Last month I hung out at a friend’s house. She also happened to be a Blythe enthusiast and we were chatting about Kenners and dressing up the dollies. While we were setting up the dolls on the couch, her boyfriend and his friend arrived.

Cue the awkward looks at dolls. The friend physically recoiled away from the dolls whenever they went close to him and just shook his head.

I likened the doll hobby to people having hobbies in other aspects – video games, model cars or trains. He just shook his head and said something about model cars and trains not having eyes. It’s always back to the eyes. Which is funny, because I find that one of their more endearing qualities. Large head, large eyes, small body. It’s basically the same traits that make human babies and other mammal babies super cute so we don’t kill or eat them (speaking in an evolutionary sense, of course).

I’ve had awkward (or outright negative) comments about Blythe before. And funny looks. I’m sure we’ve all gotten some form of negative feedback at one time or another.

At the same time, how can you think something negative towards these sweet little faces?

Maybe I’m biased… I probably am (a lot biased…) – the two on the left belong to me.

I’ve learned a lot since I started sewing for dolls. Some things I kind of already knew, others I didn’t. I decided to compile a list of things that I’ve learned – whether I wanted to learn them or not.

Irons are your friends. Mini irons are your best friends.

I never used to iron a thing. Ever. I hated the idea of ironing and all I read online was ironing will change my life. Or something like that. And I didn’t believe it… until I had a seam that would not let me press it flat, no matter what I tried. So I pulled out the iron and then bang, like magic. It was perfect. I got a Clover Mini Iron last year for my birthday and while I don’t use it for everything (let’s face it, that little iron head is not large enough for doing an entire fat quarter at a time to get rid of the fold lines), it is fantastic for doing little things like collars, small seams, little hems.

Photo from sxc.hu user drniels.

Pinning is important, apparently. But plastic pin heads will melt under the iron.

I learned this very early on. Pinning is awesome! It keeps things in place, keeps all your gathers gathered until you’re ready to actually sew and make them permanent. But plastic pin heads. I used to only have pins that had plastic heads until I started becoming BFFs with my iron. And then I learned why glass pin heads exist. Because they won’t melt and deform if you press an iron down on them. Nothing makes me start sounding like a sailor than having plastic pressed and melted into my pretty fabric.

Tracing paper is a lot easier to pin to fabric than regular paper.

Oh tracing paper, I love you so much. I tried, at one point, to use regular letter paper as my pattern pieces. I’d cut them out, pin them, but it’d bunch or buckle and it just wouldn’t lay flat no matter how I pinned it. Cue tracing paper. It’s thin, light-weight, relatively inexpensive (even more so with a discount coupon to the Big Box Craft Store) and (best of all) it’s easy to transfer patterns to it and to pin it down flat onto the fabric.

My mother wasn’t lying when she said that there are fabric-only scissors and paper-only scissors.

When I was little, I totally thought it was weird that my mom had scissors labelled ‘general use’, ‘paper only’, ‘fabric only’. Because to me, they were all just scissors. Now that I engage in fabric-related crafting? I totally get it. I have a set of snips for threads, a pair for fabric, pinking shears and general paper scissors. And they’re all labelled and in their ‘home’. I totally get it now. Sorry mom, for doubting you and your scissor labelling. Of course, now that I understand why there are scissors for different things, I don’t lend them out to people. I’m likely to lend out the paper-only scissors. But my pinking shears? My fabric shears? Nope. Mine.

Photo from sxc.hu user lela1971.

You need to learn to pick your battles when it comes to knotted threads.

I hate knots. I really, really hate knots. But I know when I’m going to win (hopefully) and when I’m going to lose. If I’m hand sewing, I’m more likely to fix the knots because it’s a pain otherwise. If I’m machine sewing and there’s a knotted thread nest on the fabric…? Well, I’m slightly less likely to undo the knots. Especially if they won’t be seen. But then I’ll go and adjust tension and rethread the machine because it’s the right thing to do. But undoing the knots? Highly unlikely. It’s a design feature.

Seam rippers are fantastic. Except when they go under your fingernail.

I think seam rippers are awesome. They rip seams, which is great whenever I do a wonky line. However, seam rippers can be sharp. And they’re kind of annoying when I go and job myself underneath a finger nail and get blood on my project. So word from the wise (?) – be careful with sharp objects. That goes for pins, scissors and seam rippers. Getting sharp objects into your body is no good. Be careful, be aware of your surroundings. No hobby is worth permanent damage to yourself or others.

