Look, Mom!

 My baby girl LOVES Barbies. She especially loves to show them to me.

"Ma!" she calls, "Ma, look a me!"

"Ma! Look a belly-belly!"

That's my girl!

As for business, my latest packet was completed today and you can see it below. I am especially proud of the neckline on the blue dress and the little bows on the yellow pajamas.

Recently, I have received some of the most heart-felt comments about from my customers, and I am especially grateful to those of you who have gone the extra mile to give me your feedback on my work. One customer especially, left some comments I would love to share. Jana said:

 "I recently purchased a trio from you and I absolutely love it, they are masterpieces, there is not one flaw in them!  My girls are going to love getting them for Christmas. Thank you for caring about our children and helping them learn the values that they need as they grow up. Your products look and feel very tough and durable, I am sure they will be played with a lot."

Thanks to Jana, and SO MANY others, I have gotten just what I want for Christmas. You all really are the best! Because of that, I am still broken-hearted at not being able to take any more orders for Christmas.  This week we begin 3 consecutive week-ends of moving to Vegas, then Christmas, then my sister's wedding over New Year's. After that, I may be able to shell out a few months of stuff before baby girl #3 makes her appearance in March. After that, I just don't know.

Best of everything to all of you as you prepare for the Holidays. Merry Christmas!

The Best Fans

I have the best fans ever! I wish I had 20 hands and 20 sewing machines so that I could meet every hopeful customer with exactly what they want! I have been amazed, humbled and just plain tickled "Barbie" pink over the encouragement and complements I have received from all of you.

To my extreme sorrow, I will not be able to take any more orders or requests before Christmas. I have filled my schedule as full as I dare, and I can't take the risk of taking on more orders than I can reasonably have ready by Christmas. For those of you who are still waiting for your order to be filled, rest assured that I am on schedule, and my last order will be sent and completed by December 17th at the very latest.

After December 17th, my efforts and attentions will be with my family, preparing for Christmas, moving to Las Vegas, and continuing to survive my pregnancy.

After the holidays, I will need to re-evaluate how much time I can spend on my favorite hobby before I take on too many orders. The baby comes in March, so we will just have to see how it goes. I am hoping I can continue to fill my days with the wonderful and satisfying task of designing and creating modest Barbie clothes. There is no greater hobby!!

Sold Already

Thanks to my loyal and benevolent fanbase, my most recent trio has been sold before I can even get it listed on Etsy. (Thanks, Ida!) Sorry to all of you who have been waiting for me to post this week. I suppose if you want to get in line, you can e-mail me. The only catch is that, on the trio, you can't choose colors or styles. They consist of whatever I can get to that week.

As for my most recently completed custom order, please scroll down if you want to see that. I know that half of you come here just to follow my creative journey and support me, and the other half come looking for something to buy. You are ALL so amazing! I still can't believe the support and encouragement you all offer me on so many levels! Thank you and thank you again! I would sew till my fingers were raw just to see all the smiling faces of all those darling little girls with their modest Barbies. If only.... If only there were more hours in the day.

All my love,
Amy

Custom order

This is an order for a long-standing customer of mine, posted here so she can see it all better. I hope the rest of you enjoy it, too.

Catch Up

I wanted to get so much more done this week.

But it wasn't meant to be. One occupational hazard of working from home, and being a mother, is that your schedule is never what you plan it to be. Hence, I am a bit behind on my custom orders, and making strides to catch up. Despite that, here are a few of the things I got done.

To the right, you can see my darling "wedding" formal that I made for my neice's birthday. The little jacket is actually for another client, but they look SO cute together! It reminds me of an Austen novel, and I have other patterns already planned to play around with that idea.

Here is the set I made for Etsy this week. I especially like the blue dress. It reminds me of a 1960's dress--something you could see Samantha from "Bewitched" wearing. I also am very happy with the colors in this set. They are the 3 most requested Barbie clothing colors: pink, red, and light blue. Love it!! I also love that I didn't have to cut out any of the fabric! Woot for Emily, my fabric cutter!



As for this coming week, I will have to work VERY hard not to fall behind again since the kids are out of school tomorrow AND Monday, and... Monday is my birthday and I am SO going to party! (party, that is, in a very pregnant, Mormon, housewife kind of way, which, believe me, is full of plenty of fun!)



