Skipper McCall's 7480 pattern

These are all four of the McCall's Skipper patterns.  7841 is the most difficult to find.

The sailor suit is the most difficult outfit
to make, with its pleated skirt.

I've always thought the party dress pattern
was absolutely darling!

The sleeveless blouse and slacks were made
from the jacket and pants pattern,
but the jacket was from the sailor suit combo.

A cousin gave me the McCall's Skipper pattern 7480 in 1974, and my mother and I made a few outfits from it.  I was 13 in 1974 but still playing with my Barbies periodically, and our Skippers had far fewer clothes than Barbie and Francie did.  Like the other patterns, it disappeared, but over time I re-bought it, as well as the other three McCall's Skipper patterns.
7480 was the first pattern, dated 1964 for the 1965 market.  The other patterns are:  7841 from 1965/1966, 7716 from 1966/1967 and 8357, also from 1966/1967 (note the Popover jumper and Francie's Go Granny Go gown, both sold in 1967).
I made the party dress but simply used a small swatch of fabric rather than the two rows of lace in the pattern for the skirt.  I also made the green pantsuit and white blouse, while my mother made the very 70s double knit polyester pantsuit that I think works better as pajamas.  1965 straight leg tan blonde Skipper models the dress and 1965 bend leg tan blonde Skooter shows the two versions of the pantsuit.  You see the back of the jacket; note the fabric cut on the bias.

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.

Willows in the 1990s, part 3

Barbie and her sisters have a large crowd of people
at their house all the time!

These are the Wet N Wild Pool Set, Barbie
Fully Furnished Pool House,
Wet N Wild Surf Set and Sports Cruiser convertible.

I should have filled the pool all the way. And yes, Skipper's lower left breast
is exposed! This is her sexiest swimsuit ever, and it's a bit too small on her.

I am continuing the project I began last year of setting up scenes of Willows by the decade.  You've seen these items previously, but this is the first time you'll see them outside with each other.  This blog segment, part 3 of the 1990s, will focus on the water-related playsets of that decade.

There were at least two Wet N Wild playsets to accompany that series of dolls.  The boxes were dated 1989 for the 1990 market.  I have the #7426 Pool Set and the #7427 Surf Set.  Also, Argo reused the plastic playsets over the years in new combinations and new names.

The big item you see in these pictures are #7431 Barbie Fully Furnished Pool House, box dated 1990 for 1991.  This was the first house I bought as an adult collector, and I dearly love it, although the frame pieces have faded from pink to orange.  The price tag on my box says it was originally $39.99, marked down to $19.98, although I don't know if Children's Palace ever sold it at full price. A year later it was just named Barbie Pool House on the box.

I've also got the 1996 #67163 Barbie Sports Cruiser, a Jeep in a pretty shade of light blue.

The pool can hold water.  I think if you fill it entirely the sides will stand erect, but I didn't put that much water in it.  I estimate I put 1 1/2 gallons of water in the pool, so I suppose 2 1/2 gallons will fill it up all the way.  In other words, don't try to fill the pool inside, just outside.

I took the photos both in cloudy bright and sunlit conditions.  The pool looks more inviting in the sunlight, of course.

The dolls in the photos are:
1990 Wet N Wild Christie in Hawaiian Fun #7251
1990 Wet N Wild Skipper in Walgreens Fashion Starter #721-5
1991 Costume Ball Ken in Active Wear scuba outfit
1991 Disney Classics Belle in Midge Wedding Day #9632
1992 World of Beauty Shani in Shani Fashions #1969
1995 Baby Sister Kelly in her original outfit
1996 Gymnast Stacie in 1995 #12613 Tea Set for Two
1996 Sparkle Beach Ken in Fashion Avenue #14677
1997 Little Brother Tommy in his original outfit

Unless I made a mistake, the outfits are from the same year as the dolls.

2 superstar outfits from Italy

This is the back of the 1980 Fur and Leather box.

Beauty Secrets Barbie models the fur suit
pictured second from left on the bottom.

The SuperStar Barbie logo was still being used in Italy in 1984.
This is the back of the Moda Profumata box.

Great Shape Barbie wears the
Profuma Liquerizia sweater dress,
even though it is too big on her.

I own two SuperStar Barbie outfits from Italy, one from 1980 and the other from 1984.  I am wondering if the Barbie dolls sold in Italy in the 1980s were slightly taller than their American counterparts, as the outfits were always too big on my dolls.  None of the outfits were numbered, although one set's outfits were named.

