Barbie Strapless Dress

Barbie_strapless_printable  - pdf format

Rough draft version!  It's just one pattern piece with 1/4 inch hems included.   I'll do some more work on it next time I'm bored.  Meanwhile why not be my tester?  Sew it up and let me know how it comes out or what should be changed. 

There was one here before but it seems to have disappeared.  There's pictures and instructions, but the pattern itself is lost in the sands of time.  I guess I really didn't keep a single copy of the file or even the printouts that I could have scanned back in, so it was back to the beginning with a new one.  I used tinfoil this time instead of stickers  :-) 

Oh yes, it works, but it is very not THAT easy.  Still had to have some testing cycles before it started to come out right. 

 

Pretty basic to sew up...

One of the test models goes together. 

That's as done as it's gonna get.  See the pin holding it together in back?  The SHAPE is the important part  :-)

Really elegant hem finishing... turned the wrong way too, no less. 

I was trying to get it to fit all three Barbie shapes, the classic 1966, 1999 and 2006, and it pretty much does. 

There it is on the 1966.  You just need to sew the velcro on a little tighter for the new shapes.  I left plenty of extra fabric on the back flaps of the pattern for that purpose.  Might want to try it on the doll and then trim some off. 

Hey, check out my sewing machine.  It's a Singer made in Mexico in the eighties.  I ripped off everything electric and strapped it to a treadle base, so when the power goes out (it frequently does) I have at least one toy to play with by candlelight.  It was pressing so hard it was impossible to sew with, so I ripped the springs off and put some rubber bands on there instead, now it's pressing about right and the tension is good.  After doing this much modification to a thing it's hard to hate it  :-)  We kind of have an understanding with each other by now.