I have plans to get out another set like the one above, as well as a set of swimsuits (keep an eye on Etsy!), and also get really close to completing the custom order I have been working on. Phew! See ya soon!

C'mon, Barbie!

Okay, Barbie! It's time to shop for Christmas!

As planned, I have posted my first "Outfit Trio" in anticipation of the Christmas season, It contains outfits often requested by customers, and at a good price. At the VERY least, I will post one trio a week, but three a week is my true goal.

This week marks a momentous occasion: Hiring my FIRST "employee". My darling neighbor, Emily, has graciously offered to be employed in my service as official "pattern cutter", and it felt amazing to drop off my first load of fabric and patterns to her yesterday. Thanks, Emily!

I just realized that I have to take the dog to the vet....
See ya!

This Week

This last week, I have developed a strategy for the upcoming busy holiday season. Every Monday and Tuesday, I will be working on a "Holiday Pack" consisting of three outfits each. These sets will be posted on Etsy as often as I am able to post them.

Wednesday will be the day I work on custom orders. According to this schedule, I am currently booked out for custom orders until the beginning of December. So, because of demand, I am unable to take any more custom order requests except for a few select friends and family.

Thursday is design day, when I will design, cut, and prepare all the clothing for the following week's work.

Friday I get to be "Mom" full time, due to the elementary school's "early out" policy, and Friday being our long-standing grocery day.

Week-ends, of course, are for family, chores, and fun. And although sewing is fun, it's not the only thing in life that is.

Anyway, feel free to take a look at what I worked on this week.
Especially the tan jacket below. Collared jackets are a lot of work, so I don't do them very often, but the outcome is always SO satisfying, don't you think? I want one full-size!

Thanks for stopping by.

Driven

Welcome to Modest Barbie Style!

Over the past 6 months or more, I have had the privilege to clothe many of your daughters' Barbies and fashion dolls, and I see those opportunities as an honor. I am thrilled with the response my products have received, and I am desperate to keep up with demand. Most of what I make is sold before I make it, leaving my Etsy site sadly bare.

Most of you know what a difficulty it has been for me to keep up with demand, especially with the morning sickness I have been experiencing--not to mention the work that goes into each item I make. It breaks my heart when I find myself without the time or ability to fulfill every request.
Despite this, I continue to feel Modest Barbie Style to be a driving mission in my life, and my desire to provide modest options for parents of Barbie-loving daughters continues to inspire me. I am a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) and I believe whole-heartedly in its doctrines of modesty, and the resulting beauty and confidence they can provide to those who follow them.

For those of you who feel as much of a desire to emulate these doctrines (in all their variations and religions) for your daughters, both in their lives and in their play, I want to be there. I want to have the capacity to offer modest clothing for your daughters' dolls. I hope and pray on a daily basis that I can be led and strengthened--that I may have greater capacity, greater resources, and greater inspiration to achieve these goals.

For those of you who need and want modest Barbie options, I will do my best to assist you. Please be patient with the process. Please feel free to post your suggestions, as well as any words of encouragement.

Also, please come back often.

All my love to my readers,

Amy

Latest Creations

I don't exactly know where the energy came from, but I recently had this crazy desire to make my girlies matching skirts. In my Barbie clothes, I work 100% from my own designs, but I had never done anything full-size without a pattern until now. Let me tell ya--it has its own challenges. Despite those, it worked out fairly well, with only minor issues.






















After that minor detour, I came back to barbie swimwear, and got these 6 swimsuits done this week--all of which are already sold. (YAY!) I am satisfied with their appearance, having higher necklines and easier closures than my previous suits.

Next week, I am hoping to finally get some dresses posted in my Etsy shop, and maybe even have some time to make something baby-related for some new mothers in my circle of friends. Thanks for stopping by. Please let me know you were here.

The Mind is Willing

So, I took a custom order.

I know, I know... I am trying not to do that. It is just SO hard to turn down those poor, naked, or immodest Barbies!

This last customer requested that I re-make a lot of things I had already made, as you can see below.

I really do need to take a break from custom orders, though, as much as I want to take them.
I am one of those lucky people who suffer from severe morning sickness when I am pregnant, and this time has been no exception. Since I never know when I will be hit with one of those "bad" days, I need to sew on my own schedule, and not be tied down to a deadline.

