The thumbnail shows the words "Do a Pick" atop a cell phone that shows a close-up of blond Francie modeling Best Buy Fashion #8645. The text beside and slightly to the left reads "Playing Betty and Veronica from Archie comics." The #DoApick shorts offer a series of three items from a bygone Barbie or other doll's era, from which you and a friend might pick out toys and dolls and the dolls' outfits.

Let’s Do a Pick — Barbie is Betty and Steffie is Veronica from Archie Comics! #DoApick #Archie

Today’s “Do a Pick” game features the following: Best Buy Fashion #8645 Best Buy Fashion #3347 Busy Steffie #3312 Malibu Barbie Blond Francie Vintage Archie Comic Books This “Do a Pick” game asks you to pick between dolls and outfits to play the characters of Betty and Veronica from the Archie comic books of the 1970’s. What’s the story behind this game? When I was … Continue reading Let’s Do a Pick — Barbie is Betty and Steffie is Veronica from Archie Comics! #DoApick #Archie

Advance 9939 vintage Barbie doll clothes patterns (the envelope that the patterns come in) is shown with the Chelly Wood doll, framed in a quilted border. The text reads "Advance 9939 vintage Barbie patterns."

A different way to make a pair of doll’s underpants… but is it easy? #SewingTips #VintageBarbie

Advance 9939 has a pair of bloomers that go with the View 4 ice skating outfit, but it also has a random pattern for a pair of so-called “panties” for Barbie as well. Now my regular followers know that my website, ChellyWood.com, offers free, printable PDF sewing patterns for making underpants for various dolls, from little Barbie dolls all the way up to the big … Continue reading A different way to make a pair of doll’s underpants… but is it easy? #SewingTips #VintageBarbie

The Chelly Wood doll stands beside the Simplicity 4510 vintage Barbie pattern envelope. The Chelly Wood doll looks like she's holding up the envelope. The Chelly Wood doll wears a red and white gingham shirt with matching hair scarf, and a pair of black pants with black flats. The image has a quilted frame.

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

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

A quilted frame surrounds text and a photo of a Monster High doll wearing a Valentine's Day skirt with a sleeveless top, and the envelope for the Advance 9939 doll clothes sewing patterns for vintage Barbie dolls. The text reads "Advance 9939 fits Monster High?" The Chelly Wood doll clothes pattern website logo sits in the lower right corner of the framed image.

Pleats in this Valentine’s Day skirt made the whole thing too skinny for Barbie! Ugh! #EpicFail #SewingFail

Once again, I’ve been trying to tackle vintage Barbie doll clothes sewing pattern Advance 9939, and today I’m writing about the struggles I’ve had with the View 1 A-line skirt. It’s the pattern in the image above that does NOT have an arrow pointing toward it. First, let me say that the instructions for making this skirt are sweet and adorable, but not particularly helpful. … Continue reading Pleats in this Valentine’s Day skirt made the whole thing too skinny for Barbie! Ugh! #EpicFail #SewingFail

Advance 9939 vintage Barbie doll clothes patterns (the envelope that the patterns come in) is shown with the Chelly Wood doll, framed in a quilted border. The text reads "Advance 9939 vintage Barbie patterns."

I made a SUPER CUTE Valentine’s Day jacket for Barbie with vintage Advance Barbie Patterns 9939! #ValentinesDay #SewVintage

When I first got this Advance 9939 vintage pattern set for Barbie, and I took all the patterns out of the envelope, I took one look at this jacket and thought, “Oh boy. That’s not good.” The green arrow in the image above shows how weird that sleeve looks. Why on earth would someone design a sleeve like a letter M? That’s just strange. If … Continue reading I made a SUPER CUTE Valentine’s Day jacket for Barbie with vintage Advance Barbie Patterns 9939! #ValentinesDay #SewVintage

A Sausage Curl Skipper from 1972 is seen in close-up on a cell phone, wearing a Peter Pan collared shirt with tie under a vest-like over sweater and a floral mini skirt. Under her mini skirt, she wears white stockings and red flats. Her hair is done in sausage curl pigtails. Her shirt is white, her sweater vest red, and her skirt is black with tiny red, yellow, and white flowers. Her flats are made of red plastic. The text beside the cell phone displaying this vintage Skipper doll reads "do a pick: playground Skipper fun."

Let’s Do a Pick — Which Skipper doll is the best one to take to school? — And do you remember when skateboards came out? #DoApick #retroBarbie #70s

Today’s “Do a Pick” game features the following: Malibu Skipper, wearing Best Buy Fashion #3373 Skipper’s friend Tiff, wearing Best Buy Fashion #3372 Sausage Curl Pigtail Skipper, wearing Best Buy Fashion #8611 Do you remember Skipper’s friend Tiff? According to various sources I’ve found, she’s Skipper’s “Tom boy friend” whose face looks a lot like the early Midge face (in my humble opinion), although experts … Continue reading Let’s Do a Pick — Which Skipper doll is the best one to take to school? — And do you remember when skateboards came out? #DoApick #retroBarbie #70s

Advance 9939 vintage Barbie doll clothes patterns (the envelope that the patterns come in) is shown with the Chelly Wood doll, framed in a quilted border. The text reads "Advance 9939 vintage Barbie patterns."

I jazzed up a vintage Barbie pattern, Advance 9939, by slapping on a bias tape collar!

See that cute little summer top in View 2 of this vintage Advance 9939 doll clothes pattern* package? That’s what I was working on — creating that set of culottes with the sleeveless blouse that looks so cute and sweet on Ponytail Barbie in the drawings. That’s not what I got though. Ugh! *Please note: when you click on links to various merchants on this … Continue reading I jazzed up a vintage Barbie pattern, Advance 9939, by slapping on a bias tape collar!

