BlytheLife.com opened in July 2010 and is a blog and resource hub for all things Blythe!
Question of the Week: What do you look for in your doll clothes?
Written on March 12, 2012 at 12:00 pm by MichelleFiled under: Question of the Week
Back when I only had one Blythe, the only clothes she had was her stock outfit. She had nothing else (poor girl). When I first started branching out a little in the Blythe hobby, I was mostly concerned about just having clothes for her. Of course, they had to fit, but I was still mostly concerned with just the ‘having’ part of the hobby. At the beginning, I was very much about the ‘quantity’ of doll clothes rather than the quality, I’m mildly ashamed to admit. But it got my doll clothed, and then I had another Blythe a month after that, so I had two dolls to clothe.
I focused on clothing first, and then shoes. I think in the last two-plus years, I’ve gone in cycles. I get my dolls in cycles, I go and buy shoes and clothes in cycles. I go for a while without spending money on dolls or doll things at all, and then suddenly I’m waiting for half a dozen packages to arrive in the mail and I’m crossing my fingers that customs won’t ding me and ask me to cough up more cash for the goods.
I’ve gotten to the point (thankfully) where I’m no longer looking to add more dolls to my family (eleven is plenty for me, thank you!) and after having just received in the mail a lot of shoes in February, I’m finally at the point where I’m just focusing on their clothes. But with my New Years Resolution, I’ve been focusing a lot of making their clothes. I’ve also started to sell some of my creations as well, and that money goes towards buying either supplies for making more clothes or buying other doll-related things (because it’s already ear-marked as doll money). I think I’ve finally gotten to the point where I’m thinking about the quality of the clothes. I’m being more critical about what I buy, I’m being more thoughtful about if I really want the item or not and if I truly believe it’ll look good on my dolls. It’s be a long time coming for me to get here, and I’m really happy that I’ve finally arrived at this mindset. It really does help with curbing the spending.
What do you look for in your doll clothes?
That’s a great question. I make my own dolly clothes but when I do buy the first thing I look at is style. Does it suit my girls style? Does it look like a quality item? How about the fit? Am I looking for close fitting or loose? Oh and the closure I do prefer snaps but will buy items with velcro if they are super cute and well made. I don’t buy clothing often but when I do I give it thought because I have been doing this for a while.
I usually look for clothes that many of my girls can wear, as well as layerables — I love to put together outfits by mixing and matching and layering, and I love things that are versatile. I tend to regret it when I buy a dress that may be very, very cute or pretty, but which only one of my girls ever wears, and not that often.
Hmm… I love searching for stock outfits for my girls… most of them are well made and there’s something about having that Blythe logo tag inside. 🙂 I love finding good deals, so I snap up the ones I love (if the price is right) I recently bought the Beatrice Vest stock and love it on Very Vicki. I do like to sew and found a great deal on the Simplicity pattern that is circulating for Blythe outfits, I just need to get out my machine! Lastly I am drawn to knitted dresses and sweaters as knitting is not my thing. I am amazed at the talent that goes into some of those little (time consuming) hand knits. I’m in Ontario, Canada, so I find most of my searches and alot of my purchases come from Hong Kong and other various places outside of Canada… so wish these dolls were available here. Great Blog by the way! 🙂
I really look at quality when searching for clothes. I’ve spent many hours, days, weeks sewing and can appreciate the time and effort that goes into handmade items. I do prefer buying from people who enjoy the craft, not so much factory stuff. I don’t know why but I want to be able to feel a connection to the person who made the items. I want to help the stay at home moms, students, small business owners that are making a way for themselves and putting the love they have for creating things into their products.
I was very quick to purchase clothing that I thought was ‘cute’ but it turned out that most of it doesn’t fall into any of my girls’ styles! I bought a few things on etsy before my first, Cassie, even arrived. I realized as I went that a lot of things really didn’t suit her, even if they were cute (because she is cute, but she isn’t cutesy!)
I look mostly for deer clothing for Fawn, punk stuff for Yula, and awesome mix-n-matchables from some of our favorite designers for the others. I have been making a LOT more of my own clothes and dresses lately, so that has helped to stop the spending.
I sew my own clothes for Adele, but when I do buy clothes I look for quality, I also (as yet) only buy things I can’t make (knitting and crochet) or things that I think would be tricky and time consuming for me to sew (thights and socks).
Style, style, style…. that is my main thing when looking at buying or making clothes for my girls. I can’t justify it if it is just cute if it doesn’t match one of my girls personal style. Of course I make a lot of their clothing but my own sewing style sometime just doesn’t work for them. I also love doing layered looks for them but my knitting/crochet is not up to par for them, so those are items I will generally purchase.