I used to get a catalog of Barbie Collector dolls in the mail every once in a while – the amazing costumes and designs for these dolls blow me away every time!!  If you are looking for Christmas or other holiday gifts for someone, maybe these awesome dolls would be perfect!!

Barbie 10th Anniversary Tokidoki Barbie

You know, I actually remember this Barbie coming out,
and what a big deal it was for being the first Barbie doll with tattoos!!
I think that we can all happily agree that this Donutella-bedecked Barbie
looks totally kickin’ rad.

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Barbie Collector The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 Katniss Doll

Um, I have something to admit right now…
I have never seen these movies. oAo
Barbie looks ready to kick some serious butt though.

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Barbie Collector Couture Angel Doll 2011

Even dolls from some years ago remain popular enough to top lists
during the holidays years later!!
And this angel doll is elegantly gorgeous, so I totally see why.
Well, I’m probably super biased towards liking things that are angelic
in appearance. nn

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Barbie Collector 2014 Holiday Doll

In my last Barbie doll roundup post,
I included the 2015 Holiday Doll.  Well, last year’s edition
is still popular and just as pretty!!
Red & gold looks like it has been the color scheme for a while. c:

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Barbie Collector The Blonds Blond Gold Barbie Doll

HOLY SMOKES LOOK AT THIS.
I can’t believe how amazing this looks.  Look at that sassy pose!!
I… actually do not know who the fashion designers called “The Blonds” are.
But heck their Barbie doll tie-in is rad.

In just a single day, I sewed this extremely cute and pretty skirt in a dusty pink color and classical, vintage-looking print – I thought it would be perfect for wearing on Thanksgiving!

Here is the finished skirt!!
It has a high waist and is incredibly full in shape.

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This is a close-up of the fabric –
a classical-looking toile print covered in BUNNIES!!
From afar, you can hardly tell that there are bunnies there at all.

They are secret bunnies.

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Now I’ll let you know how I made it!!

These three incredibly simple, rectangular shapes are all you need to cut out.
Cotton fabric comes in aboout 45″ wide, folded at the middle.
For rectangular pieces like these, all you do is measure the length down for each piece
and cut allllll the way across that 45″-ish width.

Using twice the amount of length that the waistband has
is what makes the skirt so fluffy and full!!

I like this method more than making a circle skirt pattern,
because the entire cut of fabric gets used without ANY scraps,
AND you don’t have the problem where your print is upside down at the back.

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The front & back panels get seamed together to make one huge “tube”-like shape,
then hemmed along the bottom.
In the above picture, I’m using lazy box-pleat-like gathers to match up the width
of the front + back skirt pieces with the waistband.
However, I do not iron the box-pleats down,
because I want it to fall like ruffles and not actual pleats.

Oh, and I always sew wrong-sides-together first, since I use French seams all the time
so that all of the seams are extremely sturdy and finished-looking on the inside.

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Here is the “after” of the above picture – the waistband
and the two skirt panels all attached!!
The waistband is about to be folded over at the top,
with a channel for elastic to go through ONLY on the back.
The front will be laying flat – that’s what gives it the high-waisted skirt appearance!

You can also see in this picture that while I am spending all of these hours sewing,
I keep myself entertained by watching Youtube vids of video games. :p
For this particular project, it was the Best Friends playing Super Mario RPG.

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In just one afternoon, I had finished practically an entire skirt!!
The lace details are simple – just lengths of lace sewn on in easy straight lines.
Actually, in the above pic, the bottom row of lace is pinned on
and not actually sewn yet.
The buttons are sen on by hand.  By the way –

Look at these tiny bunny buttons!!!

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Since I took a little break after making so much progress in the above pics,
it gave me time to decide that I wanted to scoot the bottom row of lace
up by a couple of inches before finally sewing it in place.
Stepping back for an hour (or day) is usually so beneficial!!

I’m so excited to have something this classical-looking and cute.
It looks like something that Liz Lisa would produce, and I never thought
that I’d own anything as pretty as anything of theirs.
I’m so excited to wear this for Thanksgiving
and any other coords I want to create with it!!