Sunday, March 8, 2015

QUALITY HANDMADE DOLL CLOTHES - Or Buy Cheap From China?

 
 This month I had received a notice from eBay to celebrate my 13th anniversary.

Technically, I had been on eBay much longer (using my husband's account) but OFFICIALLY, I had started selling handmade Barbie doll clothes on my own account - 13 years ago. Happy Anniversary to me!

With that said, there has been many changes on eBay (both good and bad - and the bad being the reason why I had taken a hiatus.)

I have recently noticed more doll clothes being sold online for unbelievably low prices. For example, a "handmade" Barbie outfit, with keywords such as OOAK (one of a kind) are being offered for sale, for a mere dollar or two and with FREE SHIPPING.

How can something mass produced (100+ available to purchase) be technically, "handmade" or one of a kind?

There is no way a person in the United States could sew a doll outfit, sell it for a dollar and charge free shipping. They would literally lose money and go broke.

Yet a person in China, can sell clothes for less than a dollar and they are able to offer FREE SHIPPING and still earn a living.

Let's look at the photo I had taken from eBay of a seller from China offering Barbie fashions for $1.28 and free shipping.

Currently, the Chinese Yuan is 6.26 compared to the 1.00 USD. This means that the item that was sold to me for $1.28 USD earned the person in China the equivalent value of (rounded) $8. Or think of it this way. Each dollar spent in China is increased by 6.26 times.

Thanks to a program (USPS ePacket) offered by the US Postal Service, a lot of US sellers feel that China has been given an unfair advantage to sell on eBay.

Although I agree to this initially, I must say that after reading this article - USPS ePacket - Love it or Hate it - article, that I now realize that US sellers (and others) have an advantage.

It's called, Adapt.

After looking at countless listings of paper thin "handmade" and "OOAK" doll outfits from China, I now realize that quality and originality has been compromised.

I will now focus my attention on creating my own quality handmade fashions, not to mention, offering fast and reliable customer service and guarantees.




For $4, I had purchased this Barbie closet with hangers. Free epacket shipping from China.

15 days later, I received the product. Although the hangers are very thin and the closet is too small to handle authentic handmade clothes (pictured to the right on hangers)... the closet can only hold short and thin outfits that were commercially manufactured.
The shelf is cute, but more of a novelty item. Just a slight bump will knock it over and the doors cannot close when hangers are hung.

Overall, those in China with the luxury of selling overseas with free shipping MAY have an unfair advantage over US sellers, but quality will always trump quantity.

Sunday, February 1, 2015

BARBIE IS PRETTY IN PINK - Handmade Doll Fashions for Barbie

 I confess. I've discovered that NOT CHANGING out the color of thread in my sewing machine makes sewing multiple outfits so much easier! Thus the color trend today --- PINK!

I love these small dresses. I could have whipped through them and zigzagged the hems, the sleeves, and saved a lot of time, but going that extra mile to fully line the bodice, to hand stitch each hem and to add a snap instead of Velcro, is so well worth it.
 I'm not against Velcro. I love Velcro, but certain designs call for a snap.
 
Not sure what color I'll be working on next...
 
In the meantime, I'm also still working on my new website - Dollicious Boutique  I'm excited
to have some new inventory to add soon.
 
I have recently bid and won a FABULOUS Auction - deal on VINTAGE BARBIE CLOTHES & accessories and can't wait to model and list these items. I haven't decided what to do with all the new dolls I've acquired as well. Either I can turn them into models, or sell some to share.
 
Feel free to make suggestions, or to comment here, or on my FACEBOOK PAGE  It was formerly
JUST DOLLS, but is now Dollicious Boutique. I love to not only share news from the home front, but to also share pages from like-minded doll enthusiasts and artists around the world.
 
And if you're looking for something pink for your dollies, you can find some of these dresses available on my Etsy Store - OzarkFashions

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Handmade Doll Clothes for Barbie and Friends


This week's fashions consists of the Denim Sundress for Barbie and friends. This is a fully lined denim bodice. The inside of the lining matches the skirt and sleeves.

I prefer a lined bodice for quality purposes and for this particular gown, it has a snap enclosure.

Hemline has been hand stitched, and all sides of the gown has been professionally serged.

To complement the gown, I've included a matching floral headband to either be worn over the head, to pull the hair to the side, or even as a corsage around the waistline.

Each gown has been tried on Barbie and all her friends to ensure a more perfect fit.

I had blogged on the various sizes of the modern and vintage Barbies HERE 

 
 
These fashions are currently available in my Etsy store: OzarkFashions
 
Have any doll questions? I can be reached on Facebook at Dollicious Boutique
 
 

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Elowyne Wilde Handmade Denim Dress - Tonner Doll Outfit

 
I'm already thinking of SPRING with these fashions. Currently designing some basic sundresses for the Tonner Girls. This fashion will fit Ellowyne Wilde, and Tyler Wentworth.
 
 
This is a fully lined bodice with matching hair scrunchie rose. A lot more denim is in the forecast.

These fashions are currently available on Etsy - OzarkFashions

Sunday, January 25, 2015

NEW ONLINE DOLL SHOP - Dollicious Boutique


One of the things I've wanted to do for a long time, was to start a THRIFT STORE FOR DOLLS.

Since I've always enjoyed shopping thrift for my family, it only made sense to recycle vintage and twice loved doll fashions for dolls. Dolls love to share clothes, just as much as they enjoy a brand new outfit!

Thus came the idea to launch my new online store, Dollicious Boutique.

Not only can I share my newest designs and ideas, but I can also shop thrift and help locate bargains for the dollies.

