Barbie Eriksdottir

Barbie Eriksdottir

Spindle whorls

Sagas tell of  Erik the Red and his son, Leif Ericson, who a thousand years ago traveled to Vinland in northern Newfoundland.   In 1960, an archaeologist, Anne Stine Ingstad, went with her husband to northern Newfoundland and asked the people living in the area if they knew of any possible sites.   George Decker showed them a place the local people called the 'old Indian village'.  It proved to be a Norse settlement and proof that the Norse had come to North America.

The excavation of the site must have been big news in the Maritimes. At about the same time, my class was studying from a textbook called  A History of Nova Scotia.  It began with the travels of Eric the Red and his son Leif Ericson to Vinland and Markland.  Markland has not been found but I really wanted to see the site in Newfoundland.  This summer, I did.  L'Anse aux Meadows, the National Park site and Norstead Village, (a reconstruction) were everything I had imagined and more.

Interestingly, the sagas mention Eric the Red's children Leif, Freydis, Thorvald and Thorstein but not Barbie.  Barbie is dressed in a homespun white wool shift with an earth-coloured apron.   The blue trim is typical as are the metal medallions. Barbie is spinning wool using a spindle whorl just like the one found at L'Anse aux Meadows. 

Mummer Barbie and her ugly stick

Mummer Barbie

Any Mummers allowed in?  There is a Christmas tradition in Newfoundland of visiting neighbours' homes in disguise.  The neighbours may poke and prod the mummers and question them closely.  Once their identity is guessed, the mummers remove their masks (or pillowcases), food and drink are offered and then perhaps there is music before the mummers move on to the next house.

The mummers may carry small instruments with them.  If you can't play the fiddle or harmonica then maybe you can play the spoons or other percussive instrument.

Barbie has an ugly stick.  It is a dowel (real people use broomsticks) stuck in an old boot.  The dowel is topped with a stuffed pillow head wearing a headscarf.  I nailed sequins to the dowel but a broomstick would have flattened metal bottle tops.  The ugly stick can be banged on the floor or hit with a small stick producing a satisfying amount of noise to accompany the singing.

I love singing at kitchen parties.  Everybody sings, nobody listens.  Let's have one more verse of Michael Row the Boat Ashore and then we'll go home.

Barbie Jetson

Barbie Jetson

                      









 Another woman from ancient pop culture was the futuristic housewife, Jane Jetson , shown here with her daughter Judy. Jane was nobody's role model although she was a good mother.

Her sister, Barbie Jetson, resembles Judy Jetson.  She wears her hair in a curly up-swirl ponytail.  She is wearing a pink underdress with a pale pink overdress.  The shoulders  of her dress form a triangle.  This will be very stylish in  2062.  By then we will have flying cars (finally!) and robot house cleaners (again, finally!).         

Barbie Richards

Barbie Richards

The Emmy award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series went to Julianna Margulies this year.  She made a speech that the media played up in its coverage of the awards ceremony. 
"What a wonderful time for women on television!" she said.  There have been other wonderful times.  In the past, television has presented strong women like Carla and Diane in Cheers;  Laverne and Shirley in their eponymous sitcom and Laura Holt in Remington Steele to name a few of my favourites.  Okay, I didn't like the show, Laverne and Shirley, but they were doing their best to survive and thrive and I liked that.  Mary Tyler Moore played a character named Mary Richards in a show that was another example of a program about an independent woman.  The theme song ended with the refrain "You're gonna make it after all".

Mary Richards' sister, Barbie Richards, has an independent streak too.  Here she is dressed for success in an outfit made from a pattern, Simplicity 5807.  The cotton wrap dress has a fabric flower in the same fabric and the short, red jacket is trimmed in the same black braid as the dress.

Sweater Suit Barbie

Sweater Suit Barbie

Not everything I touch turns out the way I envisioned it.  This is a prime example.  My friend and neighbour, Mary, bought me a brand new Barbie.  She liked it because it had long brown hair with a purple streak.  My friend and old neighbour, Katrine, contributed a cashmere sweater that had shrunk.  I found a scrap of gold lining and a matching bit of trim.  I had the doll, I had the materials, I had the concept and this was the result.  Sigh.

There was a Peanuts cartoon in the Saturday paper years ago.  Sally Brown had made a coat hanger sculpture and the teacher had given her a C for it.  Sally wondered how the teacher had decided a C was an appropriate mark.  Was the problem the quality of the coat hanger?  Was Sally to be penalized because her parents patronized a dry cleaner who used inferior hangers?  Was it the effort she had put into the work?  In that case the mark was unfair for Sally had tried as hard as she could.  Was it that Sally had in some way not fulfilled all the requirements of the assignment?  In that case should the fault not be shared with the teacher who had failed to communicate clearly?  Perhaps the teacher did not understand the art work itself.  Many artists are undervalued during their lifetimes.  In the face of Sally's arguments the teacher conceded and gave Sally an A.

In this instance, I deserve the C.

