Barbie doll wiki: Skipper, her first and oldest sister

In 1964 Barbie got a sister called Skipper. She was the first member of Barbie doll’s big family. (Just for the case if you don’t know it the family grew until 1999 when Krissy was born). I wonder how old Barbie’s mother was when Barbie was born and she was 40 years older when Krissy was born, a wonder of fertility !!!

No, just kidding a little bit. When Skipper came out in 1964 she was available in blond and brunette. Sadly not as a red haired version …

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My “mint” (haha) Skipper also suffers from green tarnish from her original headband. I’m sorting my #skipperdoll collection tonight deciding which dolls most need a spa visit with @angiepangiepaints ?????? #vintageSkippers #barbiecollector #vintagebarbie #barbieskipper #skipperbarbie #vintageskipper #instabarbie #barbiegram #barbie #barbieaddict #barbiesisters #barbiegrammers

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More changes in the 1970s

Until 1971 her look was not changed very much. The first change of her face I think came when she was available as Living Skipper. Her hair style also changed a bit. In her history her body was also changed several times. One of the most controverse Skipper dolls was the Growing Up Skipper (available, I did a little bit of research https://youtu.be/9LuI0W8SmzY) in 1975. She has a mechanism inside her body and when you twist her arm in the right direction her body grows and she gets breasts. From a technical point of view very interesting since this mechanism works in my Growing Up Skipper until today, so it must be a very simple but effective mechanism with a spring I think (just from the sounds I hear when I move her arms). Her body also changes a bit. She becomes taller.

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Growing Up Skipper 1975 #growingupskipper #barbieslittlesister #70s #1975 #fromagirltoayounglady #oldtoys #vintage_barbies #barbiefan #dollcollector #vintagebarbies #dollsofinstagram #paintinghobby #skipper #mattel #paintingbynumbers #mykonos

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In the late 1970s Skipper changed again. She became known as “Super Teen Skipper” in comparison to Superstar Barbie. In the late 70s everything became “super”. She got a new face and a new body. I think there are hardly two Skipper dolls that have the same size in my collection. I don’t know the exact number of how often face and body were changed but the longer the dolls were available the more often face and body changed. The 80s finally brought us Hot Stuff Skipper with another face and body and in 1988 she got a new face again. She got her “Kulleraugen“-face as we call it in Germany. She got a face that reminded me of Japanese comics even before I knew how there were called. Nobody told us that when we watched Japanese comic TV series. These early series from the late 70s or early to mid 80s series came to us with a great delay but Skipper looked in a perfect way to what we all watched in TV back then. I really loved the comic like eyes of Skipper but in the mid 1990s her look changed again. The “Pizza Hut”Skipper got a new head mold and another body. This version was only used for a short time. I got her back then as “Phone fun” Skipper.

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baton twirling Skipper 1992 ???????#batontwirlingskipper #cheerleadingskipper #cheerleadingbarbie #barbieskipper #skipperbarbie #90sskipper #barbie #vintagebarbie #vintagebarbies #80sbarbie #90sbarbie #80skid #90skid #barbiefan #barbielover #barbiecollector #barbie80s #barbie90s #vintagetoys #mattel #matteldoll #barbiepassion #barbielove #barbieworld #barbiefantasy #barbiecollecrion #ilovebarbie #barbie1992

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My childhood dream came true today. I had a tiny picture of the two phone fun girl when I was 11. I kept that tiny bit of paper for many years as a wishlist later as a good luck charm. But after many years the paper just gave up but I never forgot them. Today I received Skipper who was a great deal and she is in amazing condition. Getting Courtney will be a bigger challenge but I am hopeful. Now skipper is going to a glass cabinet in Kamilla’s future room ?? #phonefunskipper #dollymail #childhooddream

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When Skipper became Teen Skipper

Shortly after we got to see “Phone fun” Skipper she suddenly grew up to the same size like Barbie doll. Her new name was Teen Skipper, again new head mold and new body. She somehow lost her outward appearance of a 13 year old girl and became at least 16 years. A very nice version of this Skipper can be seen of her in the Slumber Party Skipper. After the arrival of the year 2000 she suddenly disappeared from the screen for nearly a decade.

