Sunday, September 13, 2009

A Kitchen for Barbie


From Grandmother Wren's Doll House, instructions to construct a thoroughly up-to-date Barbie kitchen from cocoa tins, shoe boxes, and plastic berry baskets. When I saw this I had a flashback to 1962 or thereabouts, when my best friend Judy York and I used to hide under the lilac bushes behind the garage and draw elaborate floor plans in the dirt for the furniture we created from spools, cardboard, old plastic bottles and jars, and scraps of cloth (did you know the base of the economy-size bottle of Ivory dishwashing soap makes a dandy bathtub for Penny Brite?).

We always used my dolls; Judy's grandmother presented her with a brand-new Madame Alexander every Christmas and every birthday, but these had to stay on the shelf in her room. Whenever I felt a twinge of envy for Judy, I reminded myself that my dolls could be played with (and the few I still have today show it, I'm afraid).

The dining room is here, and I can't wait until Monday to see if there's a living room as well.

(Grandmother Wren has three vintage craft sites, including Grandmother's Pattern Book and Thrifty Creativity).

2 comments:

A said...

Super fun! I used to make furniture for my Barbie as a child out of paper and plastic dishes. Reminds me of simpler times . . .

Amy said...

oh how cool! I would've loved hat as a child.