Barbie Crochet Fashion

I found a new way to create Barbie fashion, through the fantastic world of crochet. I happened to get a lot of crystal thread/yarn and instead of spending the next decade trying to ccreate a blouse or a dress, I gave a try designing and manufacturing Barbie clothes. And this is the result of my venture. To be honest, I'm quite impressed, because making clothes for Barbie's muse Body requires a lot of patience, getting the right stitches, needles, thread, a good sewing machine. Just sharing how Barbie Top Model looks with my special outfit. More to come!!

Barbie Italy 2009

Today, I got into my hands Barbie Italy.

A doll released in 2009 for the price of $34.99 at the website Barbie collector.com, and designed by Linda Kyaw, Barbie Italy is one of the most beautiful italian version dolls ever made (so far).

The fashion, the print of the skirt's fabric, the shawl, and the farmers blouse she wears, makes me think how forward the design was, since that type of blouses were quite popular on summer 2016.

Make up wise, the combination of eye shadows and lipstick color,  makes the doll face elegant, opulent and fierce, just as our romantic idea of country side Italian women back 50s.  Perhaps a instrinsic inspiration in Gina Lolobrigida and Sophia Loren, by which this doll brings that golden era romanticism.

Some technicalities to add to this doll, it has the twist and turn type of body (similar to Silkstone desing), it is not model muse or pivotal. Body skin tone Tan.

Definitely a must, specially for those who collect "Barbie of the World Editions" and for those looking for a sexy and fierce look to add to their OOAKs.

I'm totally pleased.

Barbie Curvy Fashionistas 2017

Hi everyone, today I'm going to write about the new Fashionistas Barbie dolls that Mattel released since 2016 and I am glad to see this project coming out as it offers options for Barbie lovers when choosing a doll.

Barbie Curvy #48 Fashionistas 2017

We all know that Mattel is having a hard time selling Barbie dolls lately, and now they offer the Fashionistas line composed by a group of Barbie dolls and Kens designed with different shapes, sizes, skin, hair color and texture, in an effort to rescue their brand and to make it appealing to a society who is trying to update the standards of beauty, and as consequence, those new standards are being taught to  the current children's generation. 

And that's how we get to choose from a variety of dolls, specially the new Curvy Barbie Dolls. 

And in this post I'm going to share my favorite one: Second edition Fashionistas Curvy #48. I love her pink hair, tanned skin, green.eyes and the sunflower dress. She is my third Fashionista. 

However, Mattel  insists in producing dolls that aren't bendable, flexible or posable. This dolls as lovely and varied as they are, they are still rigid dolls, made with a material that feels  hollow and cheap versus the Barbie dolls from the 90s and 2000s (Mackie faces).  

Mattel should continue with the production of Barbie dolls like Made to Move, adding the Curvy body  to type of body and even better, to add the dolls with different heights and skin tones. 

Last but not less important, we need  accessories, clothing and shoes to be purchased separately. 

So, it is an interesting time to see the evolution of Barbie and what Mattel will offer to the competitive market of more realistic posable dolls.

Images of Barbie Dolls

Here is a new batch of photos I took from two Barbie dolls, found at Value Village and restored. 

The one dressed in green is Barbie Holiday Singing Sisters from 2000. It was part of a set with two of Barbie little sisters, Stacie and Kelly.  The set includes a musical staircase. 

The second doll is Barbie Fashionista GLAM. Lovely doll, articulated body and found in a second hand store. 

Images of Barbie

Hi everyone, I'm posting more Barbie images from different models.  

As a Barbie collector beginner, I get amazed  a in the sutile differences in each Barbie doll. Each one is unique, each one has a different makeup, eye color, and  different colors  and shapes of lips.

 One of the 90s doll in this post is a close up of Barbie Sun Jewels.

The other dolls are more recent, from the 2000s, already in belly button body. 

They are Barbie GLAM fashionista, Barbie Angel, and Barbie pick and scoop. 

