Skipper Short Set

Skipper is the last of the Barbie dolls I plan on donating this year. I pruchased the Space Discovery doll sets for both Skipper and Stacie.

I pulled out Annie's Fashion Doll Sister and Me, 87D21, which I purchased but never used a decade ago when I was making Barbie clothes. At the time I'd started a collection of the digest sized fashion doll books but stuggling with my thread hooks made making many of the outfits unlikely. With new hooks comes the chance for new adventures.

I decided to start with a simple pattern in the set to see how close the sizing was for the new Skipper doll. I was wrong in my previous post about Stacie. I have a picture of the old Skipper down the bottom and these dolls are pretty much the same "size" although as I learned in the bottom picture they don't quite wear the same size clothing.

Skipper's shorts and shirt are made with size 10 thread and a Tulip Etimo Rose Steel Crochet Hook-Size 4/1.25mm. I mention the specific hook because at the moment I'm working with a series of ergonomic handled thread hooks to get a variety of sizes and it may just be the way I handle them but I don't get the same guage with all my hooks. I've been making notes on my patterns and here on my blog so I can go back and recreate items when needed.

This is the last item of furniture I found at Dollar Tree for the doll donation. I'm hopeful they will come out with more before the November deadline. Accessories always make playing with dolls more fun. I've been pleased to add the furniture, shoes, bags, and other little items from Dollar Tree for the Barbie part of the donation. I hope they continue their fashion doll offerings.

I haven't seen my orginal Skipper model in some time. I pulled her out to compare her to the current Skipper. I found the shirt was looser and I was barely able to snap the shorts closed. This is the closest fit of the three dolls to date. Her outfit fit much better than Ken or Barbie's did on their older versions. I don't know a great deal about the history of Barbie and thus Skipper. I did find it funny that the old and the new both have colored striped hair. The old had pink and the younger while now having dark hair has purple stripes in her hair.

From a dressing point of view I do like the straight arms of the old Skipper better than the bent of the modern, but that is just based on fewer ways to catch the thread/yarn as I take thc clothes on and off as I'm fitting them to the model doll.