Barbie Advance pattern B

Advance pattern B shirtwaist outfit was a very popular style to make.
Mary Makeup (center) wears the one from my childhood.
The others are modeled by Calico Lass (left) and Tressy (right).

Either my mother or my grandmother
made the outfit in the bottom center for me.

Mary and Barb and a Barbie clone, Christmas 1963

A closeup of the doll in what I believe is the blue outfit.

I know I am not finished yet with the the outdoor Willows street scenes, but in the meanwhile I've worked on another project.  I've purchased a number of Barbie sewing patterns as an adult collector, and I have re-purchased the ones we had as little girls but were long gone.  However, many of the outfits that either my mother, grandmother or I had sewn were still in existence.  I am going to show you what the outfits made from patterns actually look like.

The oldest pattern I own is Barbie Advance Pattern B, dated 1961 for the 1962 market.  I've shown you the shirt and skirt made from this pattern before.  I thought the outfit had been made in 1965, but now it looks like it may be from 1963.  I found this photo of my sister and me from Christmas 1963; I was born in February 1961 and Barb in February 1963.  Study the top of the photo--there is an orange plastic doll car up there and you can see part of the doll, which was either Debbie Drake or Debbie Dunbar.  It looks like she is wearing the blue handmade dress.

As an adult collector, I've found two other versions of this dress, in another photo you've also seen.  The photo is of Calico Lass, Mary Makeup and Tressy, who had slightly different bodies from Barbie and the blouse and skirt fit them better.