Hello dolly

The children were thrilled with all the presents they received today, but not half as thrilled as R's collection of scantily-clad dolls who will, at last, have enough clothes to go around (I don't know what happened to their original garments, but we seem to be short of a few). These home-made additions to their wardrobe came not a moment too soon, because the lovely Ken has just joined their ranks and has the honour of being the only male in the Barbie household (he has since been renamed Eric, but I'm sure he doesn't mind that. After all, if he can put up with wearing a white tuxedo and a pink bow tie, he can probably handle anything).

I used four online tutorials, all from Craftiness is not Optional:
 

The cap sleeve shirt and froufy skirt (I love the gingham and lace combination)

The ball gown in pink velvety stuff (wasn't fun to sew with), plus another in red which you can see in the main photo above

And the dress, with sleeves and without. Apologies for the bad photos and horribly wrinkled backdrop - I had to be very sneaky and very fast to get these pictures taken without anyone seeing me.

The doll clothes were strangely addictive to sew - if I hadn't started just a couple of days before Christmas I probably would have produced a lot more. After Ken/Eric was unwrapped I realised I should have made a wedding dress (or perhaps a few, give the ratio of girl dolls to boy doll), so I have an excuse to make at least one more item of clothing...