My Barbie growing up never had a boyfriend – there was no Ken in the house, nor was there an appropriately sized male doll to take Ken’s place. Officially, Blythe is a star like Barbie. Sure, she’s got some younger sisters – but there is no official boy Blythe around. Blythe is to Barbie as Middie is to Skipper and Petite is to Kelly. But what of the Ken counterpart?

Boy Blythe custom on the right by Debby/lace52000.

Many customizers, both new and old to the craft, have tried their hands at revamping the style of a Blythe to look more masculine, or just young and boyish. The first thing that definitely needs to go is the stock Blythe body – after all, a boy Blythe doesn’t need a girlish figure. But what other options are there for doll bodies? Licca is out, so is the Neemo bodies that I have seen (unless there is a male version that I’ve never seen?). I’ve seen several customs that have actually used Bratz Boy bodies to seal the deal. Bonus? Bratz Boys can be found at thrift stores, and I’ve definitely seen bags (and bags, and bags) of Bratz Boys (and Girls) shoes available. Yes, they are oddly peg-legged, but one cannot be picky when it comes to finding a body that works for the doll’s new gender.

Like with all custom work, I can always appreciate the time, effort and skill that went into changing a Blythe from girl to boy. Because it is a skill that not everyone can successfully pull off. Trying to make a doll look more boyish is hard, especially with a face like Blythe’s. For me and my collection, I don’t think I’ll be adding a custom boy doll. It’s like with a lot of custom work – it’s far better for me to appreciate it than attempt to own due to cost and how I see new comers fitting into the existing family.

Blythes will be like the Barbies I had when I was younger – all girls and no boys allowed!

What are your thoughts on boy Blythes?

Tis the season to dress in holiday colours?

Most of my dolls wear dresses, only occasionally pants, and even when they wear dresses the outfits end at or above the knee. Hardly appropriate for the type of temperatures that we’ve been having here, and yet if someone issued me the challenge to dress all of my dolls in holiday and weather-appropriate garments I would fail that challenge (miserably so). I focused a lot this year on expanding the shoe collection – mostly because doll shoes are darling and I like all things teeny tiny. But then that means that one part of the wardrobe expanded, and I did add a couple dolls, but there wasn’t any addition of winter wear. This is most unfortunate as, even though it hasn’t snowed yet here, it is very cold and I feel colder just looking at my dolls in their weather-inappropriate-clothing. Or maybe I just need to turn up the heat a wee bit – either way, it’s cold and that must mean that the dolls are cold too!

Just because we have limited amounts of winter garb here, doesn’t mean that I wasn’t able to pull together a winter outfit ! It’s a good mix of handmade and commercially-available items. Sophie declined to model, something about it not being “designer”… What are some of your favourite wintery clothes?

Of course, now my dolls have a new request – skinny jeans that can fit into boots!

For all the crafters reading this, and for those crafters that have a dolly lover in their lives, here’s a freebie pattern for you!

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Once in a while, I consider adding dolls of other varieties into my doll family. And by others I mean of the not-Blythe variety. That means not the Kenners, the Neos or ADGs, Middies or even Petites (Takara or LPS). I mean completely different dolls. And I have added quite a few, although they don’t typically get their own Flickr sets, any regular photos or even names sometimes. But they are part of the doll family, so they should get a little bit of a mention from time to time – even on a blog all about Blythe. What I would like to do is add a (modern) Licca and a (vintage) Skipper to the family. I’m a bit wary of adding dolls that won’t already fit at least part of the clothing and shoe collection. This is partially why I haven’t gotten more Middies, because there’s not enough clothes to go around!

Besides the Blythes, and other size variations of the brand, I have 6 Monster High dolls (2 are not pictured as they are still in their boxes) and one BJD (who wasn’t about to fit herself onto the couch). I didn’t include figurines, even if they were jointed, because I don’t really consider them to be dolls.

What are the “others” in your doll family?

Ahh, it’s that time again! Many thanks to Pamela from Endangered Sissy for offering up such a fun, and very pink (just the way Eden Mouse likes it!) dress set for one lucky person!

A reminder, the winner gets this fantastic dress set (the dress and a cute jumper that goes underneath!):

And the winner is…

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