How to make clothes for Barbie with your own hands, step-by-step instructions

• October 30, 2018
• Needlework
• Holly Golightly

Girls' interest in the iconic Barbie dolls has not slowed down for many decades. However, despite the huge assortment of children's stores regarding clothing and furniture for these dolls, not everyone can afford them. After all, branded clothes and household items for Barbie cost a lot of money. But don't despair. Today we will tell you how and what you can do for Barbie with your own hands.

Classic dress

To sew an evening dress, you don’t have to look for a tutorial video. It’s enough just to study a simple master class. As a result, you will be able to make a beautiful classic outfit for your doll yourself.

For work you will need:

• pattern;
• textile. For example, silk or chiffon;
• lightning. It can be replaced with regular Velcro or buttons;
• needle and thread;
• scissors.

The first step is to start making the pattern. It can be printed on a sheet of A4 paper. All details are subsequently cut out from it.

All elements of the diagram are cut out, applied to the canvas and outlined. After this, all that remains is to cut them out, leaving small allowances.

Then the resulting pieces are stitched and thus assembled into a single whole. After completing these steps, you need to process the edges, insert a zipper or sew on Velcro and buttons.

If you don't create an overly complicated design, you can create a DIY outfit for Barbie very quickly. The work will take a maximum of 20 minutes.

The nuances of manufacturing different design models

Depending on the materials used, the process of creating furniture may differ slightly. In order for the item to turn out to be of high quality, you need to study the question of how to make a wardrobe for dolls correctly. This includes the order in which parts are created and the process of assembling a piece of furniture. The set can be made from the following materials: cardboard, newspaper tubes, plywood.

From cardboard

The easiest way to make furniture is from boxes. It is recommended to find one that closes with four valves. In this case, all that remains is to do the internal filling. Short valves should be cut off. If you place the box on its side, the long pieces can be used as cabinet doors. Then you will need to glue a hanger rod inside and decorate the resulting piece of furniture. If necessary, you can build an internal partition and shelves on the left or right side of it.

It's a little more difficult to make a cabinet from pieces of cardboard. You can use any material, but dense or corrugated is better. If this is not the case, you will have to cut out all the parts in 2 pieces and then glue them together. To achieve maximum strength, the resulting fragments must be placed under a press for 2 days. If this is not done, the parts may become deformed from moisture. It is especially important to strengthen the side walls, since they bear the heaviest load.

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The easiest way to assemble finished parts is with glue. In order for the doll cabinet to last as long as possible, all fragments should be additionally strengthened. To do this, before gluing the parts in pairs, you need to lay two pieces of soft wire, preferably copper, between them. This is especially important for future shelves.

Assembling a cabinet from pieces of cardboard is not easy:

1. First, it is recommended to build a compartment with shelves. To do this, on the side parts you need to draw the places where they will be located.
2. Having attached the blanks to them, you need to mark the places where the wire will pass, and then make neat holes in them with an awl.
3. Coat the edges of the shelves with glue, attach them to the side parts of the cabinet, thread the wire through the holes and press firmly, fix it on the back side, twisting it and cutting off the excess ends.
4. After all the shelves are secured, stick another piece of cardboard on the side. Additional fragments are needed to hide the wire and make the sides stronger. Pieces of wire should be laid inside to secure the parts on the bottom and top of the cabinet.
5. In the same way, make another side part for the second compartment. Attach it to the elements with shelves using a stick - this will be a hanger bar.
6. Secure the bottom by coating the lower ribs with glue and passing a wire through it. If the cabinet has no legs, you don’t need to cover it from the bottom with another piece of paper.
7. Then secure the top part by gluing a piece of cardboard.
8. After this you need to attach the back of the cabinet.
9. If the cardboard has not been previously decorated, then the next step will be gluing the product from the inside. To do this, it is better to use napkins or soft paper for decoupage.
10. Then you need to attach the doors. They should first be covered with paper and handles attached to them. If the doors will open, you need to secure them on small hinges, screwing them with wire or small screws.

You can make a wardrobe with sliding doors. To do this, you need to glue a round stick on top and bottom, then place the doors, and attach 2 more sticks in front of them.

From newspaper tubes

There is an unusual option for making a doll cabinet from old newspapers. Since you first need to create a base, such a product will take a lot of time. In addition to the main material, you need to prepare cardboard, decorative paper for external decoration, scissors, wire and a hot glue gun.

First you need to make blanks - tubes from newspapers. They are rolled up and secured with tape. Next, the process of creating a cabinet can be carried out in one of two ways. The simplest one is to glue the tubes onto cardboard, which will increase its strength and hardness. The manufacturing method is similar to that used for ordinary cardboard: parts are cut out, covered with newspapers and joined together. For this option, the tubes are made thicker.

