Tag: fashion

Button Sunday


This button from my personal collection I first shared on here in 2012. I don’t know where I got it.

I might have said before that though “Dr. Seuss” began publishing children’s books in my lifetime, I never read any of them that I recall until I was a young teenager and Lynne introduced me to them. It’s funny, because The Cat in the Hat was written by Theodor Seuss Geisel at the request of a publisher after there was public grumbling about how the Dick and Jane books children were reading in school didn’t encourage them to want to keep reading more books.

I was one of those children who read Dick and Jane books in school even after the Dr. Seuss books appeared, and while maybe they weren’t riveting characters or stories, I was thrilled any time I could read anything. Everyone in my family read, and it was frustrating for me that I couldn’t. I think I didn’t realize that everyone has to learn to read. I wanted to be able to do what David (eight years older) and Debby (five years older) did.


In 2013, I first posted about this mug gifted with hot chocolate from Debby and commented on how it made me think of The Cat in the Hat. It still does, but the other day when I pulled it down, it also made me think of Eddie Van Halen backstage at a 1981 concert (especially because of the green shoes).


But hey, Elton John sported the look in 1972, which predated my own socks, seen below, hanging behind our Charlie Brown tree in the Tuscaloosa house on Twelfth Avenue when I was a college sophomore.

Not to be overlooked are these sock dresses I made for my Top Models.

Our lives are full of recurring themes and patterns, and apparently in my case, the appeal of red and white stripes.

Fourteen Patterns

Since the other day, when I posted those Barbie dresses I’d sewn, I’ve been wondering what pattern I used. The first seasons I did Runway Monday on this blog, I didn’t have patterns. Then I realized I wasn’t competing with anyone and no one cared, and I started buying patterns to make things easier on myself.

I thought you might like seeing how pattern makers tried to refresh Barbie’s look through the years. Judge them, mock them, or admire them, however the mood strikes you. Note the original cost of the patterns.

#5673, Simplicity, 1964, original cost 50 cents

I believe I used this pattern for Look 3 and just the dress on Look 1.

#9099, McCall’s, 1967, original cost 50 cents

I’ve used at least parts of five of these looks. I royally screwed up Look F recently.

#3429, McCall’s, 1972, original cost $1

I’ve used four of these looks. I particularly like the bodysuit B and the dress G. The year I took a bunch of Model Muses to Saints and Sinners and forced everyone to pose with them, I created many looks using these patterns.

#8333, Simplicity, 1987, original cost $4.50

I made my own pattern for my first cape, so it was great to get this one. I’ve made the cape and dress 4 for sure.

#7362, Simplicity, 1990, original cost $6.95

Nothing seems familiar unless it’s some piece of Ken’s formalwear. These dresses seem very TV “Dynasty” to me.

#7601, Simplicity, 1991. original cost $6.95

I created my own swing coat, but it sure was nice to get a pattern for one, and I definitely used this coat. Again, the dresses seem very 1980s. Of all the decades of fashion I’m familiar with, the Eighties would be my least favorite.

#5738, McCall’s, 1992, original cost $7.25

Pieces from seven of these looks were used.

#6317, McCall’s, 1993, original cost $8.50

I’ve used several of these. I think I may have bought this pattern when it came out, because I have a pair of overalls for a male doll. They are so well made that I’m wondering if Lynne sewed them for me back then. I can’t coerce her into making doll clothes now. That woman can sew, but nobody wants to deal with tiny seams, etc. It’s crazy that I do it. Sewing is definitely a case where I don’t enjoy the process. I enjoy the finished results. =)

#9838, Simplicity, 1996, original cost $8.95

Used I, H, and F, and I think F may be what I used for the dresses shown in Thursday’s post.

#9894, Vogue, 1998, original cost $11.95

Probably used E for Ken’s jacket and pants but had to modify them for the larger male dolls.

#5785, Simplicity, 2002, from the 1960s Simplicity pattern archives, cost of repro $13.95

Definitely have used four of these as favorites.

#4754, Simplicity, 2004, original cost $14.95

NEVER AGAIN those lab coats. NEVER.

#4702, Simplicity, 2004, original cost $14.95

Lots of fun stuff here. I know I’ve done dress D, and all the pants are great, so I’ve probably done some of them.

#1955, Simplicity, 2011, original cost $16.95

I’ve never used this pattern. I believe the fashions can be made to fit the much smaller, slimmer Monster High dolls, which is probably why I bought it. Those dolls are TINY.

