Toy Chest Tuesday! Vintage Barbie Clothing!

Toy Chest is gonna be small this week, but it will be mighty!


We have not really looked at some Barbie items in awhile, and I have been meaning to share this post with you all for some time now. Over a year ago my aunt lost her mother. Her mother was sisters with my grandmother, so we were all close and it was a very sad loss.

After the loss of my aunt's mom, (I guess technically my aunt is actually my cousin, but I've always thought of her as an aunt) anyways my aunt went through the process of removing items and other mementos from her mother's house. Some things were donated while others were kept. One of the things that my aunt did was share certain items with family members that she thought would appreciate these things. Since I'm the resident dorkette in the family, my aunt honored me with some Barbie clothes that she had growing up. Some of the outfits were handmade by her while one special dress was a special and gorgeous item.

Up first are some handmade items. My aunt had made a simple red sheath with matching belt as well as a gingham print skirt with nice trim. I'm actually not sure if the skirt was handmade or not, but I absolutely love having a handmade dress that my aunt made when she was a little girl. I just feel like that is something so special! This was something she made. Something that had her creativity poured into it. Barbie dolls have been a big deal in my family. My mom grew up with the original Barbie and loved her dolls so much. She sadly lost her entire collection. Part of it was stolen while the other pieces of her collection were damaged throughout the years, so I was never able to have my mom pass down her dolls to me. To have my aunt give these items to me though, it just means the world!

The next dress she gave me was a vintage piece made between 1959-62 called cruise stripes. This is a stunning sheath dress with white belt and black heels. I do not know if these shoes are the correct ones with this dress, but all in all the outfit is just stunning.

The belt buckles on like a real belt. It really shrinks the waist, but I also do not have a doll in the dress at this time to really show off what it would look like. I love the overall look of this dress. The stripes and design is very simple and chic.

Flipped over there is even further detail to behold. I need to actually wash these dresses, but I have been fearful of doing that since they are so old. (The last thing I want to do is screw something up. I'm usually very wonderful at screwing things up!) I don't think I have ever owned a collectible item with this age on it. I feel so honored to have these dresses in my collection.

This last image is a testament to how nice things were made back then. The dress uses an actual zipper! I grew up with Barbie dolls that had little snap buttons to put on/remove a dress, but Barbie dolls these days usually utilize some cheap Velcro stuff. It is amazing that back in the day basic Barbie dolls that were made for kids had such quality put in them. Now a days if you want a doll's dress to have a zipper or hook and eye closure, you have to spend a pretty penny. 

I am beyond grateful that my aunt wanted to pass these items down to me. I will cherish them. Sometimes it can be a bit much being a grown dorkette, not everyone understands it, but every now and then I find out that there are some people who do understand, and that is a wonderful thing. 

This Toy Chest Tuesday is far from over. I am certain that at some point I will revisit this post and put these dresses on some of my Barbie dolls. Until then, enjoy the Toy Chest Tuesday! And if you are interested in some more reading material, head over to Retro-Daze where I posted my first article for them a little while ago. I hope all is well with you all. Take care everyone.