The 1977 SuperSize Barbie is on the cover of the Fur and Leather outfit, but it is not her size.  The liner notes were in English, French, German and Italian.  The English one said "Genuine fur, leather and woolens fashions."  The copyright information, translated from Italian to English, read, "Giacatollo conforme alle prescrizioni di sicurezza del D.M. 31/7/79," that is, "Giacatollo complies with the safety requirements of the D.M. 31/7/79. " I assume that Giacatollo was the Italian manufacturer, while D.M. is the copyright or trademark.  Since the exact date was listed, July 31, 1979, I presume the sale date was 1980.  The doll modeling all the outfits was the 1979 Sun Lovin' Barbie.

The 1984 Moda Profumata (Fragrant Fashion) package pictured what I think was the 1984 Crystal Barbie on the front, while the back showed 1980's Beauty Secrets Barbie modeling the four sweater dresses.  Sweater dresses were quite popular in the 1980s; I owned two of them and wore them a lot! The outfits were named:

Profumo Fragola/Scent of Strawberries

Profuma Liquerizia/Scent of Licorice

Profuma Cola/Scent of Cola

Profuma Ciaccolata/Scent of Chocolate

The liner notes were tiny!  They read, "Giacatollo conforme alle prescrizioni di sicurezza della legge 18/2/83 No. 46."  It meant, "Giacatollo conforms to the requirements of security of law 18/2/83." Again, since the exact date of Feb. 18, 1983, was mentioned, I assume the outfit was sold in 1984.

Some notes:  The scent of licorice on my outfit is long gone.  The bottom center leather outfits on the package are really cool and look like something for a female Robin Hood, or perhaps Maid Marian.  The leather outfits should really be worn by a straight-armed doll, as the leather is just a little stiff for bent arms to get through.

2 very similar baby dolls

Meg and May

The dress on the left is untagged;
the one on the right says "Dapperdo Originals."

I wonder if these were made by the same manufacturer
as the snaps are the same.

I purchased two sets of baby doll items during my trek of the US 50 sale last weekend (more about the sale in another post).  One was a doll wearing a dress that was too big for her; the other set of items was a bunch of baby doll clothes in a Barbie and Francie case (there were no Barbie clothes in the case, just baby clothes; I just wanted the case).

First, an explanation.  The doll you see on the left is a drink-and-wet doll, her eyes close and is 20 inches tall.  She is the doll I had as a little girl in the mid-1960s.  The reason she is in mint condition is that she was kept at my grandmother's house for me to play with there, and the doll didn't come home with me until I was in high school after my grandmother died.

I have no idea what the doll's name was or who the manufacturer was.  Her only markings on are the back of her neck, which say, "U 6V."  I have one store-bought dress for her, although I don't know if it is what she originally wore.  The beautiful white satin dress with the pink lace trim you see on the left is untagged but I have always had it.  The funky sandals the doll is wearing have also been around for as long as I can remember.  They have cardboard soles and the blue straps are cut out of what I believe is wallpaper!  But they have to be store-bought as well because of the push-in snaps.

I bought the smaller doll, 16 inches tall, during my sale-ing last weekend.  She is also a drink-and-wet doll and her eyes close.  Her eyes are faded and the poor thing is missing her left set of eyelashes.  I've given her a good bath which brightened her immensely.  Her markings on the back of her neck say, "Jolly Toys Inc." and there is also a logo just above her buttocks that says "3A."

She was wearing the other white dress when I bought her.  It's too big for her and has a tag that says "Dapperdo Originals."

I also bought a Barbie case with baby doll clothes in it; some of which fit the bigger doll and some which fit the smaller doll.  There were some Chatty Cathy clothes in there as well, which my Cathy has claimed.

What attracted me to the smaller doll was how closely she resembled my original doll.  Look at the moldings of the fingers and toes; they are identical.  The eyes are the same as is the hair.  They could be sisters!

What are these dolls' real names?  Was my original baby doll made by Jolly Toys?  Was her original dress made by Dapperdo?  Their secrets will puzzle me until the day I die!

As an adult collector, I named the bigger doll "Meg" after a friend of mine.  I have decided her "sister" will be named "May."

On a related note, when I gave May her bath, I noticed after I had picked her up out of the water that she had really gained weight!  I'm not sure how, but her torso had filled with water!  It's taken several days for her to pee out all the liquid!  I joked about this with another woman and she suggested buying the doll--who is probably 50 years old--some Depends!  Is there such as thing as Depends for old dolls?  Maybe I have found a new market for the adult diapers?!

tractor statue

This first photo looks like a farm girl (it's Generation Girl Nichelle) in her overalls
in front of a statue in an agricultural area.

Now you can see that this is actually a statuette in a cemetery.
I know it's a little tacky, but I have wanted to photograph this for a long time.

qcbdc next doll show

The Queen City Beautiful Doll Club's next show will be on Sunday, April 24, at the Clarion in Sharonville north of Cincinnati.  I'm not setting up a sale table this time but will be at the door taking admissions from 12-2 p.m.  Here is the flier for the event.