Skip to main content

Crafting and Barbies

 Two fundamental things about me: 

  • I have had Barbie dolls since before I was two years old. They were a stable part of my childhood long past the age many kids played with dolls.
  • I grew up doing crafts. My mom and grandma taught me to cross stitch, needlepoint, and knit (although I have long ago forgotten that particular craft). I don't sit still and if I'm watching TV there's a good chance I have a needle and a project in my lap. (okay, let's be honest, it's 2023, there are definite evenings it's a mindless puzzle game on my tablet.)
Which means that while I have extra time on my hands I took the opportunity to combine those two aspects and created two Barbie cross stitch patterns this fall


Both projects are smaller than 4" square and are perfect for a crafter who has never done cross stitch. They're simple and can be finished in a short amount of time. But they also are quintissential to today's Barbie love and the resurgence of attention because of the movie.

I put together an Etsy store to sell digital downloads of the pattern and have spent many hours since around Thanksgiving getting the right color of floss, stitching the patterns, and figuring out how to finish them.  Mom helped me pick out the perfect Barbie pink and she found the round hoop for the Barbie lover project.



Then I started playing with - and fighting with - Etsy. Let's just say, I appreciate they have a copyright policy but:
  1. No one else follows it. There is SOOOO much Barbie content on the page that if anything that is Mattel adjacent is inappropriate then they need to do a very large sweep of the platform
  2. The items I created I built from scratch. I am not wholesale trying to rip off Mattel.
  3. I am such small potatoes that I can't imagine anyone making a small cross stitch pattern would run afoul of the Barbie/Mattel legal team.

Anyway....
If you are looking for a light, fun, silly cross stitch pattern, check out my etsy shop here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheNostalgicStitcher
While it's still quiet I have a few other projects up my sleeve. I would like to add at least a couple more items before the end of they year, but we'll see.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I am Ken-in-Roller-Skates Years Old

 This weekend a friend and I went through the clothes and the dolls that I played with as a kid (and she has an amazing memory on the clothes. This website is quite the resource if you're interested: BarbieWorld.it  ). I had A LOT of Barbies and accessories. There was the Barbie pool, the piano, the three-story townhouse. I had an RV, an airplane, and a boat. And then there were the dolls themselves. Yes, I had lots of Barbies but there were also Skippers and Midges and Christies. But today, we have to talk about Ken. This is my first Ken Doll: Roller Skating Ken c.1980. The short tight shorts, the shiny purple jacket, the Addidas style roller skates. He's so retro, what's not to love? I can't pretend to remember why six-year old me needed a Ken doll at that point. I was never as gung-ho about the guys because for me Barbie was about Fashion shows and climbing mountains, and sleepovers. But there were definitely days Ken was part of their entourage. I didn't have Ro
Post a Comment
Read more

Barbie as Iconic Musician

 It has been in the news recently that Mattel has released Barbie as Mariah Carey and as Stevie Nicks. Both of these dolls continue a long tradition of recreating Barbie as iconic stars who will appeal to kids, to the parents who buy dolls for their kids, and to adult collectors. For what it's worth, both dolls are currently sold out on Amazon and already listed (as of November 17) on eBay for $150. The collector's market and upsale of collectibles is alive and well. This series of dolls is intended to represent role models as well as fashion icons. I have to say, this line of dolls has never appealed to me over much. There is nothing wrong with them, but I have always gotten Barbies that were not "Mattel-style-doll-recreated-to-resemble(ish)-someone-famous." When I was looking through my collection in storage last week I came across two other iconic Barbie recreations from 25 years ago. Barbie Loves Frank Sinatra and Barbie Loves Elvis. In both of these Box Sets the
Post a Comment
Read more