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You can also build a doll cabinet from thinner newspaper tubes, using them as vines. The parts are connected in any way, but the easiest way is with simple plain weave. A dense base is obtained, from which parts are then cut out. To increase strength, wooden slats are attached to the corners of the cabinet from the inside.

To make the product look beautiful, the tubes must be painted or covered with colored paper before weaving.

From plywood

The most difficult thing to make is a cabinet made of plywood. The parts are cut out the same: top, bottom, 2 side parts, back wall, partition and shelves. To more firmly connect the fragments to each other, when preparing the elements, you need to make 2 protrusions on each side, and slots at the fastening points. Such grooves can be made through or half the thickness of the plywood. In the first case, you will need to paste the finished item on the outside to hide the joints.

On the side walls in those areas where there will be shelves, you can make not slots for protrusions, but continuous grooves.

If you cut the parts correctly, the assembly process will be simple. It’s like working with a construction set, only the side ribs need to be lubricated with “Moment” or hot glue from a hot glue gun. The doors are attached to small hinges using screws. If their ends have come out, then you need to remove them with pliers and cover these places with decorations.

Coat

Outerwear for Barbie dolls is no less simple to make. It can be sewn or knitted. Both options for creating a coat should be considered in more detail.

Sewing

In this case, DIY clothes for Barbie are made using the following materials and tools:

• textile. For example, boucle or wool would be great;
• sample;
• fur for making a collar;
• buttons and strap;
• threads with a needle;
• scissors.

Making clothes for Barbie with your own hands is quite simple. The first step is to print the diagram on paper and then mark all the elements on the canvas.

The details of the future coat are cut out, connected and sewn.

The resulting product is decorated. In the same way, you can sew a jacket for a doll, simply by changing the length of the workpiece.

Knitting

The process of making an outfit using this method will be more labor-intensive, but the result will be impressive.

When creating a knitted coat you will need:

• yarn. It is recommended to give preference to acrylic threads or wool, but not very thick;
• Crochet hook;
• buttons.

Knitting is done from top to bottom. In this case, you need to strictly adhere to the scheme in order to get a beautiful, unusual pattern.

The edges of the sleeves, like the collar, need to be tied using yarn of a different shade. After this, all that remains is to sew the sleeves and sew buttons to the coat. The outfit at this stage is already ready.

Making a bed for a Barbie doll

Buying ready-made furniture for an entire house of dolls is an expensive undertaking. However, here you can do it on your own. You will need: multi-colored fabric, foam rubber and a sewing machine.

In general, in order to make a bed for Barbie in the simplest version, you need a little material and the ability to sew on a machine.

So, take an A4 sheet and place the doll on it. Did it fit? Great. Place the piece of paper on the brightly printed fabric folded in half and trace it. This will be the base of the bed. If the doll is larger than the sheet, then add the required number of cm.

Cut a rectangle of fabric and sew it along the edges on three sides. Then insert the foam inside and sew up the fourth side.

Now make the pillows for Barbie’s bed in the same way. For the inner filling of the blanket, use not foam rubber, but suitable pieces of fabric. For greater originality, you can make a double-sided duvet cover by first sewing a bag of multi-colored rectangles, and then a full-fledged blanket.

Fur coat

To sew a beautiful fur coat, you should make sure you have the following materials:

• fur;
• a piece of knitted fabric for lining;
• silk or satin ribbon;
• felt-tip pen;
• needle and thread;
• scissors;
• Velcro.

You also need to print the pattern.

All the details of the future fur coat are cut out.

All that remains is to sew them, combine the fur with the lining fabric and decorate them at your own discretion.

Slippers

You can not only sew clothes for the doll yourself, but also make shoes. With a minimum of effort, you will be able to get original slippers that will obviously not be out of place in the wardrobe of Barbie or Monster High. To make them you will need:

• yarn;
• ribbon;
• scissors.

The color of the yarn can be chosen at your own discretion. The main thing is to pay attention to the diagram. If you strictly adhere to it, you will be able to create an excellent wardrobe item. The central image shows the foot. This is where the knitting process begins. Then the workpiece is knitted in a circle.

All that remains is to thread the ribbons into the finished slippers. After this, you can try on the slippers.

High heels

Designing heels is quite challenging, but really fun. All steps of their manufacture should be considered in as much detail as possible. For work you will need:

• fabric size 100x100 mm;
• cardboard;
• miniature wooden blocks for creating heels;
• glue;
• a pair of beads;
• rubber;
• glue.

Step 1. Using the diagram, transfer all the elements onto the fabric and cut them out.

Step 2. Cut out the base of the insole from cardboard and glue the corresponding fabric element to the resulting part.

Step 3. Glue the back of this shoe model.

Step 4. Fix the toe and heels to the workpiece.

Step 5. Attach one bead to each clasp.

