The Blythe world has introduced me to a lot of things. Like sewing (more so than I knew before), and knitting or crocheting with much thinner yarn. Before Blythe I used worsted or bulky weight yarn. Now it’s all sock or lace weight yarn. Which then translated to me knitting socks for me and not the dolls, but that’s really a story for another time and another place.

I knew nothing about sewing for dolls prior to Blythe. Nothing, absolutely nothing. My simple attempts at sewing doll clothes were for my old Barbie doll where things were sewn by trial-and-error because I was a kid and I used little pieces of chalk (like for a chalkboard) to trace around the doll in hopes it would fit when I was done. I learned to adjust to knitting with smaller needles, and started off with figuring out how to make tops and whatnot. It’s been a trial-and-error way of me making things for my dolls, and I’ve learned a lot about knitting (and crocheting, and sewing) along the way. So learning new things withing realizing I was adding to my knowledge of crafts has been very fun, but there’s always room to learn more things – and to create more for the greedy, selfish dolls.

How has Blythe helped you learn about new things?

With years of collecting dolls and the items that come with them (shoes, clothes, shoes…), there comes a time when it just seems like I have too much of everything. Hence my need to purge by going through what I do have and figuring what I no longer need. I like to make piles when I do this.

One pile for things I love/must keep.
One pile for things I’m not entirely sure if I want to part with yet.
One pile for things I don’t recall buying and would totally be okay with parting with.
And one pile for things that I’m not sure why I kept to begin with.

Stock clothes are always keepers!

It’s a lot of piles, but it works. The last two piles are automatically separated from the rest and I come up with prices and bag them up to go into my sundries bag to be brought to the next local dolly meet. Then I go to pile #2, where I’m not entirely sure if I want to keep or not. I tend to keep things if I a) spent “quite a bit” on it, or b) it looks fantastic on most of my dolls. I love pieces that look great on many dolls because it means that I can put in into the general circulation and not be concerned about it not being regularly used. With this system, I’ve actually managed to pull some items out that I no longer need (or want). If only it worked as well on the dolly shoe closet. I have a thing for tiny shoes and it makes it hard to part with things!

How good are you at purging the dolly closet?

There comes a time in any collector’s life that you begin to wonder if you just have too much stuff. (Or maybe it’s just me…) There are people who always seem to be selling dolls, circulating out the old to bring in the new. Ways to justify it to themselves that yes, it’s okay to buy another pricey custom doll because they just sold one, albeit one that wasn’t nearly as expensive but she did sell!

After talking to some people, it’s interesting to see how they decide which doll to sell:

• Last one in is the first the go
• Whoever hasn’t had a photo taken in the longest period of time
• The most expensive one (for those looking to free up some funds)

And it doesn’t just go for dolls, there’s a whole marketplace out there for clothes and shoes and assorted accessories. There is a huge mentality of buying and selling. A little bit like “keeping up” with other people because they are always buying new things, so why shouldn’t you? Well, there are a lot of reasons why someone should or should not buy something – the ability to afford to spend that money ranks very high on the list of reasons of why you should (or shouldn’t) buy that designer doll dress.

This one is clearly a keeper!

I recently decided to go through the very large amount of doll things that I have to figure out what I should or should not keep. Not the dolls themselves, mind you, but the doll things. Like a dress that I don’t recall buying that I don’t think fits with the style of any of my dolls? That goes into the selling pile. The shiny gold dress that I coveted from afar and did a happy dance when I managed to snag it in a quick Etsy update? Keeper! I did that with the shoes too. I have a lot of doll shoes, and I don’t need that many. Okay, maybe that’s a bit of a lie… I do need that many. But it’s probably not necessary to have that many pairs of tiny shoes. And if you were to ask Sophie, all the shoes are necessary. It’s a good thing I don’t ask her for advice on what should stay and what should go, I’d never get rid of anything to make room for something new.

How do you decide who (or what) to sell?

I have quite a few Blythes, being nearly five years into the hobby. It’s a great hobby and I’ve met some wonderful people during this time. But during that time, my interest in the dolls themselves wanes in and out, mostly due to time constraints. I’ve found my interest in particular dolls ebbs with my interests and some dolls capture my interest more than others.

Looking back at my older dolls, particularly not the ones that entered in my plastic family in the last year, I find that I probably neglect Kindred quite a bit. She’s my only SBL, so I won’t ever be customizing her because of the challenges that exist there plus I can’t bring myself to customize her. Then there were the issues with the ‘yellowed’ eyes (different type of white), and the extreme downward gaze. Yet some of Kindred’s most attractive qualities is that her eyes are a dream to roll by hand and she’s got some great makeup (vivid blue eyeshadow, anyone?) and plus she came with some gorgeous (and plentiful!) stock items. Velvet Minuet is still the first Blythe doll that I saw at the beginning, and she was the one that drew me into the hobby to begin with. But now it’s time to acknowledge the fact that I do neglect her from time to time – in particular with outfit changes and bringing her to meets. Maybe that will change now that I’m more aware of this and I’ll bring her to some meets in the future.

Which doll of yours is the most neglected?

I know some people who thought that Blythe was a bit odd (or just freaky) when they first saw her. Sometime it’s the large head, the changing eye colours, the odd proportions, the unnerving stare. But for me, it was the fascinating eye mechanism, large child-like features and the delightful fashions that kept me interested in her when I first saw Blythe. I was interested enough to track down what kind of doll it was, find out more about her.

Changing eye colours? Large, wide eyes? That is definitely Blythe’s best feature, according to me.

Which feature of Blythe is her best according to you?