All of them found at a thrift store, washed and restored hair. 

Barbie History

Barbie History is an interesting example of how women, even in the position of housewives, are talented enough to create and push an empire. And that's  inspirational for all women.

Barbie was created by Ms. Ruth Handler, a woman who got inspiration in Germany in 1956, when she saw a doll named Bild Lilli,  intended as a collectible pieces for adults. It had blond hair, tall and curvy body, and served as an inspiration for Ms. Handler to create a doll, when she saw her daughter, playing with paper dolls and giving them adult personalities.

She realized the missing gap in the toy industry and believed that a Doll as Bild Lilli could be sold by her husband's toy company: MATTEL.

She told her husband about the idea, and even thought he wasn't sure about it, she starting designing the first Barbie dolls that eventually were launched in 1959. 

Initially, the Barbie production was made in Japan.  And as we know now, she has been the dream of many girls and lately, the nightmare for others. 

Personally, I always loved Barbie Dolls because they are beautiful and as a kid, I didn't care about the marketing, the lawsuits, or about Barbie as negative figure to follow by girls, specially for the standards of beauty that she represents  for many people. 

My thought about this is that children don't look up at a toy as a figure to follow, but to the values parents teach and practice at home. So enjoy Barbie the same way we did as kids.  

Barbie Stories

This post is about Barbie Stories, specifically the story about how I got my first Barbie doll ever. It was back in 1987, when my mother took me to a very nice store in a city we were visiting. The store had a big aerostatic balloon on the roof and very colorful. I remember the unlimited options I had to choose a Barbie Doll, and suddenly I chose a nice box with the picture of a fancy Barbie Doll, dress in pink and serving food. I was sure I wanted that one, so my mommy paid for it and we walked out of the store. When we made it to the hotel room, I opened my new "Barbie" box and as shown in the picture I got very nice table and set of chairs to complete the Dining set, but not a  Barbie Doll. My mom had not paid attention in that very tiny detail written in the box, that stated Barbie not included... So we went back to the store and after my mom tried to negotiate an exchange, finally she got it and quickly I chose my very first Barbie Doll: The Tropical Barbie.  I saw her and she had everything I ever wanted: long-blond hair that over the time I had brushed and brushed  until the hair became matted, and eventually she lost her nice head and she became a fat-headed Barbie Doll, as before not many people and less a 4 year-old kid would not now how to fix the head-off the body of the Barbie dolls at that time, so I just put it back where it suppose to belong... insert it on the neck :)

But even after many Barbie Dolls in my possession, I still remember that Doll as the best thing ever and I keep it in my mind like it was yesterday :)

BARBIE AND KEN SALSA VIDEO

Hi everyone, 

This is a video I made, inspired in Latin Salsa  with Ken and Barbie dancing in a short video the song from Las Chicas del Can, titled "Juana La Cubana".  

It was fun making it. I hope you like it. I'll try to improve the technique. 

how to fix Barbie hair?

If you are wondering how to fix Barbie's hair when it is full, dirty, matte?? ... You are at the right place.

We all know how the doll's hair gets damaged, specially when it is over-brushed, washed with cold water and the overtime dirt build up. 

If you like to restore Barbie Dolls, this is procedure is a MUST, speciallly with second hand Dolls.  And it goes like this:

Step 1.  Detangled Barbie's hair  with a Barbie hairbrush or a comb. Do it patiently, not forcing the hair, since you can either lose a lot of hair of break the doll neck.  Start from the bottom of the hair working your way up. The key is the patience.

Once it's detanglet we have to wash it, even if it is not 100 % detangled. Make Barbie's hair wet and pour over the hair, shampoo with conditioner. This two elements will help to detangle and also will cleanse Barbie's hair.  Use a comb and brush from the tips working your way up. Once the hair seems detangled, rinse it with luke water. 

 Step 2. The hot bath. To make Barbie's hair look new again, we are going to dip Barbie's hair in hot, almost boiling water. 

