Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Sweater girls from all decades

Dance Club Devon, African-American Pizza Hut Skipper,
1970 redhead straight leg pink skin Skipper,
Share a Smile Becky, African-American Bathtime Fun Barbie,
1988 Caucasian Fun to Dress Barbie, Twist N Turn PJ
and All-American Kira all wear knitted accessories.

Unless you personally know the history of a knitted item of Barbie-size clothing, you will likely never know its age or maker.
I can tell you about five of the yarn pieces in this photo.  Pizza Hut Skipper and Fun to Dress Barbie wear Christmas tree ornament sweaters that were purchased sometime since 2000.  Straight leg Skipper wears a poncho and Becky wears a cap that were crocheted for my sisters' dolls by a neighbor in the early 1970s.   I knitted the tan scarf that Kira wears myself after I took a knitting class sometime in the 21st century and learned how to do the crossover stitches.
The others are a mystery and came with piles of used doll clothes that I bought over the years.  The caps that Devon and Fun to Dress Barbie wear are circles of corduroy that have a white knitted trim.  The blue items on PJ are a matched set--skirt, top, purse and cap.  I assume they are from the 1980s because jewel tones were popular that decade and sweater dresses were also popular.  They may have been hand-made.
I assume that the light blue tunic worn by Bathtime Fun Barbie is from the 1960s and was purchased.  Reasons?  The stitches are way too tiny and perfect to have been made by a human.  The other reason is that the sweater is actually wool and not worsted, and there aren't that many genuine wool Barbie-size outfits out there.  That sweater must itch like crazy!

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