Photo from sxc.hu user mazwebs.

Sometimes it’s just easier to hand sew. Not faster, but easier. Sometimes.

Sometimes when I’m trying out a new or new-to-me pattern, I hand sew it because it’s just easier for me to ‘visualize’ it. It’s also easier for me to undo the stitches if I do something wrong. Also, I hand sew collars sometimes, if I can’t find any stabilizer, because my machine eats tiny bits of fabric like that for breakfast. It’s a nice way to get small seams when you hand sew, and you can also embroider details with hand sewing. Granted, you can do it with machine sewing as well, but some people like hand embroidery from time to time. Hand sewing is also useful for sewing tiny buttons, beads and snaps. And we all know how I feel about snaps…

I was looking at my dolls and their clothes the other day (of which they have a lot) and I realized that every single one of my dolls was wearing a dress. Not only do I actually have separates (shorts, pants, skirts, tops), but dresses are probably three or four times more plentiful when it comes to the dolls’ closet. After a while, it gets expensive having a wardrobe for just one doll. While I may have pieces that only one doll wears (Eden, I’m looking at you), a lot of the girls do wear clothing that gets worn by others as well. There’s very few individual pieces that don’t get shared. In fact, most of my girls are pretty good about sharing, unless it’s pink (Eden) or somewhat high(er) fashion (Sophie). Picky dolls…

So I was really wondering if some of you have doll families where there are distinctly different fashion styles amongst your dolls, or if they’re all pretty good about mixing and matching items. After all, no one can have as greedy dolls as me, right?

Do your dolls have different fashion styles? Or are they pretty good at sharing?

This post is in reaction to the recent explosion in anger over a certain online international Blythe retailer’s limited number of preorders for a certain Blythe release with teal hair. And I think you all know who and what I’m talking about.

It’s not the most important thing in the world.

Say that out loud. Then repeat it to yourself again. And again. And again. And again. Until it sinks in.

Nobody needs that doll.

What you need is oxygen, water, food with nutrients, warmth, a form of shelter, and an ability to afford and gain access to all of that. You don’t need a doll. If the only thing that you have to complain about is the fact that you weren’t one of the fifty people who managed to snag a preorder from one website (and I’m sure other top shops will have preorders available too), you have an amazing life.

I hope you can recognize that.

You may want the doll. And you can probably get her somewhere else – either from another website’s preorder system, a certain big auction website, or even second hand.

It’s not the end of the world unless you make it the end of the world. Blythe isn’t a cheap hobby, it’s just not by its nature. The dolls are expensive, the clothes are expensive, the shoes are expensive. But none of them are necessities in keeping you alive and happy and healthy. You know what is necessary in keeping you happy and healthy? Not stressing over things. And holding onto that anger that you weren’t able to get a preorder or blaming a company for the number of dolls they had (which was beyond their control) is really not doing anyone any good – but most of all, it’s not doing you any good.

You have an amazing life. Don’t stress the little things.

I’ve been in the Blythe hobby since 2009 and I have not done a closet clean out at all. Well, until a few days ago. And it’s kind of causing some anxiety in me, because I’m antsy over the idea of mailing stuff out, and then waiting to hear if it’s arrived or not. I’ve going through the drawers of doll clothes and things a few times to make sure that I got out everything that I no longer want to keep. The dolls are staying, their stock (if I have it) is staying. There are some items that I would be very hard pressed to sell (vintage Skipper, gifts, my first ‘successful’ attempts at sewing, etc.) but it’s just so hard to part with all this stuff. Even though at the end of the day, I know it’s just things. My boyfriend had some interesting advice to give me:

If it’s something that’s worth more to you than the amount of money you’d get from it, you shouldn’t sell it.

Of course, he likened my attachment to doll things like his attachment to vintage video games. It’s incredibly insightful though. I think he was just trying to make it “okay” for me to not part with things, even if I do feel like that I need to do some purging. It’s getting a little out of control and it’s just all so much stuff even though I know there’s many, many (many) other Blythe collectors with a lot more clothes, shoes and dresses than I have. But he’s a smart cookie and I do listen to what he has to say. After all, at the end of the day, if it’s something that I wouldn’t miss because I love it that much, is it worth me keeping it?

For now, I’ve got what I’m keeping and what I’m selling and there’s no ‘maybe’ pile. If it turns into a maybe, it goes into the sale pile. If I need to think about it, it’s not worth it to me to keep because clearly I don’t want it that much.

What kind of tips do you have for people who are new to clearing out the dolly closet?