These dresses are beautiful!
This 41-year-old mother of two has been selling her handmade barbie doll dresses to customers, not only in Malaysia but all around the world. How amazing is that?!
Erpha Ahdyani Othman from Bekenu, Sarawak told Bernama of her admiration for the elegance of Barbie dolls’ dresses since she was young and even admitted to secretly using her mother’s sewing machine at only 10 years old to create dresses for her own dolls.
As of now, she’s solely focusing on creating dresses for Silkstone Barbie dolls, designed for Barbie doll collectors. She’s produced hundreds of dresses with the majority orders coming from customers in the US.
“The interest in sewing doll dresses was always within me, but this hobby was long abandoned. But in recent years, I have been keen on dressing Barbie dolls. Not only that, every dress I produce is a record in terms of size and design,” she said, as reported by The Star.
“I can stitch one gown in a day but I need to be fully focused during sewing. The stitching pattern should be correct so that the quality is maintained,” said Erpha after stating that the dress could be ruined even if a millimeter is missed.
Apart from the special techniques, you definitely need to pay close attention for the dress to be perfect! Even the fabrics and patterns matter to ensure it suits each individual doll.
“I use a wide range of fabrics including silk and cotton. The type of fabrics used should take into account the dark and light colours. The mechanical pencil used should also be bright so that the strokes will be clear so there will be no inaccurate cutting of the fabric,” she added.
“Designers for dolls’ clothes are not many, the design may be the same but the type of fabrics used and the sewing differentiates the handiwork of each tailor,” she continued.
Each dress is sold for between RM150 and RM200, depending on the type of fabric used.
You can check out her page on Etsy and her even website, where she produces smocked dresses and baby bows! Head on over to her Instagram too!
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