Barbie Treasure Chest - Page 17 of 36 - you never know what's inside

October 31, 2018October 31, 2018

Do you want a Vintage dress like Barbie?

Have you ever considered to dress like a Barbie? I have considered it. I have several dresses like the very early Barbie Vintage dresses. I don’t wear them daily but sometimes when I go out for a dance or when our group has a appearance. I’m a member in a local dance club.

I enjoy dressing myself up. Of course there also a clothing line by Unique Vintage and they have copies for humans of original Barbie doll dresses. I have none of them. I have dresses from other labels like the one below. I got this one yesterday.

Neckholder dress by Vivian of Holloway — Blue and white neckholder dress

You can wear a real petticoat under the dress. There’s enough space for it. I write it down here because I also have skirts and they aren’t wide enough to wear a petticoat under it. So let’s thank Vivan of Holloway for this fabulous dress. I’ll take care of it.

October 24, 2018October 24, 2018

How not knowing the Winter Holiday outfit makes you a rookie

You maybe know the say “unexpectedly comes often” and so it was with this outfit. Last week I saw it and bought it. I had seen it in a video before and liked it. It was not a long time ago. My outfit is not complete here. It’s just a part of the whole outfit. The handbag, the jacket and the shoes are still missing but I like the hoodie and the pants. I was surprised how the hoodie was cut. The idea with the little zipper is just great. In general I think I have told you about the quality of early Barbie doll fashion. It’s very good in comparison to what is sold nowadays in toy stores.

October 17, 2018October 17, 2018

How to put a perfect crest for Barbie doll from the 1980s

Have you asked yourself how to do a perfect crest after a reroot? Well, here’s my method in pics.

Start at the back of the head
It’s easier to start here.

The more streaks the more difficult is the task.

The head you see here is the Peruvian version of the Tropical Barbie from 1985. I got her bold but I wanted her to look great again. So I rerooted her.

The complete result will follow as a video on my youtube channel Busy B from Germany. I hope you’ll watch it.

October 10, 2018October 10, 2018

Why Chelsie is sexy

I never thought about the name in detail but several days ago I got a Chelsie doll that I wanted for a long time. But there is an oddity because there’s another Barbie family member with the same name but she’s a little bit older although she’s still very young. Maybe this was planned, maybe it wasn’t but for sure there are two dolls with the same name. The first Chelsie doll was a friend of Shelly and I think she was available in 1996. I have her in my collection ever since.

The second one with the same name is part of the Generation Girls series from the Millennium. Chelsie is here a grown up character and a friend of Barbie. Maybe she’s a student. I’m not 100% sure what this group is representing. Anyway, have a look yourself.

Little friend of Kelly /Shelly — Chelsie, little friend of Kelly/ Shelly

Barbie Generation Beat — Generation Girl Chelsie

By the way, she was a Toys ‘r’ us exclusive … if anyone remembers this toy chain that is now gone. I like her. She’s cute somehow and I’ve been searching for her for several years.

October 3, 2018October 3, 2018

An incredible fabric haul success story

10 days ago I learned that one of the last shops for fabrics is going to close. So what did I do? I went and visited the store maybe with a little hope to find a cheap sewing-stiching machine combination too but I think I dreamt a little to much. They have lots of stuff but no machines. At first I only wanted to see how much they had reduced the price for fabrics but it was only 20% for fabrics. I found some small end pieces which were cheaper than the rest. It’s enough to test my patterns in the next weeks. Maybe I’m going to visit the store another time before they close their doors forever.

September 26, 2018September 26, 2018

What everybody is saying about Winter Sport Barbie

In times before Fashionista Barbie and Made to Move Barbie was available my generation already got to know flexible Barbie bodies. The first ones available were the Gymnast Barbie from 1993 or 1994 and Winter Sport Barbie from 1994 or 1995. The flexibility made a lot more movements possible. Maybe this was the reason why she was at first only available as a sportswoman?

I had her as a kid. She was one of the last I really wanted for playing. I always liked her and recently I had the chance to get one. So I have her back again. This is maybe not very exciting for you but for me.

