How to Make Barbie Clothes

To make Barbie clothes, you need to first make or buy a pattern, then sew any type of material you like to make the clothing.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Lace Trims
• Fabrics
• Sewing Kits
• Sewing Machine
• Sewing Needles
• Threads
• Scissors
• Scissors
• Velcro
• Barbie Fashion Designer CD-ROM
• tiny, fake buttons

1. Buy patterns for Barbie clothes at a local sewing/hobby shop or online. Buy any material you like and sew according to the pattern.

2. Use Barbie clothes you already have to make patterns.

3. Find old, worn-out Barbie clothes at garage sales and flea markets to use as patterns.

4. Design your own patterns.

5. Purchase the Barbie Fashion Designer CD-ROM. This program prints out pictures of Barbie clothes that can be used for patterns. It also prints out real clothes on special felt paper.

6. Attach Velcro to clothes instead of buttons or snaps. It is easier for children to use.

7. Add lace, trim or fake buttons to dress clothing up.

8. Look for fun and wild patterns and materials. You will be able to find a lot of good things in the clearance bins at sewing shops because you only need a small amount of the material.

9. Consider making Barbie clothes and outfits for your child using similar material and patterns.

10. Reuse material from clothes your child has outgrown or leftover pieces of material from clothes your child already owns.

11. Understand that some materials just don't work for Barbie clothes. Because the clothes are so small, thick materials such as wide wale corduroy or heavy wool will be too cumbersome.

12. Consider what items of clothing are missing from the Barbie collection. Many collections are short on sleepwear and underwear. Swimsuits are usually not needed.

Tips & Warnings

• Enjoy your designs - the fact that you made the clothes yourself makes them special.
• Use different patterns for Barbie's friends, such as Stacie, Kelly and Ken.

[kebertlizz29]

on 10/26/2009 i have a TON of scrap fabric and would like to make barbie clothes but........i don't no where 2 buy the snaps or buttons. can u help me??

[karileighk]

on 6/30/2009 I've added this to my favorites because this is something I'm thinking about doing. *5

on 5/22/2007 I enjoy making clothes for Barbie. It is too much trouble to get out all my sewing to make just one outfit, and I don't always have time to sew for days at a time. I have found that sewing three different outfits makes a nice mini-wardrobe and also makes the time spent getting out all of my sewing supplies worth it.

on 1/13/2006 I find that the easiest way to make clothes is out of cotton.
1. Take the sleeves from old shirts - those are perfect.
2. Wrap them around the Barbie.
3. Trim and shape.
Besides wasting your time sewing, just use a glue gun! It works really well!
4. Add Velcro.

on 11/22/2005 I found plastic buttons made for dolls clothes sometimes very oversized and thick and definitely overpriced. So I used an old leather hole punch with a spoke like choice of sized hole punches. I punched out buttons from clear deli lids. Then I used a darning needle to make the two holes in the punched discs over a pad of corrugated cardboard. And if white is not your choice for your buttons, use nail polish. It comes in nearly every color and only needs one coat. What is great about these buttons is that they work as well as real ones. Button holes reinforced with a little lightweight iron-on stiffener, embroidered with a satin stitch and opened very carefully with nail scissors provides, the perfect place for these buttons.