My goal is to use what good days I have to finish up one more custom order that has already been placed, and make stuff to (finally) post on Etsy.

Further down the road, I will continue the process of researching textile manufacturers and packaging companies, applying for my LLC, and regulating my patterns so they can be digitized.

One day my dream of having accessible, affordable, modest clothing for all the world's fashion dolls will be realized. I just might have to have this baby (and kiss it lots) first.

Taking the Plunge

Well folks... I finally quit my day job.

I receive inquiries for Barbie clothes on a daily basis.

I have some of the sweetest comments on my blog, and some of the kindest e-mails in my inbox.
Modest Barbie Style can no longer be denied.




So the question now is...

How exactly am I going to do this?

While most of you are thinking of how you are going to survive the last 2 days before school starts again, I am thinking of Christmas. If Modest Barbie Style is bestowing me with so much success now, then I have a great opportunity to clothe armies of this Nation's naked Barbies this Christmas.


Alas, I am but one person. One lone seamstress with one sewing machine. Even at my most productive, I can only make so many items a day. It is at times like these whan I wish I had a little factory with automated Barbie clothing-making machines. WHAT I WOULDN'T GIVE!!




OH! To sleep, perchance to dream! In my dreams, my clothes would be in cute little packages on the shelves at Toys R Us or Target, and online at an "official" website, and everyone in the world would benefit from modestly-clad Barbies.








For now, I am desparately trying to get even a few days ahead of myself, with possibly even some inventory. I have never had inventory because everything sells before I can finish making it...which I am NOT complaining about!





But wouldn't it be nice to have sets and packs and outfits ready for Christmas? I think so. I think it would be DREAMY!




SO lets see how it goes. Maybe I can figure out a way to streamline. Maybe I can find myself an assistant... "Oh dear husband!... " Haha! Yeah, just watch him run the other way!



Now, my loyal followers, friends, family, and customers... Any suggestions? I'm all ears.



And don't forget: If you are interested in anything I do, you can e-mail me at modestbarbie@gmail.com.

Blushing Bride

UGH!! Can I barf now? My eyes are bugging out, my rear is tired of this chair, and I am all out of white thread.

A Barbie wedding dress is enough to set me off sewing for at least a week. Sadly, I have 2 more to go... all sold already.

As much as I love sewing for Barbie, there are many aspects of this dress I would rather not revisit. Namely: Sewing around beads, double puffing sleeves, and (GASP!) having to hand-sew the veil! (I make a point never to make anything that I can't fit in my machine, except buttons and snaps, which are bad enough!)

Do you think it was worth it? Do you think Barbie will be happy on her big day? You be the judge.

A Few Recent Items

Here are a few of my recently completed items here at Modest Barbie Style.
To my surprise and delight, it is the most modest items that have been selling the best. That is an encouraging sign for our young girls. Take a look:





























Thanks for stopping by.

Barbie Goes Swimming

Driven by popular demand, I have been working on designing a swimsuit for Barbie that is modest, stylish, and whose construction doesn't make me want to pull my hair out. After quite a few almost successes, I have am finally convinced that I have created the pattern that will be the "Modest Barbie Style" trademark swimsuit. Take a look.

As you can see, this swimsuit is made of true swimsuit Lycra, making is stretchy, durable, and water-worthy. It has full coverage in the buns, chest, and even the back, and its halter-top styling makes it stylish and easy to put on and off. It does not contain any velcro (that wears out in water) or small components that could unravel or fray.

The first suit available for purchase is now up at http://www.modestbarbie.etsy.com or you can follow the link/picture on the top right sidebar.

Also, please leave your feedback and opinions on this swimsuit. How can I make it better? Would your child like the look of it? What do you think?

What does Barbie Need?

Here are a few more outfits I have been working on. I am almost done with the current custom orders that I have, and it is about time!

Thanks to all of you loyal and supportive fans, I have been able to keep consistently busy with custom orders for 4 months now!!


Here are a few more outfits I have been working on.

Unfortunately, I am unable to continue to meet demand. For the next 4 months, I will be taking a break from custom orders, and working on expanding my inventory for Etsy .

(I haven't posted anything there in a while.) This will allow me some much needed flexibility in my schedule, and the opportunity to branch out and improve my skills.

As I make this transition, I would love to hear some suggestions and advice of outfits and/or items that you think might be fun to see for Barbie. What do you think she needs?