Barbie Ball Gown

Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts? Along with her magnificent doll clothes patterns, Barbie made her official debut on March 9, 1959, and had been an unstoppably popular and beloved children's toy ever since. The idea for Barbie originally started with Ruth Handler, wife of Mattel co-founder Elliot Handler. 

As Ruth watched her daughter, Barbara, play with her baby dolls, Ruth realized there were no dolls that were representations of adults. After becoming inspired by Bild Lilli dolls during a trip to Germany, Ruth bought three of them to bring with her back to the U.S. to show to those at the Mattel corporation, and the rest, as they say, is history. Since then, Barbie has been a cultural icon. Mattel has made claims that three Barbies are sold every second, and Barbie is sold in over 150 countries worldwide. 

For those who are sewing machine wizards, it's not difficult to learn how to make doll clothes for Barbie. Standing at 11.5" approximately, Mattel made it easy for sewists of all stripes to use leftover fabrics to create lovely and elegant doll clothes patterns for their own dolls.