Advance 9939 vintage Barbie doll clothes patterns (the envelope that the patterns come in) is shown with the Chelly Wood doll, framed in a quilted border. The text reads "Advance 9939 vintage Barbie patterns."

Can Ideal Tammy dolls wear vintage Barbie clothes? #SewVintage #IdealToys

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 … Continue reading Can Ideal Tammy dolls wear vintage Barbie clothes? #SewVintage #IdealToys

The Chelly Wood doll stands next to the Advance 9938 Barbie doll clothes sewing pattern with her cartoonish sewing room behind her.

Have you ever made a Barbie dress with panels? #HolidaySewing for #Barbie

My Advance 9938 sewing pattern for Barbie comes from the early 1960’s, and it has some really fun patterns to try. I’ve truly enjoyed making a Christmas dress, using the strapless gown in the View 3 image from this vintage doll clothes pattern. *Please note: when you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this … Continue reading Have you ever made a Barbie dress with panels? #HolidaySewing for #Barbie

The text reads "simplicity 4510" followed by the words "holiday dress." The image shows the cover art for the envelope for the Simplicity 4510 Barbie doll clothes wardrobe from the 1960's, and beside this, a titian bubble cut Barbie models a red holiday dress dotted with tiny white Christmas trees.

How important is the grainline with dolls’ clothes sewing projects? Simplicity 4510 from the 1960’s will show us! #Sew #Vintage

Before we start, I’d like to thank my friend Julie for giving me this lovely doll. She’s a real vintage bubble-cut Barbie! I had never owned one before — even as a kid — and one day Julie stopped by, to drop off a huge box of Barbies. This lovely lady was among the dolls she gave me. That’s a story for another day, but … Continue reading How important is the grainline with dolls’ clothes sewing projects? Simplicity 4510 from the 1960’s will show us! #Sew #Vintage

The thumbnail says, "museum tour!" and shows a graphic of a little purple and blue museum. Click here to watch the DoApick short video about a Barbie exhibit at the Phoenix Art Museum.

Let’s do a pick at the Phoenix Art Museum’s Barbie exhibit! #VintageBarbie #VintageKenDoll

Today’s “Do a Pick” game is a unique one. My sister, who lives in Phoenix, took photos at the Barbie Exhibit at the Phoenix Art Museum last summer. She sent them to me, knowing I’m a big fan of Barbie. So I put this YouTube Short together using her photos. If you had your choice of all these Barbies to pick, which one would you … Continue reading Let’s do a pick at the Phoenix Art Museum’s Barbie exhibit! #VintageBarbie #VintageKenDoll

Estrela Barbie: a rare treasure! #Collectibles #Toys

Have you ever heard of the Estrela Barbies? After a fan from Brazil named Debora left a lengthy comment about them on one of my blog posts, I contacted her to find out more about these rare and highly collectible Barbie dolls. Today’s blog post will give you the details, as they were explained to me by Debora, in my online interview with her. Before … Continue reading Estrela Barbie: a rare treasure! #Collectibles #Toys

A vintage Malibu Barbie models a handmade dress. She stands beside a photo of Advance 2896 vintage Barbie doll clothes sewing patterns, which is labeled "Sew-easy by Advance, Barbie, Mattel teen fashion doll patterns, around-the-clock wardrobe."

Sew-Easy by Advance 2896 vintage “Around the Clock” sewing patterns — Let’s talk pockets! #Pockets #VintageSewing

While making this lovely harvest-themed Advance 2896 View 3 skirt for a vintage Malibu Barbie, I read through the directions, and while the directions are quaint and a lot of fun to read, it may surprise you to learn that I don’t always follow them. Sometimes I know an easier way of piecing together a garment, and I believe that’s the case with my vintage … Continue reading Sew-Easy by Advance 2896 vintage “Around the Clock” sewing patterns — Let’s talk pockets! #Pockets #VintageSewing

On a cell phone, we see the image of a Barbie case from the 1970's and the text reads "do a pick" with the image of a Halloween Candy bucket and more text that reads "Halloween overnight party." Click the link to play the "Do a Pick" game.

Let’s Do a Pick — What to bring to a Halloween overnight party…? #DoApick #vintageDollCollector

Today’s “Do a Pick” game features the following: Barbie’s Travel Trunk #4289 Skipper Doll Case #4966 Barbie 2-Doll Trunk #1004 What’s the story behind this game? When I was a kid, whenever it was playtime with dolls, we would lay out all our dolls and their clothing items. Then we would “do a pick.” That’s where you take turns picking which doll or dolls you’ll … Continue reading Let’s Do a Pick — What to bring to a Halloween overnight party…? #DoApick #vintageDollCollector

Here we see the full front display of Vogue Craft Pattern #9964, which offers patterns for making doll clothes that will fit a vintage Tutti, vintage Skipper, Vintage Barbie, Bubble Hair Barbie, and vintage Midge dolls.

Vogue Craft 9964 vs. Simplicity 5861 for vintage Skipper, Vintage Skooter, or Modern Momoko dolls… #MomokoDoll #DollCollectors

Every now and then, people ask me where they can find patterns for vintage Skipper or Skooter dolls. Today I’m recommending this Vogue Craft 9964 pattern to anyone who doesn’t have the budget to buy an antique pattern, but wants to sew with a commercial pattern that will work for vintage Skipper or vintage Skooter dolls. Please note: when you click on links to various … Continue reading Vogue Craft 9964 vs. Simplicity 5861 for vintage Skipper, Vintage Skooter, or Modern Momoko dolls… #MomokoDoll #DollCollectors