My "Skipper dress"

Midge

Midge

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Something to light up a dreary rainy day like today! Every now and then, a really nice vintage piece turns up at the Caritas secondhand shop, and today was one of those days (and it was very nicely priced too!). Being a Barbie doll collector, it made me even happier that it reminded me of some of my fave vintage doll dresses as well! I'll call it my "Skipper dress" :). I admit, I love that!

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So here's the dress - the cutest lemon yellow summer dress, probably home made, I'm guessing early 60s. Lovely embroidery on the fabric, fits beautifully and has just a few small spots that I hope I can wash out. I'm not sure if it it's cotton or a cotton/synthetics mix. The way it's made there's nowhere to cut off a little bit for a burn test...

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Nicely made side opening.

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Whoever made the dress actually cut the fabric up and re-sewed it to generate a difference in the pattern, both in the skirt and the top - incredible!
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And here's what it reminded me of:
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Skipper doll's 1964 "Flower Girl" fashion , here paired with Barbie's "Orange Blossom" (one of my first and still most favourite vintage Barbie outfits ever!).
And Courtney doll is modelling Francie's "Fresh as a Daisy" from 1966. Another fave!

Sorry for the bad quality doll pics, they're from my "archive"...

Karin
 
Gayle, I only grew up in the 80s, but I was very unsentimental about my Barbies then - I didn't get regular pocket money and had to rely on whatever I saved, and my mom wouldn't constantly buy me new things. So I learned early to sell what I didn't like anymore to make money to buy new Barbie things. I was very good with my stuff while playing, and I rarely lost anything, but my childhood collection has now all these missing bits and pieces because sometimes I just sold parts of outfits as sets etc. Let's just say that I could have kicked myself sometimes at throwing these things out later - but I did learn a valuable lesson thanks to Barbie :) (who would have though that! Mom was so against Barbie, she even refused to buy me one until my grandpa decided that my cousin and I should get what we so dearly wanted).

Karin
 
I love that dress. Adorable with a capital "A"!

I never had a Barbie, my mom (like Karen's) disapproved of the doll's image and message. And I was OK as I preferred my Tonka trucks! Tomboy for sure. But I do love to see all the clothing and outfits from the early Barbie days, and your dress is definitely Skipper!

Does it fit you?
 
Yes - it fits :). Like a lot of dresses from that time, it's on the shorter side on my long upper body, but its still ok, and a wide belt will do the rest. I've just washed it since I had some delicate stuff to wash anyway, and it came out "fresh as a daisy". Now I only need to fix the waist seam in 2 places, and that's it. I got all my summer stuff out this weekend and put the winter things away. Heavens, I have tons of summer dresses! I might have overdone on the "I need more nice summer dresses" a little bit :hysterical:. Now I'm hoping for a long hot summer!

My mom disapproved of Barbie for the same reasons, as did my uncle, so my cousin and I were stuck until our grandpa decided we should each have a Barbie doll. And you wouldn't have thought he was the Barbie-buying kind if you met him :). Mom was won over when she saw me playing with my Barbies for hours on end, completely happy and engrossed in it. But I had Legos too (including a whole train set!) and loved those just as much. Being an only daughter has its advantages - dad took me with him to look at new cars or the transport museum. And I loved that just as much.

Karin
 
My parents were really straight and had no issues with the Barbie thing at all- guess she was a good role model for keeping women in their place in the 60's-70's :hysterical:

My mother made loads of Barbie clothes, she also made them to sell at church fund-raisers.I didn't get enough pocket money to buy Barbie clothes- but sometimes got them for birthdays and Christmas.

My favourite doll was actually barbies friend 'Kelly'. I had a Kelly goes camping set of some kind complete with a tent, cooking things etc it was awesome!!

Wow this thread is getting me all nostalgic Karin!
 
Love Barbie, love Skipper, love this dress and it looks like my favorite fabric Seersucker. When I think Summer I think seersucker. Wonderful thread.
My Barbie of choice was Twist n Turn. I saved my allowance so I could go to the store and stare for hours (memories you know how they are) which new outfit I would get her.
I was a tomboy though big time.
 
Ahhh... yes I know that one! When I had saved enough, we'd go to the toyshop in Zurich and I would stand in front of the shelves for ever, trying to decide how to best spend my money!

Gayle, I know exactly which doll you mean. Way before "my" time though. But the first vintage doll I ever bought was a Barbie from the same time and the same series, she came with skiing equipment. I found her as NOS in a tiny little shop, at the original price. I was over the moon! I gave her to a collector friend though, who collects more dolls from the 70s than me. One of my very favourite childhood dolls though was a redhead too :) - Midge in her early 90s incarnation. I did make Barbie clothes myself - my mother usually refused to, because it was too small and fidgety for her taste. But I like small and fidgety - always have... I had a Burda magazine full of doll sewing patterns, and it had quite a few for Barbie too.

Twist'n Turn Barbies are gorgeous and some of my favourite vintage dolls - I have a few of them.

Karin
 
My sister has a whole skiing Barbie family set from the 90s including Huskie dog if I remember correctly! We use to go to garage sales for vintage bits and pieces, and mum crocheted and sewed up a few outfits for them we still have in the attic.
 
OMG Karin- I now remember the skiing barbie- and I actually had that one !- but it certainly didn't survive into the 80s when I sold them all. I never had a skipper, I have no idea why.
Loving this thread :)
 
What a sweet dress! And yes, definitely a ringer for Skipper's dress... :USETHUMBUP:

The fabric "reads" as cotton or a cotton-blend on my monitor, so I'd be surprised if you had any problem washing it...

I was Barbie-deprived as a child (due to economics vs ideology) and had almost no clothing for my 2 dolls. I tried sewing clothes for them when I was 9 or 10, and came up with frocks suitable for Wilma Flintstone... :hysterical:

Then, when we lived in Ohio in the early 90s in a very conservative neighborhood, all the girls brought Barbies to my daughter's birthday parties and it drove us nuts! She had accumulated an immense collection of dolls and outfits by the time we moved to Massachusetts--which she rarely even played with, so we gave the whole kit and caboodle to a friend with younger daughters...
 
You have inspired me. I may have to find a Barbie look a like dress.
Probably more of a twist n turn one though.
 
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