Are you ever too old to play with dolls? If you ask 58-year-old Pat Breitsprecher, the answer is emphatically “No.”
Breitsprecher, who lives in Palatine, retired from a hectic career in real estate four years ago. Since then she has made a new career for herself, one that involves playing with Barbie dolls on a daily basis.
In her home-run business called Doll Duds, Breitsprecher fashions tiny clothing to fit Barbie, the ever-popular doll manufactured by Mattel Inc. She has made more than 1,000 outfits so far, some with such intricate hand-stitching of beads and sequins they have taken days to finish and cost hundreds of dollars.
For the last few years, Breitsprecher has been making all kinds of Barbie clothing, from fabric-painted sweatshirt outfits, circle skirts and palazzo pants with matching jackets to silver-sequined gowns, lacy three-tiered dresses and elaborate wedding gowns with full trains and headpieces.
“Each year, I try to bring in something new into what I call my `line,”‘ she says. “It’s the designer in me.”
Although she has taken only two sewing classes in her life (one in high school and one after retiring), Breitsprecher has become a whiz at fitting outfits to Barbie’s hour-glass shape and 11 1/2-inch-tall frame.
She first began sewing clothing for Barbie many years ago for her two daughters’ dolls.
“I just made clothes with whatever fabric I had and I never used a pattern,” she says, seated in her living room, where about 20 Barbies in their best gowns are on display.
High on a shelf behind a glass showcase is a Barbie in one of Breitsprecher’s velvet gowns. Another Barbie posing on a table wears a pearl-beaded wedding gown with a sweetheart neckline and full train, one of Breitsprecher’s original designs.
Barbie dolls wearing fancy duds seem to pop up throughout Breitsprecher’s home. Altogether, she has collected about 90 dolls, including Barbie, Ms. Flair, Vanna White, Sleeping Beauty, Belle and Jasmine, all wearing outfits she made for them.
“That one is $175,” she says, motioning to a wedding gown modeled by Barbie. “Just the `pearling’ alone took 100 hours.” (`Pearling’ is hand-stitching of tiny pearls onto fabric.)
“This one took me about five days,” she says of another, a three-tiered lace wedding dress, with one fabric overlaying another and sequins stitched on by hand.
Items range from $5 to $175. Breitsprecher says she uses quality fabrics-those anyone might choose for a special gown or less formal costume-and puts a sturdy snap on the back of each item.
Her most recent project is a “dress impression,” as she calls it. It’s a special request from a woman who wants a Barbie-sized duplicate of her daughter’s wedding gown to give to her granddaughter as a present. But Breitsprecher’s fashionable clothing doesn’t appeal only to females.
“Some of my best clients are male,” she says. “Barbie is collected by more men than any other doll.” Fantasy aside, she explained, Barbie dolls carry a high financial value.
With a little help from her husband, David, Breitsprecher takes Doll Duds on the road as many as 18 times a year. Twice a year, she sets up shop at the Antique Toy and Doll Show in St. Charles. She also travels to a doll show in Colorado each fall and participates in many northwest suburban craft shows. To display the clothes, she uses a miniature carousel with tiny hangers fashioned from pipe cleaners.
But even though business is booming, she doesn’t really consider sewing a job.
“It’s a hobby,” she says. “I just get a big charge out of people who say how beautiful (the clothes) are.”
Breitsprecher doesn’t plan to expand her seamstress work to clothes for people. The reason is simple, she says: “Barbie doesn’t complain when I stick her with a pin.”
