For the Snoopy Midwest Collector Fest, I dressed my “Snoopy and Belle in Fashion” dolls as Barbie and Ken. They were entered in a 1950s-themed “Dress your plush” contest. I took inspiration from the original Barbie and Ken dolls and created the clothing, sunglasses and sandals from scratch.
If you’re wondering what the Snoopy and Belle dolls are, they are by Tonner. They were used for the 2017 Snoopy & Belle in Fashion shows. I found them on eBay and snapped them up. Not sure what their story was before I got them, but they definitely saw some light handling.
Challenges
Time
I’ve had these dolls for a few years now. Finally this contest was the push I needed to make outfits for the dolls. I needed an idea that was easy enough to execute in the few months I had leading up to the event. I knew there would be a learning curve with whatever I decided on and needed to make sure I got it all done.
Materials
I’m a cheapskate. I didn’t want to spend a lot on materials, so I tried to source as much as I could as cheaply as possible. A red t-shirt my Mom got from a friend. A black and white striped knit shirt I had in my closet, but just a little off the sleeves. Some random fabric, ribbon and gold earrings Mom had on hand. An unused white wash cloth. Finally, a last-minute sheet of cork I happened to find at a local thrift store for a quarter. The only thing I bought at retail for the project was the yellow towel and the sunglass lenses.
Skill
I can sew. I can follow a pattern. I have all sorts of tools and materials. The biggest skill I needed was patterning. It came apparent pretty quick that the best approach for me was to adjust something to fit the dolls, rather than trying to pattern anything from scratch. Either way, I probably would have had a lot of trial and error.
Body Type
Barbie has voluptuous curves. Belle is an egg. Trying to get the exact shape and curvature of stripes onto a suit for Belle proved impossible. With more time and more skill, perhaps I could have overcome the obstacles with some sort of corset. Instead, I opted to just stick to Belle’s beautiful egg shape. I took hours just trying to figure out the best way of creating the top of Barbie suit for Belle!
Stripes
Do you need to line up your stripes? Of course not. Does it look better and more professional? Yes! I might not know how to do a lot of things, but by golly, my stripes are going to match up!
Sunglasses
To make the sunglasses, I traced around the shape of them and handed it off to Allen. He turned them into a 3-D printable model complete with bows, hinges, and inserts to hold the lenses. We did many test prints to get them working. For the lenses, I searched all over for just the right material at the right price point. Do you know how hard it is to search for “clear blue” when it’s also a brand name? These $1 blue plastic treat bags from Walmart aren’t exactly what I was hoping for, but other options were too expensive for the tiny amount of material I needed.
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