Barbie 1994 — Winter Sport Barbie and Midge

I found Midge almost a decade ago but Barbie was somehow harder to find.

September 19, 2018September 19, 2018

Why Re-ment miniature food will change your life as a Barbie collector

I recently ordered two packages of Re-ment miniature food for my Coca Cola Soda Fountain. I thought it looked a bit incomplete and wanted to find out if the miniature food could be the solution for my problem. From the size it’s perfect for my Soda Fountain.

My Coca Cola Soda Fountain decorated with Re-ment food miniatures

More are waiting for a place in the pot…

IMG 5120 e1537289017306 — Elvis ? Really Elvis? Incredible!

IMG 5121 e1537289040165 — Barbie is happy…

I must say I like the miniature food.

September 12, 2018September 12, 2018

Ken prototype heads you don’t see often

Sometimes pics appear from Barbie prototypes. Last week I got to see some Ken prototype heads. I asked Patrick McGovern for the permission to show them. I think it’s a Mod Hair Ken prototype but I’m not 100% sure.

Anyway, enjoy the pics.

40971441 934564433421267 1125087719937015808 n — blond Mod Hair Ken prototype

40766723 934564883421222 5857716873503703040 n — brown Mod Hair Ken prototype

40797687 934564880087889 8964198759432978432 n — brown Mod Hair Ken prototype

40993513 934564890087888 8614678624441729024 n — brown Mod Hair Ken prototype

I must say I really like these prototypes. I think they had sold well. I’m not 100% but I think the first blond rerooted Ken came in the 90s or as a Fashionista Ken recently. I’m not so good informed about Fashionistas because I don’t collect them.

September 5, 2018September 5, 2018

Reasons you should be talking about FAO Schwarz at the moment

Do you know the toy store FAO Schwarz in New York? Probably not if you’re not a habitant from New York or a Barbie collectors. Why do I talk about the shop here?

Well in the last weeks there was an article that the shop should move. The shop belonged for a while to the Toys’r’us company which failed for bankcrupcy in 2017. In 2016 the Threesixty group bought it from TRU. Obviously they have great plans for the oldest toy store of the USA. There are plans to open a shop in the legendary Rockefeller Center in November 2018 and an additional shop in LAGuardia airport.

The shop was known to Barbie collectors for their special FAO Schwarz dolls from the 1990s and 2000s. I have some of them but not all. I really like the creativity from the 1990s. Below you can see some pics.

FAO Schwarz George Washington Barbie 1997

The shop was also known for it’s big piano installed on the floor ( which can be seen in the movie “Big”with Tom Hanks which was filmed in the 5th Avenue Shop in 1988.

Jeweled Splendor Barbie 1994 FAO Schwarz

Jeweled Splemdor Barbie 1994 FAO Schwarz

And here’s the link that showed up last week https://www.wsj.com/articles/fao-schwarz-is-set-to-return-and-it-needs-people-to-dance-on-the-big-piano-1535410371

August 29, 2018August 29, 2018

Why my new sewing machine Pfaff Quilt Ambition 2.0 is the secret ingredient

In the last months I had problems with my old sewing machine. I needed an incredible long to find out where the problem was. It was the position of the needle holder. Found it out, fixed it. Next problem. I wanted to sew with a fine cotton fabric. Unfortunately my machine didn’t like the fabric. Maybe it was a problem caused by age but anyway she produced so many mistakes that I decided to buy a new one.

I did a long research about fabrics and old sewing machines, needles for the machine. I tried anything but the result didn’t change much. Then I started to look round for a new sewing machine. It was no easy task. There is a wide range of sewing machines. At first I thought it was really difficult but then somebody made the suggestion on youtube to make a list what you want your new sewing machine to have. The list helped me a lot. I watched several videos to learn about different features. I got to know features I never heard of like the regulation of the sewing foot pressure and many other things like the IDT ( integrated dual transport) for fragile fabrics very useful.

I also went to a local shop and they showed me some machines. So I finally came to my decision that I wanted to have the Pfaff Quilt Ambition 2.0. I don’t plan to quilt in the future but I think some of the features are very handy for future Barbie sewing projects.