Honey, I Shrunk the Vogue 8379!

So, I had this crazywonderful idea. Barbie sized patterns are great and all, but I was on the hunt for a specific thing, and the 1/6 scale pattern world just wasn't doing it. What I really wanted was the Vogue 8379 wrap dress. But sized for my dolls. What is a sewist to do??

Get a little creative! That's what! This dress is exactly was I had in my head. Seriously. Exactly. And it really is Vogue 8379!!

You know those pattern piece diagrams that are printed in the instructions? Did you know that they are actually drawn to scale? They make a great starting point for a playscale pattern! I scanned the diagram into my computer, then measured the back piece at the waist. I compared it to a Barbie knit top pattern that I drafted. The math worked out well, as my Barbie pattern was 3mm across and the Vogue was 1mm. I told my printer to scale it up 300% and made a test dress.

My test dress demonstrates how much taller Barbie is than the average woman, But other than the length, the fit is really good overall! I added 1/2 inch to the bodice length, 1 inch to the skirt and 3/4 of an inch to the sleeves. If Barbie were human that would be 3 inches added to the bodice, 4 inches to the sleeve and 6 inches to the skirt. She's tall!

 On the final dress, I added the collar as well. For the sake of my sanity, I omitted the teeny weeny facings in favor of a plain hem, but I did the ties just as the pattern instructs, including the hole in the side seam for the belt to wrap through. I love the way this customizes the fit in my version of this dress, and I wanted it to work for more than one type of doll.

I really love the way it looks on Ksenia! She is a Phicen Fire Red Rose, and she is much curvier than Barbie. I love the way a wrap dress works on a busty figure. Now I can't wait to try some of my other patterns for my girls! So much variety!! SO many great details!! Squeeee!!