Wayback Wednesday

Wayback to the 1800s or in this life, to 2010. I’ve been trying to find this photo for quite a while, but it wasn’t any of the Flickr albums I expected it to be in. Finally, I chose a really long way to look for it, and honestly, there was no point except that I remembered these as being some of my favorite dresses I made. They were easy to sew and they fit the dolls beautifully. So… a pointless post, but since I put so much effort into finding the photo, this was from my September 5, 2010 post for a Runway Monday challenge.

The dresses were not part of the challenge. I dressed my hosts in them. I want to sew more of this style.

Tiny Tuesday!

On this morning’s writing break, I searched through my patterns with an idea of what I wanted. It turned out to be the dress on the bottom right, which matches the design (in a bright print) of one I wrote for a character a book or two back.


Prep work.

Which kind of exploded later.

A little sewing using an old pair of jeans.

A little accessorizing.

A little fashion.

Boyfriend-approved. I made his shirt, too, but last week or the week before.

I was taking my advice as given in my previous post about writing breaks. When Mark asked me to “list the things!” I’d mentioned, I edited that post to include a list. =)

Tiny Tuesday!

I’ve had a pattern and a lot of T-shirts to cut up for fabric for quite a while to start making raglan sleeve jerseys for one doll in particular, but all my boy dolls can wear them. Decided to attempt to make the first one today only to realize the pattern might work for Barbie and maybe even the slender original Ken doll, but it’s way too small for my dude here.

While he puts away the toys of summer and starts writing some songs on his new dreadnought guitar (his early Christmas present), I’ll be trying to expand that pattern and make a few other alterations so this will be the 1:6 shirt I want it to be.

He’ll love his new wardrobe, because these shirts are all the character he’s based on wants to wear.

Button Sunday

There’s a chapter in the first book of the Neverending Saga that I had fun writing because the character doesn’t know how to tie a necktie and later, he has to get help from an unexpected source with a bowtie. Whether or not they like wearing it, I think all my characters look sexy in formalwear.


September 19 — In black ©Chris Walter

I believe this is from the American Music Awards in 1976.

Get off my dress, Karen

When someone posted this vintage doll commercial to Instagram, Tom showed it to me and Tim tagged me on it. They know the way to my heart.

While I watched it and felt nostalgic about the dolls of yesteryear, and mused about which outfits I had and how my old Barbies still bring me the pleasure of dressing them and making stories in my head for them, even using them to represent my Neverending Saga characters, I thought about the detail and craftsmanship that went into those early fashions. Those zippers and buttons and snaps. The stitching. The matching of plaids and stripes. Even Mattel’s current-day adult collector dolls don’t have that kind of attention to detail or the high-quality fabrics of the originals.

It’s a fact of life, and I figured commenters on the post would make note of the same but also share some of their good memories. So I did that thing I freely acknowledge I should not do, as noted in my comment to a post from one of my favorite Instagrammers, effinbirds.

Yes, other commenters did recount their happy memories of their own dolls, and of their moms and grandmoms pulling out their dolls to share with their kids and grandkids, and of the fashions and how well made they used to be.

As usual, today’s less-entertaining version of Maleficent showed up to the party: I used to collect Barbies until political correctness completely screwed them up.

Since I don’t reply to negative commenters, and my blog was having issues, to vent, I texted Tim, “What does that even mean? Obviously not because they were denounced for giving girls unrealistic expectations of beauty, because apparently she was on board with that. So I guess because perfect (pick-your-hair-color) Barbie now has tons of friends who don’t all look just like her? I mean, you’re not mandated to collect ANY doll, just pick the ones that fit in your doll world, Karen, and move on. So sad a little kid with a friend or family member in a wheelchair can see them represented in the toy box.”

As he pointed out about the commenter, “Really…dolls? That’s the battle hill you’re going to die on?” He suggested this is a person constantly looking for a reason to be negative.

I think he’s right. After Tom generously used his time to fix my poor blog, I decided to share the new girl I bought to make friends with my baseball-playing Barbie, who I adore (and who I got last year because she is my doll stand-in for a character). One commenter said in today’s dollars, a $3.00 Barbie would run about $30, and I got this one deeply discounted at Ross, way less than her original retail price, which was already not as high as $30.

In a world of plagues, forest fires, earthquakes, and hurricanes, Mattel can still bring this tired old woman happiness, and I know every one of the dolls I see on the shelves is making some other kid (and kid on the inside) happy, too. Why spread misery to others? Let people be.

Melon pink

While editing one of my works in progress, I was reminded that I once built most of a scene around this blouse Vivien Leigh wore in a fashion spread in Harper’s Bazaar in 1940.

The blouse is melon pink made from Biancini silk and the outfit (with the black chiffon velvet skirt) was sold by Henri Bendel for $135. The photographer was George Hoyningen-Huene.