Sewing Patterns for Barbie Clothes, for beginners and beyond — Pin Cut Sew Studio (2024)

I’m about to confess one of my worst mom fails to you.

I still feel super bad about this, y’all. When my girls were younger, we had a big bin of Barbies, clothes and Barbie house furniture for the DIY Barbie house I’d made them (which I’ll share at the end of this post). About four years ago, when my daughter Layla was cleaning out her room, the bin got put in the living room … among a lot of other bags and bins that were destined for Goodwill. You can guess what happened next. Except we didn’t realize it had happened until a month or so later when she was asking where I’d put the Barbie stuff. We looked everywhere, even though I knew in my soul it was gone, because I’m not much of a keeper so we don’t just have bins hanging around in places and I knew I hadn’t seen it. I remembered telling my husband which things were to go to Goodwill and the Barbie bin must have gotten swept up in the process.

I don’t know who was more bummed, Layla or me! That bin didn’t just have the Barbies and furniture, it also had a handful of Barbie clothes that my mom and aunt had made me when I was young. A few were sewn, but many were delicately crocheted and they were beautiful. I really would have liked to keep those!

Fast forward a few years to last summer and my mom offered us her vintage Barbie dolls from when she was young. They’re amazing and well loved and they have their original cases and so. many. amazing vintage Barbie clothes from the 50’s through the 70’s. I was elated! And it sounds silly because my girls are teenagers now, but I’ve really been wanting to sew for Barbies! I stumbled on a book at Barnes & Noble called Dressing Barbie and it was so fun to look through. I’d love to recreate some of the vintage Barbie outfits in there. I’ve also read Barbie and Ruth, a biography of Ruth Handler, Barbie’s creator and absolutely loved it.

So, while I’ve been pondering and doodling some ideas for patterns of my own to share with you all here, I’ve also been researching and shopping for Barbie clothes sewing patterns like crazy, just for fun. Obviously I have to share the best of the best Barbie patterns that I’ve found. If you’re a beginner, sewing Barbie clothes can be made easier with my tips for sewing doll clothes, so be sure and read that post if you want those pro tips! And if you’re looking for clothes patterns for Ken, Skipper, Chelsea, or the newer various Barbie body shapes that have come out in recent years, I’ve found some for those dolls too.

Here we go!

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The Ultimate List of Barbie Clothes Sewing Patterns

Barbie Clothes Sewing Books:

• Sewing Clothes for Barbie: 24 Stylish Outfits for Fashion Dolls

• Hankie Couture

• Barbie Boutique

• I Can Make Dolls' Clothes

• Fashion Doll Fun I own this book and used it with my sewing students. It’s great!

Barbie Clothes Patterns:

• You can purchase commercial sewing patterns from the big pattern companies. I wouldn’t call this a beginner friendly way to sew Barbie clothes, but you can read my series on reading sewing patterns for help. McCall’s currently offers a few Barbie clothes patterns. Simplicity and Burda have quite a few Barbie sewing patterns in their doll clothes section.

• Designs by Jude not only offers Barbie sewing patterns, they also sell the tiny accessories, snaps, etc … that you’ll need to make and style them! What fun. They’re available as both paper patterns and pdf formats.

• You can find the most amazing vintage Vogue Barbie patterns on Etsy! I wish Vogue still produced designer Barbie clothes patterns! I actually recognize some of these looks from my mom’s Barbie wardrobe.

PDF Barbie Sewing Patterns:

Etsy is a great place to find pdf printable Barbie patterns. Here are a few of the highest rated shops:

• YG Doll Style I love this shop! It has patterns for modern looking clothes for all the newer doll styles, including Curvy Barbie, Tall Barbie and Made to Move Barbie.

• All4Blythe. Not only does this shop have Curvy Barbie clothes patterns, it also has patterns for Skipper and Chelsea dolls too. And these are more basic pieces, so they’d be great for beginners who want to sew some Barbie clothes.

• Tailored Doll Patterns. This shop sells vintage reproductions of Barbie sewing patterns and those dresses are to die for!

• Requiem Art Designs. I’ve purchased patterns from this shop before, when my girls were very into Ever After High dolls. They were great patterns, so I’d buy from them again. They design for all the new Barbie shapes as well.

• We can’t forget Ken! Tiny Apparel Menswear Patterns for Dolls is the coolest.

FREE Barbie Clothes Sewing Patterns!

• Chellywood.com has many free Barbie patterns to sew. From a vintage bikini to Audrey Hepburn’s classic style, this seems to be a one stop shop for free Barbie clothes patterns and tutorials.

• Sewing Solutions offers an ebook with 10 outfits to create for Barbie, mix-and-match style. Measurements to draft the pieces are included, but you can also buy a printable version for just a few dollars.

• Here’s the cutest Barbie dress tutorial by Craftiness is Not Optional.

There ya go, those are the best Barbie sewing patterns I’ve found so far! It was also fun to stumble on this one, since it looks just like the vintage dress I put on my mom’s Barbie to take this photo!

Can’t Get Enough Barbie?

Check out My Froggy Stuff on YouTube! My girls watched her channel for years and made so many cute things for their Barbies.

Also, on Instagram, check out @barbiestuffsdollityourself, @barbieblast59, @mittenstatebarbie, and @pikespeakdoll. These accounts are so fun and stinkin’ inspiring!! I love Barbie :)

I know there is a whole world of Barbie content out there, so if you know of something amazing for me to follow and share, please comment and let me know!

Cheers :)

Nikki

P.S. Before I go, as promised, here is the DIY Barbie house I made my girls for Christmas when they were little. I made it out of a bookshelf, the kind you assemble yourself, and I had way too much fun Mod-Podging flooring and wall treatment! They played with this Barbie house for many, many years.