One pattern piece. The simplest possible Barbie dress made out of fabric and sewing. Not exactly couture, not exactly art. One step above balloons or “cut and tie”.
Fits all 11.5″ Barbies, including Curvy.
Use lightweight fabric that doesn’t fray, so that folding edges over once and stitching will be enough.
See original page about the OSFA idea. I’m leaning away from the overly fitted and specific “Barbie” models.
Free printable pattern in PDF format, or two images that each need to be printed at 5″ x 6.25″.
Cut the pattern piece on fold. Yep, just one strangely shaped piece of fabric.
Make tiny clips at the corners where indicated.
Fold over (3/16th in or 5 mm) at neckline and armhole edges and topstitch. Note that that isn’t as wide as half of your presser foot.
Images are from first draft so slightly different. Will update asap.
A is the corners of the square neckline.
B and C are the front and back below the arm hole. B and C are going to come together on both sides, then stitch from there to the bottom of the skirt.
Add a bottom ruffle at this point if you’re doing one.
Bring D to D, and sew back seam from there to the bottom.
Hem around the bottom. If you have time and inclination, a strip of bias makes a nice hem, or fold over and stitch, then tack on some trim.
PRINTABLE PDF for DOWNLOADING
Printable PDF for downloading – if this doesn’t print right, PLEASE let me know!
Or you can print these two jpgs at 6.25 in by 5 in each.
A few days ago I found your pattern for the OSFA shift dress. I tried to copy it off on my printer, but it didn’t like the blue lines so it didn’t work. So I was planning on using 1/4″ graph paper to “draft” the pattern from yours that was on graph paper. However, Safari quit unexpectedly overnight before I had a chance to draft it.
Now I cannot find the link to that page at all.
I make these Barbie clothes for gently used Barbie/fashion dolls that have been donated to give to the marginalized children in the area. Unfortunately, as I have looked around at local thrift stores, all of these dolls are naked! Can’t give them to children without clothes!
I already have the patterns for the swing dress and peasant one. With this one it would enable me to use some of the same fabrics with a different dress.
Thank you for all you are doing to dress naked dolls!
Something went wrong with the pattern, so I took it down. I don’t want anyone wasting work. I’ll try to get it corrected and up again quickly since I know someone’s waiting for it 🙂
I’m worried about the others too now, so if you make one up, let me know if it’s at the right scale etc.
Thank you. I will.
Would love to have this shift dress pattern when you’ve fixed it for 11.5 dolls. Thanks!
Thought I’d check back to see if the shift dress pattern is available yet. Don’t see it here… This is the page that it goes to when I want the shift dress pattern. I’ve made a couple of the other OSFA dresses and the leader of the after school club that I make them for was thrilled with them. I’m now planning on making more as classes start again soon. So I was wondering if you have had a chance to update the pattern.
One thing I did do to help cover these dolls nakedness was use nail polish to paint their panties and a matching bikini top. This way, even if they don’t have any clothes on, they at least look like they’re dressed.
Thanks so much for this nice comment. I’m glad to know that the other patterns worked out. I’ll try to get the missing one back up. There have been a couple of moments where I could have done that instead of something else.
Painting permanent underwear on sounds like a great idea but I don’t think with nail polish. I’ve heard it doesn’t interact well with the plastic of Barbies. Might want to look that up.
Edit. Looked it up. Yes, it destroys their plastic, but not in the lifetime of an ordinary Barbie, so back to “that’s a great idea”.
(And if anyone did paint a swimsuit, def don’t try to remove the nail polish, as that will ruin it immediately.)
The pattern should work now. Let me know if there are any problems.