Every month’s last Friday (or just once a month, sometime on a Friday) is part of a feature on BlytheLife.com, Freebie Friday Five. Welcome everyone to the third instalment! I mention 5 things I love every month that’s free to do/read/see.

If you have any suggestions for next month’s Freebie Friday Five, please don’t hesitate to email me! Maybe you have a site you think that I should feature or a pattern that’s free and up on the web? Tell me!

1. Join a Flickr group or two! I like joining the groups for the specific dolls that I have. Find yours by searching the Flickr groups for the stock name of your dolls. For instance, if you had a Margaret Meets Ladybug (MML) doll, you’d join this group here!
2. I’ve just been loving reading blogs this month! Two Blythe-related blogs that I wanted to showcase this month both belong to two lovely girls from Australia. There’s Bella from The Adventures of Bella and Blythe and Emily from CraftyGirl*. Both girls are fantastically active bloggers, have quite the Blythe collections going and have such cute doll houses! I’m jealous, I don’t have a doll house (yet!).
3. Get some inspiration! While it’s great to see photos of dolls in fun new fashions, you can also look to real people photos to see fun new fashion trends that maybe you can recreate in Blythe-scale! One site that I love to go for current fashion trends to see if I want to make something similar for my own dolls is Polyvore.com
4. Take advantage of the good weather, if you still have it, and take photos outside! Natural lighting is the best when it comes to photography and I don’t know of anyone ever charging for use of sunshine. Get some photos of your dolls in public parks or gardens and other public accessible areas. Be adventurous!
5. Do a closet-clean out – for you! Have clothes with stains, rips, tears? If you can’t donate it, swap it or sell it, why not make something with it? Make something for your dolls (there’s lots of free patterns out there!) with your newly ‘found’ fabric. (Bonus: you make room in your closet for more things…?)

If you know of a site, group or activity that you think I should highlight in next month’s Freebie Friday Five, let me know! Comment below or email me.

I’m not the first one to think it: doll clothes have been getting more and more expensive.

On one hand, I definitely think that dolly seamstresses are entitled to being paid for their talent, their time and their work. If you’ve never tried it before, sewing doll clothes can be hard. Small seams, small hems, small everything! It’s difficult to come up with something that fits, plastic doesn’t have any give (at least not compared to humans). On the other hand, my dolls are demanding little bits of plastic and want ‘new’ clothes all the time. Or maybe that’s just an extension of my own personality (but let’s pretend that it’s not).

So what can you do? You could go and buy new doll clothes, but this is Blythe On A Budget, not Blythe On A Shopping Spree. What you can do is shop in your own doll closet.

• Rediscover clothing that you already own. Never really thought that orange top looked good on anyone? Try it on the newest addition to your family or try it when another pair of pants or a skirt or under a jacket.
• Have your dolls out and change their outfits! Give them a new look for the few days (or weeks, or months – if you’re bad like me and never change your doll’s outfit).
• Put together new clothing combinations. Striped tights with a polka dot skirt and a solid top? Sure! Horizontal striped dress with a plaid hat and dotted tights? Why not? After all, some dolls (and their humans) just lack fashion sense (just ask my own dolls!).
• Maybe you got some new hair accessories? Maybe it’d look good with that dress that you don’t remember why you bought it? Time for a doll to get a new outfit on!

And when you’ve got all your dolls in new outfits that you shopped out of your own doll closet, now it’s time for your dolls to do a photoshoot! There’s always nice, budget-friendly ways to enjoy your Blythes.

Treasures For Dollars is a mini-series that is completely focused on things that I actually find (and buy) from dollar stores and other similar stores. It will alternate with Blythe On A Budget articles for the next little while until the finale of the mini-series (at Part 10). I hope you enjoy the series!

Hello everyone and welcome to the second instalment of Treasures for Dollars! Just this past weekend I was in a small dollar store that had just opened up and was having a grand opening sale. While it has a lot of things that other dollar store have (cards, party supplies, inexpensive toys and goody bag favours), it also had quite the houseware selection as well as a craft section! But what I was looking for were these:

This card of small metal hair clips were $0.75 (regular price $1, but it was a sale!). So for $0.75 (+ tax), I got all of these little hair clippies which I thought was a pretty good deal. They’re cute, to-scale when put up against a Blythe’s head, and plus the paint on them is pretty decent – doesn’t scratch off easily at all. I think I may decorate them at a later date (maybe glue some bows or something onto them).

