Happy first day of May! I’d post that Justin Timberlake meme, but I’m sure you will see that elsewhere (on Facebook… on Instagram…). It’s the first Monday of the month, which means it’s time for Middie Monday!

I was terribly uninspired in the month of April for all things Blythe. I’m not sure what happened there. I had some time off from work for vacation, which really just turned into a whole lot of time off from the internet in general because I spent a lot of time outside of my home doing things, and going places and making plans! Now that I’m back at work, I’ve had a bit of time to get back into a routine and I’m all energized again to do things with my dolls. Mostly because I have a lot of sets of eyes looking disapprovingly at me whenever I leave the house without them.

I have some projects on my knitting needles right now, but they’re not done yet so I’ll probably have photos available for next month’s Middie Monday (this is also partially because some of those projects are for a swap – even if my Middies will get a chance to model before I ship things off). But until then, you get the following photo mostly because I think it’s hilarious (and proof that I actually changed outfits on one of my dolls for the first time in forever?):

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!

It’s a Monday and I have Middies so it must be Middie Monday!

I’ve been attempting to craft more for the Middie girls lately, experimenting and trying to draft new patterns. I’m not going to show you the (failed) attempts at new patterns because they’re a) ugly and b) don’t actually fit properly. Back to the drawing board for me! Although after getting super frustrated, I turned to a tried-and-true pattern that I created to just have a ‘winning’ project:

Middie clothes are just so much smaller and quicker to knit up than Neo-sized pieces. Almost like instant gratification.

But I have been doodling new outfit ideas, and mostly it’s just colour variations for patterns that I’ve already established fit the dolls. I really want to nail down a knitted romper pattern for the Middies, as it seems like a summer-ish kind of outfit to do.

Mostly because I suck at sewing.

It has been a few months since the last Middie Monday (#16 was published in October) – have you missed it? I still have just the two – Kitty Brighton (Jackie Ramone) and Lydia Melbourne (Yellow Marshmallow). Sometimes I muse with the idea of getting a third Middie Blythe (because everything is better in threes?), but then I stop myself.

I can barely clothe and shoe the two Middie Blythes that I do have. And I’m still operating that ridiculous challenge to myself that I’ll make the majority of their clothes by myself. Which is fantastic, because it means I can stop myself from shopping for them because I’m not allowed to buy new things. Yet on the other hand, it means that they don’t have a lot of clothes because I may just be physically incapable of setting aside time to sit down and sew or knit or crochet for them. That and I am the queen of making excuses for why they don’t have a larger wardrobe at this point. I’m pretty sure that since I got Kitty that I’ve made myself goals of crafting for her/them once a month, once every two months, etc. And those goals have not come to fruition.

Sometimes I wonder why I bother with this goal. Maybe because I’ve so publicly declared that it’s a challenge, or just for the fun of it. That and I really don’t bring them to meets that often, so it almost seems “okay” that they don’t have very many clothes to choose from because nobody is going to see them anyways.

In the mean time, these two lovelies have been in the same outfits for at least as long since I moved (back in July…) and much longer than that. But I’m currently working on something new – so that’s something, right?

Do you have any Middies? Have you made any clothes for them or do you buy them?

It’s October! Which means it’s definitely autumn now, at least where I’m living. It’s getting cooler, the sun rises a little later in the morning and sets earlier in the day – which means when I work I just never see the sun at all (the curses of working 12 hour shifts!). That said, I haven’t really done much with my Middies since the big move. I haven’t really done much with any of my dolls since the big move. I’m kind of terribly neglectful like that.

No big plans for the Middie portion of my doll family, although the ‘goal’ is to still craft their clothing myself – which has also fallen by the wayside with work and everything else going on lately. I’m not sure when I’m going to relax that goal/rule for myself, because it’s getting a wee bit ridiculous on some levels. With that in mind, I wanted to change both of them because I figured they might as well get a little outfit change. It’s easier for me to change the Middies than it is the bigger Blythes because there’s only two of them. Strength in lower numbers, I suppose? The big problem I had is that I am not finished with the unpacking of all my things and I genuinely do not know where I had stashed all the Middie clothes (back in June or July). Whoops.

What’s the longest period of time you’ve had a doll in the same outfit? (At this point, I probably have you beat.)

Happy September! I recently was asked about the difference between Middies and Blythes, because a new member of the Blythe hobby was confused about the difference between the full-sized and Middie-sized Blythes – so here’s a little run down about the differences:

Neo Blythe – Same size as Kenner and Ashton-Drake Galleries Blythes

• Four sets of eye chips (rotated through with a pull string)
• Eyelids show when pull string is pulled
• Head can only move left and right
• Knees bend
• 28.5cm tall

Middie Blythe

• One set of eye chips (eyes can move from side-to-side)
• Eye lids do not show
• Head can move head up and down, left and right
• Knees do not bend
• 20cm tall

I’ve noticed that in general that Middies are less customized or sought after compared to Neo-sized Blythe, but I do believe this is because they’re less coveted despite the adorableness. Middie are definitely more pocket and purse-friendly (although not as pocket-friendly as Petite Blythe!), I find that they are less expensive compared to Neo-sized Blythe. There are more clothing patterns for Neo-sized Blythe, so there is a market for anyone who wants to design or create clothing for Middies.

Lydia Melbourne’s wearing: dress/Endangered Sissy.
Cameo’s wearing: helmet/Cakewalk Queen, dress/Plastic Fashion, leggings/Endangered Sissy.