Place boiling water in a glass container, pot or a plate with some depth. Then take the barbie doll and dip her hair into the water. While the hair is in the water, try to comb the hair, with a long brush or a comb with a handle so you don't touch the hot water. Repeat this technique until you feel Barbie's hair is smooth while combing the hair.

In case Barbie's hair doesn't feel smooth, then we have to do the hot bath directly on a pot while the water is boiling. We do the same, place the doll's hair into the boiling water, and dip it for about 5 seconds. Take the hair out, comb and repeat 4 or 5 times. Avoid touching the boiling water, and submerging the full Barbie's head into the pot with boiling water, only the hair. Place special attention to the edges of the hot pot not touching Barbie's body to prevent damage to it. 

Once the hair is smooth, then leave the Barbie doll to dry at room temperature. Don't use a hair dryer. 

Hope it helps. And enjoy renewed Barbie hair. 

BARBIE VIDEO PHOTOSHOOT

I got this doll not long ago, and I decided to play and make a short video. Reminded me a live photo shoot. 

BARBIE FASHIONISTAS PIVOTAL JOINTED

As Usual, I got this Barbie from the thrift store. I think I paid like $2.99 for a bag of 5 Barbie Dolls in great shaoe.. I love to find these deals with toys in great condition, so I can wash them and give a second chance.  I love this doll because she has pivotal body and it is a great posable doll. It works great posing for  pictures.  And the clothing looks great. 

Barbie pink legs

This is a Barbie ballerina with  pink legs that I am sure is part of the basic version of Barbie Doll.

The doll has a beautiful face, from the batch of dolls from the 2000s were they looked more teen and had smaller bodies. The quality of the dolls is great. Still made of soft plastic, only complain are those pink legs. Nothing better than natural skin color and be able to use pantyhoses but Mattel has to save money in doll's production and we end up with colored  limbs or trunks on Barbie. 

Barbie Top Model

  

The Barbie captured in the following pictures belongs to the series of Top Model Barbie. I got her in 2008 and she was one of the first series of Barbie with the new top Model body, which means less curves, nice details as the shape of the clavicle, narrowed legs and more detailed face and Make-up, smaller head, comparing with the new Barbie Dolls and excellent accessories as well an excellent attention to the detail of the clothing that come with this narrowed doll, which it really makes hard to make clothing for this new doll. 

redo hairstyle in Barbie

Hello! I want to share with you my Barbie Hair makeover. I was trying to give some life to her hair. I did a perm on her. As you can see in the pictures, her hairs was straight, and really at the beginning was matted as well, but I did the permanent straight hair technique to fix her hair and after I tried to make some curls on her. I think she looked really cute. But after a while I got bored again and I tried to make it more voluminous and I like more as reminds me the Barbie Doll hair in the 80s, when they had very rich and with volume. If  I had knew the secrets to fix Barbie Doll hair before... I use to brush the Barbie dolls hairs so much that the hair or would fall off  or become extremely matted. And as a child at that time, I would not have the chance to get Barbie Dolls very often, maybe just one per year... So I really tried to take care of them. 

BEFORE

                                                                                  NOW

BARBIES REDOED

These are some pics that I took to my Barbie dolls that accidentally got from a Thrift Store. I fixed them, wash them and redo the hair, and these are the results. I am happy that many people gives away toys in good shape, because I can get them ;)

This is the Disney  Pocahontas Barbie doll from 1995. When I was kid, I begged to get her, but it didn't​ happend. 16 years later, found her. At the time of the pictures, I didn't have the original clothes, but eventually I got the outfit. 

 This is Barbie Angel, without her original outfit and will have. But still, she has a beautiful face, her head is bigger than the new ones, but she has great dark green eyes and gorgeous red lips, that makes her exceptional beauty. I got this Barbie in a thrift store. It was dirty with matted and tangled hair. Dolls was washed and hair boiled. This is the result.