This past weekend, I went to a Blythe meet with my amazing and wonderful local group of dolly friends – if you had attended BlytheCon Vancouver you probably would have met most of them! It was our first doll meet following the big event that happened on August 9th. Can you believe that it’s been over a month and a half since BlytheCon Vancouver? I can’t! It was a whirlwind of excitement (and stress) that led up to the Big Day! I had a lot of fun with the day and got to talk to so many amazing people – it’s always great being able to put names to faces. I always associate people’s names or usernames with their avatars, and a lot of people use photos of their Blythes so I don’t know what anyone genuinely looks like half the time!

Eden Mouse’s wearing: helmet/chelleshocks, dress/Plastic Fashion.
Cameo’s wearing: dress/Plastic Fashion, leggings/Endangered Sissy.

The most curious thing happened though. I saw all these great dolls – stock and customs, in amazing fashions and shoes and I didn’t find myself wanting to add another doll to my family. I also didn’t see any clothes and really want to dig into what the maker was and, gosh, could I just buy it?

I have been collecting and amassing dolls and dolly thing since 2009, so just over six years now. Have I finally reached a point where I’m content with the dolls that I have? While I’d still love to add a BL to my collection (because, let’s face it, it’s the one Takara-made mold face that I’m missing), it’s not a pressing want right now. This may also have to do with my lack of spending money, but let us not quibble over facts. It is a bit of a novel feeling because I have, for the most part, always wanted new dolls, or new clothes or shoes for dolls, and it’s a bit weird to honestly not be actively wishing for a money tree so I can buy All The Things! I’m happy with the dollies that I have, and it is an odd feeling.

Are you content with what dolls you have?

It’s the middle of September and there’s a definite chill in the air where I am! The leaves have started to change colour already and I’m wearing sweaters on a daily basis. With the lower temperatures and the brisk winds, it’s nice to get to wear things made of cushy, warm yarn!

Now I know that the dolls don’t actually feel warm or cold and they could be wear a bikini in the middle of a blizzard or five coats in a beach during the peak of summer and not even complain. Whenever a doll wears weather appropriate clothing photos, it just makes it that much better.

Crocheted hats are actually one of the very first things that I ever created for Blythe! I’ve made so any over the years in an assortment of colours – they’re really fun to do and a nice quick project to do. Plus, sometimes it’s just nice to pop a cozy hat onto a dolly just to make them look warmer. Toque weather is sweater weather!

What’s your favourite autumn accessory for dolls? Mine is warm hats!

Middie Monday is a feature that is published on the first Monday of each month! A guaranteed monthly post on Blythe’s little sister – Middie! If you have any suggestions for a future Middie Monday post, please send me an email or use my Suggestions form!

I have two Middies, a Jackie Ramone (Kitty Brighton) and a Yellow Marshmallow (Lydia Melbourne), and I may play favourites with them.

Jackie Ramone was one of the first dolls that I ever truly did grabby-hands towards my computer screen when I first saw her stock photo. Plus she was set up to be Punkaholic People’s little sister and I have a Punkaholic People Blythe doll – so it just meant to be (and a necessary doll purchase). At the time that I got her, I was watching the Lizzie Bennet Diaries on YouTube so I named her after a Bennet sister from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and a city that I have never been to before in my life.

When I got Yellow Marshmallow, it was the first time that I carried on with a naming theme as I named her after another Bennet sister from Pride and Prejudice and another city that I have never been before in my life. Lydia also happens to be one of my favourite sisters from the Lizzie Bennet Diaries (even though I’m not particularly fond of her in the original novel).

Having Middies is a bit of a challenge. As someone who had previously only had Blythe dolls and had amassed a fair bit of clothing and shoes for them, clothing Middies is a challenge. And finding shoes! I’m sure by now everyone knows how much I adore tiny shoes – this goes for Middie-sized foot wear as well and it can be hard to find things that fit well and look cute. I’ve taken to making my dolls be more well-dressed for doll meets now, complete with (potentially) tights or socks and shoes. In the past, I’ve just swapped out dresses and popped dolls into carry bags. I’ve also just taken dolls off the shelf in whatever outfit they’d been wearing for six plus months and hoped that nobody notices (and if anyone does, they are very kind not to comment on it).

While Middies may not get as much love as Kenners or Neos do, I feel that sometimes it’s just because there’s not as many options for clothing and shoes as their bigger sisters. The pint-sized darlings are just the same level as cute, but more concentrated. I may not be the biggest Middie fan in the world (because, lets face it, being able to change eye colours is just that much more awesome), but I do appreciate them and their pocket-sized cuteness!

Eden’s wearing: helmet/chelleshocks, romper/unknown
Kitty Brighton’s wearing: romper/chelleshocks, dress/chelleshocks
Lydia Melbourne’s wearing: dress/chelleshocks

I’ve missed the aspect of taking a dolly photo a day, so here I am attempting to do 365 with Eden again. Here’s hoping that I do better than last time (114). If you want to keep up with the adventures of taking 365 photos of a pink-loving Blythe, the photo album is here on my Flickr account.

Here was day 1:

Eden wants to wear a completely different outfit every single day – I had to tell her that we didn’t have enough pink clothes or funds to make that happen. She may be sulking.

I have a feeling that most of my 365 photos will be taken on my phone and likely uploaded to Flickr via Instagram!

Part of the challenge with dressing my Middies is knowing that I challenged myself to develop their wardrobe myself. This means no buying Middie-sized clothes. If I happen to buy a bag of doll clothes at a thrift store and something happens to fit Middies, that’s a little different (because I was likely aiming for something to fit the Neos), or if I receive a Middie-sized gift – that’s okay too! I don’t have to craft shoes by hand (thank goodness!), but anything clothing wise needs to be made by me for the most part.

Sometimes I kick myself for issuing myself this challenge. But the other day I was looking through one of my Japanese doll clothing pattern books and I pulled this one off the shelf:

I bought it when I was in Hong Kong in 2012 because I went searching for a craft store that carried Japanese pattern books (score!). It does have Middie-sized patterns, as well as Neo-sized items (and some even patterns for an even taller doll, but let’s pretend those don’t exist). Felt is relatively inexpensive, and I could learn how to hand sew a touch better (straighter!), so I decided that I would make the Middie-sized items from this book to start off with.

Fingers crossed I don’t end up poking my fingers too much with the needle!