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old photo of my #teenskipper #skipperdoll #dollstagram

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Here’s a link to Slumber Party Skipper https://www.flickr.com/photos/151597660@N03/33570714055

After the year 2000

Then she was suddenly available again . In 2010 we saw her again in a gift set from Target, being a bridesmaid and in 2012 with colorful hair. It seems that she is available on a permanent basis again in 2019. When you google her, you’ll find her but it seems that she’s between 15 and 17 years now.

More about Skipper

She was born as Skipper Millicent Roberts. She was originally designed as a 12 or 13 year old teenage girl. She was requested by Barbie owners who wanted another doll to play with beside Midge and Ken. By the way Skipper was the door to younger girls who were maybe no teenagers at the time (Yeah, in the early 1960s lots of teenagers had Barbie dolls. I know this may sound strange to you. Nowadays Barbie becomes uninteresting when children leave the kindergarten and go to school.) Skipper had many friends during the different decades starting with Skooter and Ricky in the 60s , Courtney, Kevin, Nikki became later friends with her.

Why Victorian Holiday Barbie is sexy

Have you ever thought about how Christmas celebrated in the Victorian era? Well it must have been very different from how we celebrate today. Can you imagine a Christmas without Christmas Card written or no holiday from work? I can’t imagine it. Can you imagine only handmade toys were given to children? The most part of the society was poor only a few were wealthy. With the industrialization coming up the society changed. 

uSanta Claus was not red like we know him today.  Queen Victoria was one of the first persons in Great Britain with a Christmas tree. This tradition was unknown in GB before Prince Albert came to GB. But I think most of you have never thought about it. Anyway history has always been romanticised in the look back. This is what this Barbie shows you. She’s nice, beautiful and very festive. Do we really want to know how it would be to live in Victorian times? I think most of you don’t want it.

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Victorian Holiday Barbie

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Victorian Holiday Kelly
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Victorian Holiday Barbie & Kelly
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Victorian Holiday Barbie  & Kelly

A look into my workshop

Behind the scenes I try to figure out how Vintage Barbie clothes (Vintage era from 1959 – 1966) were made. I’m especially interested the patterns for the fabric. How can I turn a piece of fabric into a piece of clothing. I want to design own clothes in the Vintage style later but at first I have to understand how the patterns are made and the result I get when I follow sewing instructions.

It’s not as easy as you might imagine. I have to deal with many different problems. Especially the body forms of early Barbie dolls seem to be one of my main problems. At first I thought they were all the same size but they aren’t. Although they seem to be the same size they aren’t and that’s a big problem when you don’t know it. Then you can’t adjust the pattern to the body. For example that’s my result when I tried to sew a blouse.Barbie Blouse

 

Vintage Barbie blouse

As you can see here the blouse seems to be to tight for the Midge/Bubblecut body I used here. Obviously the breasts are larger than it seems. I haven’t really measured until now but fellow collectors told me that the first Ponytail Barbie bodies are smaller/ the measures are different. That’s very interesting and a good thing to know. By the way it’s no problem that the blouse is to tight. I thought that I might get problems like these. I made it just for reasons of learning.

Twist n Turn Barbie

Finally I found my very first TNT Barbie.  I don’t know the exact hair color but it doesn’t matter so much to me. It’s just good to have one. I have been looking for one for several months or years… I have forgotten it. Anyway, here she is…

Tnt2

Tnt

She’s the one from 1966 with the marking that you may have seen something like Pat. Pend. then (C) 1966.  She has real eye lashes but I have to replace them later since they are not perfect anymore. She’s the first one with bendable legs with joints and a hip joint.  She was produced in Japan ( typically for early TnT Barbie dolls). Later versions were produced in Taiwan and Korea. I did a short video to show her with all her beauty. Here’s the link to my Twist n Turn Barbie video.

Uh! A new boy for my chicks and he is called Allan!

Believe it or not  14 days ago I got my very first Vintage Allan! I wanted him to accompany my Vintage Midge that I got last year.

Allan was the boyfriend of Midge in the early 1960s and they dated and almost 30 years later after a re-issue of Midge and Allan in the early 1990s they finally married and almost twenty years later they got offspring.

I found her to be a bit lonely and in October I found him. He needed a break before his long journey. I dressed him in 1990s Ken clothes. Not the best choice but better than being naked. I think I’ll go shopping for him in the next weeks. He gives my underrepresented  male fraction a bit more weight.

Until then I’m going to show you pics how he is looking now.

Allan

The very first Allan

He has straight legs

A little bit action!

Welcome at your new home