A little red Barbie fun

It is Wednesday is Rednesday and time to party with our hostess Sue over at It's a Very Cherry World. Today I decided to show a little red, Barbie style so I am also joining Twyla and Lindsey, a mother and daughter blog at Two Crazy Crafters for a little Barbie Wednesday.

As a young girl, I loved playing with my Barbies. I never was one for baby dolls and dish sets. I liked that everything would fit in my Barbie Doll case, all the dolls, clothing, and accessories, and be ready to be taken on a road trip, visit to my favorite Aunt, or to a friend's house.

On my little Singer sewing machine, I would sew outfits that at the time I thought were oh so lovely, but am a little embarrassed to show them now. I got my first pony tailed Barbie when I was 5 (please see the story of the naked Barbie in the Family Christmas Photo here). That was in 1965.

My next Barbie was handed down to me from a neighbor. She had no hair and came with 3 wigs, blonde bubble cut, long black hair with a flip and a red wig, which had been lost before being handed down to me. My last 2 dolls were both for my birthday in 1970. I was thrilled to finally receive a Ken doll. My brother's GI Joe doll just didn't cut it being Barbie's date. It was hard to pretend that they were at the prom, Barbie in a gorgeous gown and Joe in his fatigues.

The other birthday doll was Julia from the TV show starring Diahann Carroll. She played a widowed single mother whose fighter pilot husband had been shot down in Vietnam. The show ran from 1968-1971 and was one of the first weekly tv series to depict an African American woman in a non-stereotypical role.

The blonde doll is marked Mattel and is dated 1966 and was a lawn sale find for my daughter to play with. The reddish tint of my Julia doll's hair happened over time and I'm not sure why. Both dolls are wearing actual Barbie fashions.

Here is my Barbie with the black wig along with Ken, resplendent in his red tuxedo. This is the Talking Ken and he is buff, unlike the earlier version of the Ken doll that was skinny, pasty and the one-to-have-sand-kicked-in-his-face-at-the-beach-doll.

Barbie without her wig.

This is an actual 1970 catalog of Barbie fashions. This page shows "Francie Fashion Flings", but there are also fashions for Skipper, Barbie, Ken, Tutti, P.J., Brad, Christie, Stacey, Julia, and Casey.

Tops for Ken. The one on the right is the beach jacket that came with the original, dare I say, wimpy, Ken doll. Why is it that the Barbie doll had unrealistic proportions of bust and waist that no real woman could ever achieve and that the male counterpart being the original Ken doll looked like he just graduated from Junior High.

These are homemade Red fashions. The one on the right was made by my Aunt in the 60's. Unlike the official Barbie label fashions, this wouldn't sell on eBay; however, it is the most valuable one to me.

Please be sure to say Hi to Sue at It's a Very Cherry World and Twyla and Lindsey at Two Crazy Crafters. I am going to go play with my Barbies. Have a great day.

I got it at Goodwill
Sherrie