Making Bust Alterations to Simplicity 8466 for Vintage Barbie #MeMadeMonday #SewingHack

I don’t think it will surprise most of my regular readers, if I mention that a modern Barbie doll isn’t as busty as a vintage Barbie doll. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, compare bust measurements between Barbies of the 60’s and 70’s to the Barbies girls play with today. There’s a big difference!

And yet I have a lot of vintage Barbie clothes patterns that I frequently alter to fit modern Barbies. How do I do this? That’s the subject of today’s blog post.

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Here we see the Simplicity doll clothes sewing pattern number 8466 published in 1969. Its envelope leans against a wall of purple speckled fabric. In the foreground is the wine-colored fabric that's used to make a rendition of the dress shown in view 4 on the envelope for Simplicity doll clothes pattern 8466. The outfits shown on this envelope include (left to right and top to bottom): a long-sleeved cream-colored negligee; a sleeveless dress with fringe that reminds us of Pocahontas from the Disney animated film (which was made much later than 1969); a nurse-like blue cape with red trim over a white turtleneck and a red mini-skirt; the same short-sleeved turtleneck and red mini-skirt with a blue-white-and-red plaid vest; (bottom row) a yellow high-collar sleeveless mini-skirt dress; the red satin dress with gold trim; a blue pants suit with a pair of pants and an open-back tunic top. The original price listed on this pattern was seventy five cents, but there's a more modern sticker from the Goodwill suggesting that the price is actually $2.99 today. — 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.

In the image above, the price tag covers up the labels, but the view 5 and view 6 outfits show a tee shirt with a turtleneck. One shows a doll wearing a cape, and the other shows the doll wearing a vest over the tee shirt.

This turtleneck T-shirt from Simplicity 8466 is actually one of my favorite T-shirt patterns because it uses dolman sleeves instead of a fitted sleeve. Dolman sleeves are typically pretty easy to sew because they are cut out with the bodice, rather than cut as a separate garment piece (see figure 1 below).

In other words, when you make a shirt with a dolman sleeve, you don’t have to attach the sleeve. You just sew the shirt together and BAM! You have a sleeve!

In figure 1, we see the back pattern for the Simplicity 8466 Barbie clothes shirt pattern for making the view 5 and view 6 shirt with a turtleneck. Figure 2 shows the bodice front piece as lies on the pattern for the bodice front, which must be cut on a fold. View 3 shows a Kira or Kiera fashion doll head on a Curvy Barbie body, modeling the shirt after it has been made, but it lacks the turtleneck. There's also a green arc painted across the doll's shoulder, where the shirt front and back have been sewn together. — 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.

In Figure 3 above, the neon green line I’ve drawn across the doll’s shoulder shows where I’ve sewn the shirt from (cut on a fold, as shown in Figure 2) and the shirt back (see Figure 1) have been sewn together. It’ s one stitch. That’s it. So simple!

But I need to point out that I’ve made some alterations to this shirt as well. First, I’ve removed the turtleneck. Second, I’ve adjusted the bust.

Yes, even modern curvy Barbies have different bust measurements than a vintage Barbie, and I had to make accommodations for her bust size when I made this shirt to fit her.

Figure 4 shows the front of the Simplicity 8466 shirt from views 5 and six, resting atop a modern Barbie. Figure 5 shows a seam ripper or unpicker tool setting on top of the Views 5 and 6 shirt front after darts have been sewn into it; figure 6 shows the hand of a woman holding a fabric pencil, getting ready to mark the correct location of the doll's bust on the wrong side of the shirt front from the views 5 and 6 shirt from Simplicity 8466. — 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.

Sometimes, if I’ve made the shirt before and I know it won’t fit the doll as the pattern was originally designed, then I’ll lay the shirt on the doll and mark the darts my own way instead of sewing the darts as they were intended to be sewn.

However with this shirt, I couldn’t remember how the darts were going to fit my dolls. So I did a quick stitch of the darts, laid the shirt on the doll (figure 4), assessed the fit, and then seam ripped (figure 5) and made alterations afterwards.

I used my Dritz Fabric Pencil to mark a blue dot at the peak of each of the doll’s breasts, and then I re-did the darts using that blue dot as the narrowest point of each dart. You can see me marking that blue dot in figure 6.

A Kira headed Curvy Barbie models a vintage fabric geometric print blouse (red and blue shapes on white cotton) over a pair of wide leg pants on the right. Left of her, a blond modern Barbie models the same shirt with a 1970's style pair of culottes and a vest made of light blue fabric like Kira's wide leg pants. — 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 used the blond Barbie on the right as my model for the bust darts, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that the shirt also fit my Curvy Barbie doll body after I made the bust alterations. I didn’t do anything special to the fit of the shirt’s waistline, and that proved to be a good choice.

I also love how this vintage print red-white-and-blue fabric coordinates nicely with the vintage styles each doll is wearing.

On the whole, I was pleased with how this project turned out. But next time I make this shirt, I think I’ll try it with the turtleneck.

Questions: Do you make changes to vintage Barbie patterns so they’ll fit a modern Barbie better? Or do you just go with the original pattern as it was designed?

Please leave a comment in the section at the bottom of the page. Thanks!

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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.