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Mattel - Johnson
"My Size Barbie" as Dorothy
This is "My Size Barbie" all decked out in her Dorothy attire. Kellie and I worked on this project for over a year!
It all started when we found a size 3 pattern for a Dorothy Halloween costume in a local sewing store, and hit on the idea of making the costume for a My Size Barbie, which we had seen at Toys-R-Us. We bought the costume, and waited patiently (well, kinda) for Toys-R-Us to get in a brunette version of the doll. A blonde Dorothy just doesn't cut it, you know?
We finally got the doll around September 1996. Kellie was too busy to tackle the project, so it got put off. In the meantime, whenever we went shopping for clothes for our granddaughter Ashley, I would often see some really cute outfit I just had to buy for Barbie!
For readers unfamiliar with this doll, she stands 3 feet tall, and wears size 3 girls clothes (though her figure is a bit different than that of the average girl who wears size 3 clothes). Anyway, I contented myself with buying a new cute outfit occasionally while waiting for Kellie to tackle the costume.
In the summer of 1997, when we were in Grand Rapids, Minnesota for the Judy Garland Festival, we found the perfect Toto. He was for sale in the in the back of Judy's birth home, making him even more special!
The shoes showed up at Target that summer, too. They are red Mary Jane style shoes with red glitter on them. Perfect! Now, the only thing left was the dress. Kellie was still too busy...
Then, in late summer '97, I happened upon . She makes Dorothy dresses for the Wizard of Oz Festival in Chesterton, Indiana, and she now sells Dorothy dresses to the general public! The dresses are very nicely crafted, and very authentic looking! Be sure to visit her web site! Cristina also supplied the blue bows.
The only items left then were underwear (ever try finding a size 3 petticoat?), socks and basket. We ended up buying a size 4 petticoat, and Kellie took it in with a couple quick stitches - we told Barbie she definitely should not run with this petticoat on, or those stithces might break! It doesn't fit very well, but it provides the desired effect of making the dress look fuller.
After considerable searching we found some pale blue lace socks. A blue-and-white checkered dish towel serves as the basket topper. The basket came from Michaels, but it's not quite right. It's tricky finding a basket about that size that doesn't tip the doll over!
Anyway, here she is as of October 11, 1997. Could this be the biggest Dorothy doll in New Mexico?? So far she's set us back about $250, and that's not including all those cute interim outfits I had to buy! Anyway, I'm still working on pictures. This doll is really hard to photograph. For some reason, I just can't seem to get really good pictures of her. Check back occasionally, I'm still working on it!
[2005 update] As of this date, I still haven't been able to afford a new digital camera... so, no new pictures yet.
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Photo ©1998 Jim Johnson
Photo ©1998 Jim Johnson
Standing in front of a full-size video poster
Photo ©1998 Jim Johnson
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