u/Catlady5000

I bought the pink haired girl in the middle secondhand, so I don’t know who she is exactly - she came on a curvy body but I put her on Replay the Classics Enchanted evening. However! I think she really suits a curvy body but I just can’t find an articulated one which matches!

Shes darker than Rhythmic Gymnast (on the right, on an Extra 9 body), and similar to Fashionista 10 on the left.

I feel like this should be such a common skin tone but I just can’t find any articulated curvy bodies - doesn’t even have to be mtm! All I could see on the charts was maybe one of the Basics kits with the 3 bodies, and that’s far too expensive for me!

Anyone have any suggestions?

I bought this “Yuge” body on Aliexpress to try and get an articulated body for Allan, since the BMR manbun body is so hard to find. It’s…. not bad?
It’s a lot smaller than his regular body and the head is too big for it in all honest, but once he’s dressed it actually looks pretty good! And at least he has articulation now!!!

I had to wrap a rubber band around the neck peg to make the head stay on, and his feet are bigger so the Allan shoes don’t fit, but the body came with a pair of nice black shoes.
You can buy those bodies at lots of different Aliexpress store, just look for one on sale and with good reviews!
Anyway - I thought I’d post the det in case it helps anyone else, I’ve been very frustrated trying to find a body for him, so I think I’m happy enough with this one!

I was delighted to recently get hold of Ligaya, one of the Team Stacie dolls - I wish there were more Stacie’s!!!! But I wanted an articulated body.

Here she is on the Unicorn Academy Sophia body I took a chance and it worked!!!

The skin tone match isn’t perfect, but it’s surprising good! The body is a very similar size but looks more mature, but that can be hidden under clothes. The feet are a similar size to curvy/tall Barbie feet, but wider, so shoes are a bit of a problem.

The head is REALLY hard to get off the Unicorn Academy body - just look at that crazy neck peg!!! The plastic is a lot thicker and doesn’t go nearly as squishy when heated. I was so afraid I would break it!!! I trimmed that anchor bit when I got it off, just leaving the knob. The Ligaya head is wobbly on this neck, so I fixed it by putting a few clear rubber bands around the neck peg. Now it looks fine!

Unicorn Academy have a few dolls, including a lighter skin one that apparently works with regular Stacie - not sure what the skin tone match is like though. Theres also Layla, a darker skin girl, which might work with the AA Team Stacie doll (if you can find her, that is).

Anyway, I thought I’d post about it here, as I know a few people, like me, are always on the lookout for articulated options!

I asked yesterday how to fix her hair and here’s the result! (see the last photo for how she was when I got her!) I’m not sure whether to put her hair in a ponytail or style it further, but here it is for now, not in clumps anymore at least!

I also put her on the articulated Twinning Looks body, and put her in a new dress I made. Very happy with her now!!! Also here she is with her daughte, who’s a Skipper on a Dream Besties body. I think they look very cute together!!!

I just got this lovely girl, but it looks like her hair has been parted in the middle and then only one side braided into pigtails?! I undid the pigtails but now I don’t know what to do! I’ve done boil washes before for straight hair but I don’t want to loDr the nice texture. Should I wash and comb it? I don’t mind if it looks different than her original styl, I just don’t want it to be a mess!!!

I’m beginning to think I should have paid a bit extra to get one NIB instead! 😭

Any advice greatly appreciated!!!

I’m talking about the pre-1990s era patterns, I just love the 1950s and 60s ones, but the dolls of that era had a very different shape!

First picture, left to right: petite Barbie, curvy Barbie, Worldbox at210 with Barbie heads, Stacie on the end.

Second picture: petite, curvy, dream besties, Stacie.

HOW TO:

Petite, Skipper and Dream besties: Print vintage Skipper pattern at 100%. Tops: Add 5mm to the top length (as in just make it 5mm longer) and it should fit fine, although I’m not sure if long sleeves will be the right length. Bottoms: pants and fitted skirts won’t fit! Gathered skirts like this are fine, I just made it a bit longer so it went to the knees.

Stacie: Use a vintage Skipper pattern. Print tops at 85%, bottoms at 100%. I haven’t tested pants to see how they fit yet. I also made the bodice 5mm longer.

The same dress pattern is on the petite, Dream Bestie and Stacy here! It’s McCalls 7716. It’s just printed at different sizes and the length adjusted slightly. The jacket on the petite is also vintage Skipper at 100%. I did make the sleeves slightly longer to hide her elbow joints though!

Curvy: use a vintage Barbie pattern at 100% but make the bodice pattern 1.2cm shorter. Yes, that’s a lot, but curvy really is that much higher in the waist than a vintage doll! She also has bigger arms, so a tight fitting sleeve might need adjusting - I make it 5mm bigger each side, and the armhole 5mm lower. Only a gathered skirt will fit, not a fitted one or pants! For a fitted lower half, best to use Raddollclothes patterns instea, save yourself the hassle of adjusting them!
Note: I haven’t tried heaps of different patterns yet, this is what I’ve found so far. She’s wearing McCalls 9993.

Lastly: Worldbox at210, the “wasp waist” body - included because the fit Barbie heads nicely, and fit the vintage Barbie patterns well too! The bodices mostly fit well as they are, but the arms are bigger so do the same 5mm arm and armholes adjustment as Curvy. Again, only a gathered skirts like this fits! The lower half is a similar size to curvy. The last picture is my two Worldbox girls, one in McCalls 9993 and one in Simplicity 4510.

Regular Barbie: okay, I haven’t worked that out yet, they need a fair bit of adjusting as they’re a lot smaller in the bodice - I’ll do another post when I work it out!

The vintage patterns are readily available as pdf downloads on Etsy.

I hope that’s not too confusing and is helpful for others who like to sew - feel free to ask me any questions !