Having made a template from a pattern, in the future you can create many different shoes. In the future, it will take significantly less time to manufacture it.

How to determine the size of furniture

A doll is a small copy of a person, so its furniture is the same as ours, only smaller.

To determine the scale you will need:

• meter;
• doll;
• a sample of the furniture you want to make.

Actions:

• We measure your height and the size of the doll.
• Let's find out the parameters of the existing furniture.
• The resulting numbers, for example, 168 and 14, must be correlated; for this we will find the quotient, 14/168 = 0.083. This will be the similarity coefficient of objects.
• We calculate the dimensions of the furniture for the doll; to do this, we multiply the height and width of the object by the resulting figure from the point above.

For a standard Barbie doll, this coefficient can be taken as 0.09.

Taking this into account, the following parameters will be acceptable (dimensions are presented in centimeters):

• single bed - width from 7.5 and length - from 16;
• double - width from 13, and length - also from 16;
• for a chair, the seat height starts from 4;
• the table must be at least 6.5.

Clothes made from old socks

It often happens that one sock disappears somewhere without a trace, and the second is left without a pair. You can give it a new life by making it into original clothes for your favorite doll. It will turn out original and stylish. Even a child can cope with such a task.

From an ordinary sock you can make various wardrobe items:

• elastic band is suitable for a top and a skirt;
• the top of the sock and elastic can be used to create a dress. The shoulders will be open;
• long socks make a long dress;
• the heel is used to create an extraordinary collar or hood.

You can make an unusual hat out of socks. They are also used to make a jacket. To do this, you just need to cut holes for the arms and head. If you sew sleeves to such a blank, you get a very unusual, stylish jumper.

Selection of materials

Most often, furniture for Barbie's house is made of plywood or cardboard. The first material produces durable, strong, solid products, but working with it requires perseverance and time. In addition, special tools are needed.

But cardboard is almost always at hand; even a child can easily handle it. It is not as strong, but if you glue several layers together, you can create a durable table or chair. However, cardboard is inferior to plywood in aesthetics - if it is not decorated, the furniture will look dull and unattractive. What else might be suitable for making dollhouse furnishings:

• Matchboxes need decoration. Otherwise, they are very convenient, especially if you need a chest of drawers, a cabinet or other storage product.
• Plastic jars are also useful for educational purposes. Using their example, you can explain to your child the importance of caring for the environment and reusing raw materials. However, plastic requires a lot of attention - it is important to process all the edges as carefully as possible so that the baby does not cut himself.
• Wire is most often used for making accessories, but it can also be used to make furniture in general.
• Boxes - juice boxes, shoe boxes, egg boxes, any other boxes. They are usually easy to work with, as long as you glue enough layers together for strength.

If you don’t have anything at hand, and you need furniture urgently, you can make it out of paper (if you have colored paper, you won’t have to think about the decor). Of course, it makes fragile products, but this material is the easiest to work with. In addition, if you get tired of paper furniture, you can easily replace it with new one.

Plasticine or polymer clay can be used as an auxiliary material; interesting decorative elements can be made from them.

Skirt

To sew a skirt, you will need a rectangular piece of fabric with dimensions of 18x10 cm. You can choose fabrics of a wide variety of colors. You will also need an elastic band for the belt. Its length should be 9 cm. The width of the elastic should not exceed 0.5 cm.

You can sew such a skirt on a sewing machine or by hand. To do this, just make a seam by connecting the narrow parts of the rectangle. The upper and lower parts of the future skirt should be processed with an overlocker. If it is absent, the edges are simply folded and hemmed.

The next step is to sew an elastic band to the waistband. For this purpose, an indent of about a centimeter is made from its edge and an elastic band is applied to the wrong side. It is carefully sewn on by slightly stretching it. If tension is not applied, the elastic will simply not be enough to cover the entire width of the skirt. All that remains is to cover the fabric that remains above and stitch the workpiece again. This way the elastic band is completely hidden.

Sewing clothes for a doll is an incredibly exciting process. If you show your imagination and don’t be afraid to experiment, Barbie’s wardrobe will expand significantly. It will be possible to make many different outfits for her. Naturally, playing with such a doll will be much more interesting and the child will be completely delighted. After all, the girl will have the opportunity not only to dress up her Barbie, but also to create new images on her own.

Dresser or dressing table

It is very convenient to cut from a small box, where the cabinet is about 7 cm, the wall for the mirror is 16 cm, the width is 8 cm. Connect everything by gluing foil as a mirror and handles with beads. Decorate according to your desire and imagination.

Another simplified version of a chest of drawers is glued matchboxes. All children will like it because it has drawers.

It is enough to glue the boxes tightly to each other, or you can additionally attach a cardboard frame. Cover with wallpaper, napkins or other decor.