Barbie® and Ken®   The sixties         The eighties and nineties The sixties My cousin Elly and I often played together when we were young. We had imitation Barbie®-dolls, but also a few genuine ones of Mattel®. We were very proud to have them, because they were very expensive at that time. Elly had a genuine Barbie®-doll and a Skipper®-doll. I had Midge® (friend of Barbie®) and Skooter® (friend of Skipper®). I still have them. The clothes and accessories one could buy those days, were far to expensive for little girls like us. My Mum did quite a lot of sewing, knitting and crochet to dress our Barbies®. I show you a selection of her creative work. (Sorry! The pictures are a bit blurry. I hope to make better ones soon.) . Dressed for a feast Going to a gardenparty Lady in red . Nurse Midge Crochet lady Lady's suit with real fur Green piece Pretty in pink Knitwear Chequered skirts Cocktailparty . . Soft and warm Great hat . . Granny's nightgown Blue brush- nylon nighties Peignoirs Dressing- gowns . Ohlala Midge Petticoats Going to the beach . . White cardigan White sweater colored blocks Green sweater pink blocks . Ready for wintersports Real casual Red leather jacket Blue wintercoat Furry coat Chequered cape White "teddy" coat Red coat and beret Mum did some sewing for the "men" too. Sturdy "leather" jacket Warm winterwear Going fishing in a poncho Fishing outfit (originaly with rod) . Oldfashioned underwear Tennis outfit The Chef . . Chequered suit Suit with pied-de-poule Grey suit without facing . The eighties and nineties Then there was a new generation. Little girls in the eighties and nineties still played with Barbie®-dolls. My fingers itched to do for those girls what my Mum had done for me. I took up the challenge to dress up the males. You can find so little for them in the shops. I sewed for Ken® but also for the little boy Tommy®. That was super-mini-sewing! Alas, I have no pictures of Tommy®. This is Midge® in een wedding dress made of genuine "wedding dress fabric" decorated with white and pink pearls. The bouquet was homemade too. This dress was a present for Gabi Lejeune. This is a special pair of trousers for Ken®. It is a mini-copy of the ones my partner Piet used to wear, when he was a professional handyman. I even did apply his company logo (click here to see the real one). This is a chair for Midge®. I covered a frame of plywood (made by Piet) with quilted fabric and decorated it with a piece of lace and velvet ribbon. The matching cushion was embroidered and trimmed with a cord.