I Dream of Barbie

I Dream of Barbie

I mentioned that I had huge quantities of fabric scraps.  Did I mention the scraps are not always huge?  The gold-threaded mesh for Barbie's harem pants was a tiny square.  I used all of it.  The other fabric is stretchy and very heavy.  It is a very good illustration of the mathematical formula for the cost of a new bikini.  The area of the fabric is inversely proportional to the retail price.  And now you know.

Hostess Gown Barbie

Hostess Gown Barbie

One year for Christmas my mother asked for hostess pyjamas.  In a recently seen movie, Joan Crawford (I think) had worn a dramatic hostess outfit with a pair of mules (high-heeled slippers).  She had swanned into a very elegant living room, arranged herself against the fireplace and taken a long drag from her cigarette.  That's how I see the scene in my mind's eye.  Mom must have seen the same movie and I am sure that was the picture she had in her mind when she made her request.  Dad obviously hadn't seen the same film  because on Christmas morning, he presented her with a pair of green flannelette pyjamas, a fuzzy blue housecoat and a huge pair of bunny slippers.  It wasn't the happiest choice.

So, Hostess Gown Barbie is wearing a one-piece strapless garment with a pair of high-heeled black shoes.  The skirt is a separate piece with three tiers and a huge bow at the back.  It may not be clear from the photo, but the second tier is upside-down.  Nobody is perfect.

Barbie Van Gleck

Barbie Van Gleck

In 1969, Disney released a movie called Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates.  It takes place in the Netherlands, a place I had heard about from my father.  He had been on a two-month naval operation that gave him shore leave in Holland. He sent me a letter on a blue airmail form and talked about the system of dikes and dams and when he came home, he brought a huge wheel of cheese.

Hilda Van Gleck was a well-to-do girl who helped Hans.  I was taking skating lessons but I wore stretchy pants and a  sweater.  Hilda skated in a green dress, much like this one and she carried a muff to keep her hands warm.  This dress (from McCall's pattern 9115) is made of a rich brown velvet with a layered skirt insert in white eyelet.

The muff and hat are made from the best fake fur.  Barbie Van Gleck is ready to skate on the frozen Zuider Zee. 

Copper and Black Barbie

Copper and Black Barbie

This is one of the Barbies I bought from Toy R Us.  I think the fabric I used is gorgeous.  I had a small remnant from a vest I made for my brother,  Dr.Kaboom,  and I kept draping it around the doll trying to maximize the impact of the embroidery and sequins.  So the bodice is a tube with the best of the motif centered.  I cut the bodice long so I could get a repeat of the embroidery.   The rest of the remnant is gathered into a skirt.  The copper-coloured sequins against the black sparkle beautifully.  Copper is an under-rated metal in my opinion.  Look at the Parliament buildings, the Chateau Laurier and the wall inside the War Museum in Ottawa. 

Barb's Barbie

Barb's Barbie

When I started this project, I bought 10 Barbies on sale at Toy's R Us.  This is one of them.  I admit I found it  a little uncanny   to see the identical dolls lined up on the mantel over the fireplace.  Perhaps they were cloning overnight while we slept.  I just checked.  There are still only ten of the identical Barbie's.

Years ago, my friend Barb and I collaborated and made our wedding dresses on my sewing machine.  We chose the same fabric, mine in ecru, hers in white.  The dresses were very different.  Although the weddings were only two weeks apart, I was going to be married in Lesotho during the winter and Barb was getting married in summer.  My dress had a high neck, long sleeves and I lined it completely for warmth.  Barb's was a slip dress with thin straps but over it she wore a sheer dress.  This is my ode to Barb's wedding dress. 

Barbie in Blue

Barbie in Blue

Barbie wears my favourite colour so beautifully.  I was wandering around a fabric store when I saw this piece of material in a remnants bin.  It was so blue and sparkly, I had to buy it.  The underdress is a rich navy blue and I found glue-on rhinestones to decorate the straps.  Sometimes I think this is my favourite Barbie.

Barbie's getting married!

This was the first bridal gown I made for the Barbie project.  It is an inexact replica of the one my mother made for me my amazing Barbie Christmas.  I used her pattern, McCall's 6992 copyright 1963.  It is very fragile now. 

The skirt has two lace panels that are trimmed with shimmery ribbon.  The waistband is a piece of grosgrain ribbon.  Her veil is a piece of lace with a beaded headpiece.  I couldn't figure out how to make it stay on where I wanted it so I stuck two pins through Barbie's head.  It hasn't diminished her intellectual capacity at all.   And I sewed on by hand  dozens of pretty beads to the lace panels and the bodice.  Underneath the skirt there is a foundation garment made of heavy interfacing.

This is a rescue Barbie.  She was dirty and  her long hair needed serious attention.  But look how happy she is!  All we need is a groom.  But, as with so many weddings, the groom is incidental.  The bride in her finery is the star and the groom is backdrop.

