you never know what's inside
Have you heard about Takara yet? Probably not. Do you know that they are Japanese toy makers? Probably not. Why the hell am I asking you so much questions? Well, I like to teach and discover the world. So, if you have no idea what Barbie and Takara have in common, watch my video.
and if you want to know more about the Japanese doll craziness, watch this episode of Japanology.
And here’s a short commercial about Takara from the early 1980s.
It is said that in the time when this dress was made you dressed in a dress you wore after five when it was over five o’clock. Really? Sometimes I wonder how often the dressed and undressed themselves in the time. I know that I don’t have the time to dress and undress all the time because I’m at work usually and come home around 5 p.m. Anyway, I liked the Vintage After Five ensemble ever since I found out that it was made. Recently I got a my version but it’s not in the best condition. A button is missing and there are some holes in the dress but I’don’t want to complain. It has less holes than the Enchanted Evening I showed you last week. I plan to do my own copy this summer … I know a long time but I have another sewing project coming up but I’m still waiting for the fabric. So here’s the real After Five and stay tuned in for some new project in the future.
The other day I bought a Vintage Barbie outfit named Enchanted Evening and was very disappointed when it arrived here. The condition was so bad that I gave it back. I had no chance to use it for display. The only thing I could have done was using it as a pattern for sewing but that was not the intention I had. The fabric is very delicate. I don’t know exactly the fabric maybe some kind of satin and I saw no chance to repair it with my abilities. Here’s a pic of the back.
I even had problems to put the body into the dress because of it’s tightness. I didn’t want to destroy it and I thought this might happen by the next time I dress or undress the body.
So my advice before buying the dress from anyone selling online is
Today I cleaned a new Barbie doll in my collection. She’s from the 1980s and she’s from Spain ( made by Congost). I know it’s hard to find any information about Congost but they produced Barbie dolls under license in the late 1970s, 1980s and 1990s for Mattel. I don’t know how many they produced but they must have produced a lot. I have heard that the quality is not the best one but anyway I like them.
This one arrived here only hours ago and since it’s Saturday I had time to clean her immediately. I can’t repeat myself often enough to tell you how easy it is to clean an old Barbie doll. I think I removed the dust and dirt from decades. You just need rubbing alc. and some Q-Tips. You dip the Q-Tips in the alc. and remove the dirt. Some collectors may say that it is dangerous because of the knee joints but I never had any problems with rubbing alcohol. You can literally see the dirt on the left leg. The right one is already cleaned.
After the procedure I had a lot of dirty Q-Tips.
It lasted a long time until I was able to find a Jewel Hair Mermaid that was not soooooooooooooooo expensive like all the others. For many years I had 3 Jewel Hair Barbie dolls but the fourth was missing. Then I got one in a lot but her hair was not perfect. The problem with these dolls is the hair. You have almost immediately tangles in their hair. She is definitively the Barbie with the longst hair ever made but the problem was to keep the hair in good condition. As a child this was a real nightmare. Tangles, tangles, tangles. I sold my version of the Jewel Hair Mermaid in 1997. I found the Afro-American version along my road as collector more than 10 years ago for real good price and the Midge in blue too. Teresa followed in 2011 0r 2012.
So why is she in my opinion cooler than Micheal Jordan?
When I started to collect Vintage Barbies I had no idea how to distinguish all the different Ken dolls. Now I have one from each year (1961- 1964). When you have a look at the pics you can see differences. The make up differs each year. These pics show only the straight leg Kens.
Last weekend I saw something special. I had never seen nor owned a Kelly from Takara. Takara is practically a synonym for Barbies from Japan since the 1980s. They are very popular there like the real Barbie dolls have been there in the 1960s. Yesterday I collected this cute being from the postal office. 
Update: I did a little research when I got home. Since I’m not familiar with Takara dolls I asked other collectors. This little doll is called Miki. She’s one of the twin sisters of Licca. They are called Miki and Maki.
This outfit is not new in my collection but I forgot the number of the outfit. So I had a problem to tell you about the outfit. It’s so sad that there are no reliable books from the 1980s with all fashions. Often it’s a coincidence when you find the number.
Today I’m able to present you the right number for the outfit. This outfit has the number 3278. It was released in the Haute Couture collection 1986.
When I was ten I saw the Fashion Designer for Barbie doll. I loved to see the fashion for Barbie in the stores when I was younger than 10. I had my problems to choose one of the fashions I had in my hands. I always wanted to have all of them. This was seldom possible. Fashions were expensive in Germany. I liked the idea to design own clothes for Barbie but I was never able to do it in my childhood. In search of new sewing patterns the Cool Trends Fashion Designer came into my mind several weeks ago. Two or three weeks ago I won an auction. I got it for an incredible price. In the envelope was more than I expected. Even the textile paper was there and it has never been opened.
The reason I bought it was the chance to get new patterns. The fashion patterns themselves are saved as .bfd – files. I have been looking around to find a program for convert or open the stuff. The format seems to be so obscure that you find nothing about it online. I have an old PC where I could install the software without problems. The only solution I found for getting the sewing patterns was to print them directly. I have the chance to use several printers. One of them did print the pattern. So I was able to try the patterns. They are printed in the right size but you get no measures and no description about the number of pieces of paper that you need for one specific outfit nor where to put the second or third part it. I think I have to guess in the next weeks and just try my best.
Do you know the feeling when you got a piece that you have been looking for an eternity?It’s a very good feeling. That’s what I feel at the moment like. Last weekend I found it unexpectedly and I won the auction. The postal service managed to ruin the envelope but nonetheless the dress arrived here safe and sound. I like it because it’s a nice piece of history. I have the green version dress although there is a black version of the dress too. Maybe that’s my next goal.
