2013 Spring HAD Newsletter Designer Spotlight

Hello all! I am Linda Leake-Beard also known as Sewbarbie. Growing up I had a blonde straight leg Skipper, an Allan and a Color Magic Barbie whose hair had fallen out and was replaced by my Mother with a Mattel Bubblecut wig. I loved those dolls and they slept on the side of my pillow nightly until I was about 17. It was a good thing too as my mother is a minimalist and throws things out as soon as “you don’t need them” any more. They are my only childhood toys that survived! With a mother and Grandmother who sewed, I soon knew I needed to sew too. I made clothes for my dolls starting with needle and thread and graduating to the sewing machine soon after. In junior high and high school I sold Barbie outfits to teachers for their kids and grand kids. I used any scraps of fabric I could get my hands on. (Hems from pants skirts and curtains being some of my favorites) My father paid me for tasks around the house by buying me spools of thread as I had been using my mother’s thread all up! PICTURED CLOCKWISE FROM BELOW LEFT: A OOAK doll and fashion Linda created, Linda playing with Barbie as a child (on the end...head down, dark swimsuit bottoms by the double red Barbie case) and OOAK Prince Ken and fifteen Princess Barbie dolls created especially for Linda's local doll club.
	My dolls were carefully stored for a few years as I went thru the boy crazy phase and eventually got married. I had my son and the man I married left us shortly thereafter. Now a single mom, my sewing skills were more important than ever. I worked at that big national chain fabric place for many years and also worked at a couple bridal shops as assistant manager and seamstress. The love of Barbie dresses convinced me that I could make people dresses too. My 30^th birthday arrived and I received my second Barbie doll from my sister. She was a fun to dress doll. Tired of being away from my son all the time I set off on my own and in March of 1989 opened my own business called “First Of May”. Business was pretty good and we made ends meet but the formal and bridal business is pretty much seasonal, so when the bills were big the income was low and when the business was plenteous I would like to have had a little time to go outside and enjoy the nice weather. There were few vacations since as a self employed person, when you don’t work there is no money and when on vacation you spend money! Don’t even get me going about the cost of health insurance! Needless to say I returned to the retail world with my business very much still intact and just done on a smaller scale as “extra money”. I grabbed a few Barbie patterns at the fabric shop and pulled out my dolls. I remembered how much I loved them. I began to look at the new Barbies, many of which were now called collector dolls. I remember buying Holiday Hostess, a pink box Christmas grocery store doll. She was only $7.99 but I had to decide on food or Barbie that week. Barbie won. My son ate well but I think I did toast and Cream of Wheat for the week! A friend had Christmas Barbies which I drooled over but at the time there was no way I could afford one. PICTURED LEFT: Linda's OOAK called "Jester of Woe". PICTURED BELOW LEFT and RIGHT: Linda's 2012 Ken®vention fashions.
I needed to make sure my son would not struggle like I was. (the ex paid no child support) I found I could get some help with tuition as a single mom so I went to college. I had not gone after high school choosing rather to go straight into the work world. You could do that in the seventies but as the eighties and nineties came you really needed a degree to get a good job. I spent so much time away from my son that we decided we needed to do something together weekly. We decided to take Karate lessons. We loved the karate. The exercise was great and we made new friends. Making a long story short, I met my Husband in that class! He and I were married April 5^th 1998. He is a computer geek and introduced me to the internet, eBay and more. I learned there were other Barbie (and Ken) lovers out there! He and his mother both enabled my Barbie collecting passion. My mother even saw the error of her ways (telling me as a child you only needed one Barbie) and became enabling as well. I began to redress and repaint Barbie dolls. I loved saving the ones that seemed like they were unfixable. Somewhere in there I bought my first Ken on eBay. I loved making Ken clothes also and well, now I have around 1300 Barbie, Ken and Family dolls. (I now own every Holiday Barbie!) Vintage Ken looks like my Dad so I am rather fond of him. I now work full time for our county as a Child Protective Caseworker. It is a very mentally stressful job so having my Barbie and Ken hobby really helps me let go of all the not so nice things I see during the day. I still make customized dolls but mostly as donations, competitions and gifts for friends, or to commemorate some event. I usually do a few commissions throughout the year for friends as table gifts for the conventions. I decorate my office with Barbie family dolls and my car is customized in a Barbie theme. I love Barbie logo items. I always wear a Barbie or Ken watch. (I have about 35 different ones) I hope you enjoy my photos. I have a web site which is sadly out of date. Please feel free to take a look www.firstofmaydesigns.net The links to the conventions are current.	PICTURED BELOW: Linda's "Happy Birthday" Ken she made as a table gift at the 2011 NBDCC.
PICTURED CLOCKWISE FROM BELOW LEFT: Linda with a OOAK doll she entered in competiton, Linda dressed in Barbie fashion (Cinderella) and Linda's son and daughter-in-law as Earring Magic Ken and Barbie. Linda made all of these fashions by hand!