Barbie's vintage 1963 wedding gown

 

Midge is ready for a night on the town

Midge with fur stole

This a Midge just like the one I received that amazing Christmas.  She seems to be a rare commodity now because I have not seen her in bargain bins and, other than this one, none has surfaced in any boxes of outgrown toys.  Her dress is made of a black knit fabric threaded in metallic gold and dotted with glued-on sequins.  My sewing machine hated the stuff,  I changed to a better needle but it was easier to hand sew most of it.  Of course she is immensely wealthy and dragging a luxurious fur stole lined in the same gold fabric as Princess Barbie's dress.  Actually, I think Esmeralda's hip wrap is the same fabric.  I do have other fabric but that was a particularly nice piece.

The first Barbie in the project

Princess Barbie

The first Barbie I made for the project I imaginatively called Princess Barbie. I used McCall's pattern 8552 again. The dress is made of a lovely gold fabric of unknown provenance trimmed with a tiny piece of sparkly black net. When I look at her I am embarrassed by all the mistakes. Notice that the peplum does not join in the center of the bodice and the hem is not well sewn. The peplum is meant to be poufy but the tired scrap I used has no pouf left. The worst mistake is the right sleeve. I don't mark Barbie clothes before I sew and Barbie pattern pieces can be very small. The right sleeve got turned 90 degrees and therefore is too short and wide. I tried to hide it by raising her arm a little but now we all know the mistake is there and it's all I can see.

Barbie Esmeralda

I took a quiz "Which Disney princess are you?"  I was surprised to find myself compared to Esmeralda.  She isn't a princess!  She's a poor, gypsy waif.  The quiz said she was feisty though and I think that is a very positive attribute so I am not complaining.  I had to have a Barbie to match my inner princess and that is the image for this blog.  I used McCall's pattern 8552.  Barbie Esmeralda wears a white eyelet petticoat. 

In 2010, the National Art Gallery's summer blockbuster show was called Pop Art; Life in a Material World.  It featured work by artists like Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons.  The  exhibit was dominated by kitsch; sparkly, day-glow kitsch.  Some of the installations made me think of Vegas casino lobbies; all brass and glass lit by bright lights.  Once again I found myself pondering the difference between art and craft. 

My brother is  a professional clown and sometimes I make costumes for him.  There are always remnants.  In addition, he presented me with a huge bag of remnants from a costumer who had gone out of business.  The same week, Toys R US had a sale on Barbie dolls.  I bought 10 and the Barbie Project began. 

My goal was to make a series of glamorous outfits for my new Barbies and to display them on brass and glass shelves.  I planned to shine 300-watt lights to maximize the sparkle. 

It was a good plan, I suppose.  But as the project to dress the Barbies progressed, friends donated more glitzy scraps and more Barbies.  I found a weekly sale that had a bin of nude, disheveled Barbies for a dollar each.  I bought a couple of dozen.  A forgotten box of my children's Barbies surfaced from the basement.  The lighting and shelving part of the plan was unreasonably expensive.  And now I have too many Barbies.

My new goal is to present each Barbie here with a little tale and maybe then I can get rid of them before I turn into a nutty old lady who plays with dolls. 

The Genesis of the Barbie Project

Do you remember the year Barbie hit the stores? My friends and I all longed for one. When I look at her now with her impossible shape and operatic make-up, I wonder what possessed us. But at the time it was almost a physical need.
I memorized the catalogue number in the Sears Catalogue and every time the Sears delivery man arrived I would beat my mother to the door, desperately scanning the outside of the bag to see if the right numbers were there.
On Christmas morning, I anxiously surveyed the gifts under the tree. I knew the exact shape of a Barbie box but could find nothing quite that size.
We opened our gifts and I was delighted to receive a deck of cards, a pair of mittens, a puzzle and a book. But no rectangular box.
There was one more gift for me and I was in despair. It was miraculously, unbelievably, a shoe box containing a Barbie and a Midge! (Midge was Barbie’s best friend and I had never imagined that I could get both dolls.)
We tidied the mess of paper, boxes and ribbon and my brothers were sent to get dressed. My mother pulled a carton from behind the sofa and offered it to me. Inside was the most amazing gift in the universe. It was a wardrobe for Barbie.
Piled high were clear plastic bags each containing a complete outfit. There were skating dresses and skates for Barbie, a ski suit with boots and skis; tennis clothes with sneakers and a racket.
I found pyjamas and robes, pants and blouses; suits with a brief case, summer dresses with sandals, and a rainbow of evening gowns, capes and full-length coats. The piece de resistance was a satin wedding gown with a long beaded train, lace bodice and matching floor-length veil. It even had a little silk flower bouquet.
I gently lifted each set out of the box, stopping longer and longer to stare at the fabulous clothes. They all had tiny buttons or snaps and a pair of earrings and shoes to match. But where had it all come from? My mother explained that she had made them herself on her new sewing machine. She didn’t know how to sew and thought Barbie clothes would be a good place to learn. Apparently she had stayed up late night after night wrestling with patterns and thread. Her friends had given her fabric scraps and bits of trim. A five and dime store had sold the shoes and accessories Barbie needed. I could not then, and I cannot now, express the deep sense of gratitude I felt when she told me how she had managed to create the best Christmas gift ever.
I have my mother’s Barbie doll patterns now. I use them to make Barbie doll clothes for other children but I have never been able to recreate the present I received.