What’s a good inexpensive dolly-find you discovered recently?

Disclaimer: I do not hold any responsibility for any damage that may occur to your dolls’ clothing from what you learn from this post. This is what works for me and my doll clothing, which is why I’m writing this. Please don’t get angry at me for ruined dolly clothing and remember to TEST detergents and other cleaning solutions on small (hopefully hidden) patches first before dousing an entire pricey little dress in it.

Photo by sxc.hu user marekwo.

I clean all thrifted doll clothing, or at least try to (especially if it smells or has a visible but removable stain). The problem is that generally doll clothes don’t have a care tag label or even a label telling you what kind of fabric it is. The good thing is that most things can be washed.

First thing first: Is the fabric colour-fast? If you have dark or very bright clothing, you might want to check of the material is colour fast first. Just get the fabric a little bit wet and blot it with a paper towel. If the colour comes out, it is not colour-fast (and you most definitely do not want to put it on your doll). Blythe bodies get stained very easily so you’ll want to avoid all fabrics that are not colour-fast.

Hand washing is recommended for doll clothing, mostly due to their small nature. If you’re not wanting to use laundry detergents, you still have options:

• Wash with water only
• Wash with water and mild soap
• Wash with water and vinegar (50/50 solution)

I tend to wash my doll clothes in the sink, if I need to. The clothing is laid flat to dry after I’m done cleaning them. I would avoid bleach, especially with vintage clothing items.

Washing machines can also get the job done. They are less gentle on doll clothing than hand washing is, but it takes less of a time commitment from you. What you’ll need to do is:

• Separate your lights and darks (please check to see if fabrics are colour-fast before putting them in the washing machine!)
• Put the dolly clothing into a lingerie/laundry bag or into a zippered pillowcase. Make sure to zip it close.
• Put the bag in with similarly coloured (human) laundry. Put it on the delicate cycle.
• Lay doll clothing flat to dry.

What about things made with yarn? If the item in question was knit or crocheted in acrylics or superwash wool – you can go ahead with washing it without any problems. If the item was made with mohair, non-superwash wool or any other animal-fibre, take care not to shock the fibres! But never fear, you can still wash them if they get a bit dingy.

• Hand wash only!
• Use cold water – not warm or hot water (warm/hot water will agitate the fibres and cause your doll clothing to shrink!)
• You can use detergents specially made for wool/animal fibres or a very mild baby shampoo.
• Lay dolly clothing flat to dry (much like you would a human-sized sweater).

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What tips do you have for cleaning doll clothing?

Having a group of local people that also love Blythe is great! You can get together and chat about dolls with people who also care about Blythe. Here are some pros and cons to consider when putting together a local Blythe group.

Pros to a local Blythe group:

• A group of like-minded people who also love Blythe
• You get to see dolls that you may have thought about buying before and then decide that you don’t want to buy her (yay! money saved!)
• Getting to chat (and chat and chat) about dolls. Your family and other friends get a break for a few hours!
• Taking photos of Blythe in public is easier when you’re in a group (safety in numbers!)
• There’s always someone with a plastic doll comb or an extra stand available when you forget yours
• It’s easier to buy/sell/trade in person, or just spread the love of dolly clothing around
• Getting to discuss crafting for dolls (like sewing, knitting, etc.) with other people to discuss ideas or techniques
• Putting together fun meet-ups like picnics or just walking through a tourist location in your own city
• Having more fun with the Blythe hobby! and just so much more.

Cons to a local Blythe group:

• People are enablers – people in meets bring new dolls (yay!) but you can easily get persuaded into buying a new doll
• Or you just fall in love with a doll you’ve seen before due to more exposure to the doll (eep)
• Yeah, there’s no real cons…

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Do you have a local Blythe group that you’re a part of?