I have a vintage, original Barbie Doll from 1959. She has managed to retain her remarkable physique while I have morphed from a chubby child to a healthy young woman back to a chubby curmudgeon. Three generations of storytelling girls have played with her: me, my daughter, and my granddaughter. The doll remains perfectly proportioned and ageless as I cope with trying to find my buried belly button.
Mattel has sold more than one billion Barbie Dolls around the world. The current hit Barbie Movie is the latest creation to capitalize on the franchise. Barbie-branded products included not only the range of dolls with their clothes and accessories, but also a large range of branded goods such as books, apparel, cosmetics, video games and audiovisual content.
Because I’m a chubby curmudgeon, I have no intention of seeing the movie. It’s a box office hit, but I’d rather sit on my patio with a summer cocktail than wear a garish pink outfit and share a theatre with squealing girls wearing pink uniforms. Besides, I already have my own Ken Doll.
My maternal grandmother, Olive Curry Morrison, was an excellent seamstress, and she loved to crochet. She made outfits for my Barbie Doll, and I still have more than 40 pieces of her wardrobe. The styles were handmade and include sweaters, skirts, coats, and perky hats. My mother saved each outfit in separate plastic bags because “they were too nice to play with.” So, I still have them, and most have never been used. I also have two original Barbie outfits: a ski outfit complete with boots and a tennis outfit that includes a tennis racket.
My grandchildren no longer play with Barbie Dolls. What should I do with her precious wardrobe? Sell it? Donate it? No one would appreciate how my grandmother lovingly hand-stitched hems and sewed buttons and snaps. She spent hours with her crochet needles and antique treadle sewing machine to create lovely pieces for one reason: To please me, her granddaughter.
As the Barbie mania continues, I hope to share this vintage collection with someone who will appreciate the talent and kindness of my Grandma Morrison. My vintage Barbie Doll is not for sale. I’m saving her for my youngest granddaughter’s high school graduation. Maybe the doll will be worth enough to help with college expenses. Vintage dolls and grandmothers retain their value.
Here’s a video showing my Barbie’s wardrobe: IMG_0117
Cheers to Grandma Morrison.
[Read more…] about My Vintage Barbie and Her Handmade Wardrobe
Children were eager to learn how to make the puppets “talk.”
My current project is titled Midlife Reboot – 
1. She is a resilient maverick. After 22 hours of labor, she emerged between metal forceps as the doctor braced his foot against the bed and pulled. She weighed almost 10 pounds and was rushed to the Intensive Care Unit with an Apgar Score of 3. That’s when I knew all the pleasant birth and parenting videos were wrong. I finally got to see and hold her 12 hours later. For the next few months, I woke to touch her every few hours to make sure she was breathing.
2. She is precocious. We loved to read books together, and she memorized more than 20 nursery rhymes by the age of two. I know that’s true because I wrote about it in my journal. She’s still an avid reader.
3. She is adaptable. She had six bedrooms in two states by the time she was six. The photo in the rocking chair was taken when we lived at Sand Springs Ranch on the edge of a canyon overlooking the Snake River. We were forced to move, I was seven months pregnant, and she became my dependable helper.
4. She is organized. We created and hosted wellness retreats for women at mountain cabins in Central Idaho. She taught yoga, made healthy meals, and guided the groups on hiking excursions to hidden hot springs. She created crafts for the participants and led inspirational workshops. She also taught me how to set up a website and establish social media accounts. Now she plans workshops, retreats, a podcast, events, and goat yoga.
5. She is healthy. She owned the Stroller Strides franchise and helped young mothers exercise with their babies. She opened a private gym and tailored classes to all ages of women. We jogged in the 5K Women’s Fitness Challenge in Boise. I was one of the last people at the end of the race, but I finished.
6. She loves the arts. We saw Broadway musicals in London, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. She starred in a play in high school and later at a community theatre in Hawaii. She also won a writing award from the Idaho Writers Guild and helped translate one of my children’s books.
7. She loves to travel. We traveled to Europe twice and visited France, Italy, Germany, and Spain. We enjoyed excursions when she studied for a year in Guanajuato, Mexico. We traveled with my mother on an 11-day train trip across Canada from Toronto to Vancouver. (We decided three days would have been sufficient.)
8. She’s funny and has an amazing sense of humor. As a child, she could make me laugh at her stories, antics, and imitations.
9. She is ready for adventure. She visited Hawaii after college graduation and decided to stay. She taught at the Waldorf School on Maui and worked on a tourist boat. When I was 52, we hiked and backpacked for three days across the Haleakala Crater on Maui, Hawaii. I was ready to quit and go live in the forest, but she encouraged me to keep going. So, I did. She returned to Idaho with her future husband and a sweet baby girl.
