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.

What I wanted to sew was that cute little red and white striped number from Simplicity vintage doll clothes pattern #8281.

And then my niece requested some additional doll clothes for her stuffed toy which she calls “Kitty.” She wanted polka dots, not stripes, and Kitty is much bigger than a Barbie doll anyway. So my plans to sew the red and white striped shirt got put on hold yet again.

For Emily’s requested “Kitty” doll clothes, I used the McCall’s 9449 (view A) jumper pattern to sew Kitty a little dress and bloomers.

The Chelly Wood doll holds up a vintage McCall's 9449 doll wardrobe pattern, which says near the top of the envelope, "Wardrobe for chubby baby and toddler dolls" and is also noted as being for the smaller size of dolls, which is indicated to be 12 inches to 16 inches tall. The patterns shown are as follows: view A = a red long-sleeved dress with cuffs overlaid by an orange jumper (in the American understanding of this word) with a V-shaped yoke; View B = a dress with long sleeves that end in ruffle cuffs and have a ruffle cuff neckline along with a squared yoke bodice; View C = a white pinafore over blue long-sleeved dress with ruffle collar and ruffle cuffs (identical to the long-sleeved dress shown in view B; View D = a long bathrobe with ribbon tie; View E = a sleeveless nightgown that is floor-length, shown in white with red trim to match the red check bathrobe; View F = a beret and matching blue coat that has pockets in front; view G = a long-sleeved red dress with a white collar trimmed in lace (also having the ruffle sleeves but these ruffle cuffs are also trimmed in white lace).
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

I showed you that project quite a while ago. Click here if you want to read more about it.

I mean, yeah, it was fun to make. And it turned out really cute.

But I was waking up every morning, dreaming of red and white striped jersey fabric. That Simplicity 8281 pattern had been calling me!

The Chelly Wood doll stands in her sewing room with a dress form behind her and her sewing machine beside her. A giant though bubble hovers over her head, and inside the thought bubble is a swatch of red and white striped jersey fabric. The Chelly Wood doll is actually a Spin Master Liv doll that has been re-painted and given a grey wig, so it looks a lot like the real doll clothing designer, Chelly Wood.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

But dang! I never seem to have enough time…

Do you guys ever have this happen? Do you ever obsess about a pattern you really want to sew but just don’t have time to get the sewing done? And if so, what do you do about it?

Feel free to leave a comment.

To read more about my free sewing patterns and tutorials, please visit the “Helpful Tips” page.

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*ChellyWood.com earns money by linking to JoAnn Fabrics, Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and other online affiliate programs. Links provided above may be affiliate links. For a full list of my affiliate programs, and to understand how cookies are used to help this website earn money, please see my “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.

7 thoughts on “How do you stop obsessing about a project? #SewingProjects #VintageBarbie”

  1. i have many barbie patterns. Simp 8281 is one of the most versatile patterns and easiest to sew luckily I back all my doll clothes pattern pieces with interfacing The pieces would be in shreds I used it so much

    Reply

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