Tag: tressy

• Sidebar: Window Shopping

  A recurring theme in fashion doll illustration… …plus a bonus: when the shopping gets real. Happy holidays from Silken Flame!

  sheathsensation

  December 23, 2025

  illustration

  1962, 1964, 1965, 1970, jamie, tressy, vintage barbie

• Rival Fashion Booklets (1962-66)

  Soft hues suffuse a 1962 fashion booklet for Ideal’s Tammy. Clothes are shown worn by the character in detailed scenes, with accessories, background figures, and other immersive touches. See the booklet cover above, left; just a few of its charming fashion illustrations are below. The following year, another booklet advertised all the same fashions and…

  sheathsensation

  December 20, 2025

  clones

  1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, bobbi, tammy, tressy

• Not Barbie on TV

  In an earlier post, we reviewed a handful of Barbie’s television appearances on early Barbie sets. But Barbie, her friends, and rivals watched other programs, too. Let’s view a few. First up is the 1963 Ideal house that was marketed for use by either Tammy or Barbie. This was a big house for its era,…

  sheathsensation

  January 13, 2024

  built environment, clones, Musings

  1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, francie, littlechaps, skipper, tammy, tressy, vintage barbie

• Fireplaces, 1963-79

  Winter weather moved in last week and put me in the mood to huddle near pictures of mid-century toy fireplaces. Join me!

  sheathsensation

  December 2, 2023

  built environment, clones

  bionic woman, ideal toy corp, jamie, sindy, tammy, tressy, tuesday taylor, vintage barbie

• Beauty Parlors (1964-1977)

  Tressy’s was first, in 1964. Introduced by American Character the year prior, she had the most sophisticated hair play for the time among Barbie and her rivals, with a lock of hair that lengthened and shortened by two separate mechanisms (a button to press and key to turn). Tressy’s Beauty Salon wasn’t functional–it didn’t add…

  sheathsensation

  August 27, 2023

  built environment, clones

  1964, 1965, 1971, 1973, misty, tressy, vintage barbie

• Penthouse Apartments, 1964-1976

  Skyline views, rooftop patios, luxe furnishings, maybe an elevator that doubles as your front door… A penthouse apartment is practically shorthand for glamorous living. As we’ve noted, Barbie was more bucolic. But throughout the vintage and mod years, her friends and rivals opted for lavish city living on a trio of occasions. Tressy’s Penthouse (1964)…

  sheathsensation

  May 6, 2023

  built environment, clones

  1964, 1970, 1976, jamie, tressy, tuesday taylor

• Deluxe Reading Dream Kitchen (1963)

  Barbie’s earliest abodes may suggest that she was not much of a cook: neither the ’62 Dream House nor her ’64 Campus dorm room provided kitchen facilities (predictably, in the latter case); the Go-Together rooms offered a dining room, but no kitchen; and the ’64 New Dream House had a very minimal kitchen in the…

  sheathsensation

  December 10, 2022

  built environment

  1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, clones, tammy, tressy, vintage barbie