I also wanted to have the opportunity to offer a lot of Barbie basics. With a flat rate shipping, a person could shop unlimited on small doll stuff. This would make more affordable sense when wanting to purchase several tiny hair bows, shorts, and a pair of shoes.

It will take time to build the store, but feel free to drop by and browse.

Lots of neat changes on the way. Stay tuned on Just Dolls blog as I plan to offer recycling ideas on making your own doll furniture as well as tutorials on doll designs.

I'm currently still keeping shop on Etsy - OzarkFashions

On Facebook, Just Dolls has now turned into Dollicious Boutique

Thursday, January 22, 2015

DESIGNING MICRO SIZED DOLL CLOTHES - Ever After High BJD dolls

 

 
Many people think that making doll clothes, especially for the Barbie sized and smaller is difficult. I tend to agree if you're only using a sewing machine or serger.
 
But it IS easier when hand sewing. Stitching by hand will give you more control of the garment. I tend to use both hand sewing and the machine for various stages of the dressmaking.
 
One of my challenges has been to make dresses for the BJD Ever After High and Monster High dolls.
 
 These Ever/Monster High dolls in comparison to Barbie are less than half the body mass, creating more of a challenge with the small details. Not to mention, the hard plastic body is not very forgiving. Unlike a soft body that allows the fabric to contour or to make allowances (like the American Girl dolls.)
 
Here's a few tricks I've learned along the way in piecing together a tiny gown and dealing with fray!
 
 When designing small pieces like this, it is important to make it fully lined. This means, cutting out the dress pattern twice. With a fully lined bodice, there is no reason for hemming, as the lined dress will already have a finished seam.  Pictured are the two pieces of the bodice/backside stitched together and turned right side out. I've pinned it in place to match both sides. Using a quarter, this gives you an idea on the size of this piece.

 I had pinned the bodice so that I could hand stitch the edges together. Hand stitching in advance will not only keep the edges aligned when sewing, but I've discovered it makes a huge difference in preventing fray.
 Prepping the sleeves in advance with lace. I use the  machine for the lace.

 The sleeves are attached by hand sewing first.

 Once the sleeves and sides of top have been hand sewn, I machine stitch very carefully twice over. Since the edges are too small to run a serger, I will return and set the zigzag on my machine to a small setting and carefully zigzag the edges. This not only cleans up the edges, but it also ensures more protection from fray.

Prepped in advance are the pieces of the skirt with lace. For larger pieces, I used the serger.

After skirt is attached by hand stitching, I run the machine over it again. 

The best part of all is decorating the gown.

HERE'S MY ADVICE on sewing micro sized gowns - PAY ATTENTION before running the machine. There is nothing more frustrating than realizing that the sleeves or skirt was sewn on backwards. It is very difficult to undo a micro sized boo boo, especially when dealing with fabrics that fray. In all my years of sewing, I STILL make this mistake a lot.

This year, I plan to expand my designs for the BJD dolls, as well as tackle a few gowns for the Equestria My Little Pony dolls.  Fun! Fun!

Have questions, or would like to chat? Feel free to visit DolliciousBoutique on Facebook.

Current Designs available for purchase are at OzarkFashions



Tuesday, January 20, 2015

BARBIE DOLL CLOTHES - Ancient Photography From Scanner

There is no greater joy than to discover an old CD when spring cleaning and to find pictures from long ago that were taken with a scanner!
 
Hard to believe, but there was a time when we had to take pictures the old fashioned way. If you were lucky to own a Polaroid Instamatic (or unlucky) you could snap a photo and instantly wait for it to develop and slide out of your camera.  But boy did the film replacements for those Instamatics cost a fortune!
 
Or, you could buy a regular camera, or a disposable one and have your photo's taken to a ONE HOUR PHOTO developer shop and have your pictures the same day.
 
But then again, the big question back then was, HOW TO UPLOAD ON THE WEB? This was my main focus over 15 years ago. Back then, the average family didn't own a compact digital camera. One would have to take their film to a shop and have them upload it digitally into a CD so that we could take it home and upload into our computer.
 
When I first started designing doll clothes, I discovered that I could take photo's of my dolls instantly through the scanner and have the pictures instantly sent to my computer. This was when I used to sell my designs on eBay.
 
THUS my first designs have been photographed by a scanner. Which would also explain the odd way they are photographed, as I had to place the dolls FACE DOWN into the scanner with a background to block the light.
 
Even more difficult, I was not sure which way things were situated when trying to scan an entire doll and outfit. This took a lot of manipulation.  I was also limited to using a Barbie sized doll or smaller to scan, and not all outfits were photogenic through the scanner.

 
 Here's a popular gown that I had designed using leopard faux fur. This gown was fully lined with muslin and I accentuated with beads, buttons, matching handbag, and pill box hat.

Another design was the Barbie pants - fully lined in muslin, and a matching halter top. On this photo you can see that I used a white fabric for her background before scanning the photo. She's wearing a black cowboy hat and her head is turned sideways for the scanner.

What I find the most interesting about these photo's is that it has shown how far technology has advanced in the last 15 years and how easy it is to instantly upload photos with virtually anything, whether it is with a digital camera, a cellphone, our computer, tablet, or even still, our scanner.

All this has me wondering WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE in another 15 years?

                                                                    *******



For current designs that are available for purchase, you can visit my ETSY STORE OzarkFashions  - I specialize in handmade doll designs for a variety of vintage and modern dolls.

If you haven't already, feel free to join my Facebook community - DolliciousBoutique. I welcome suggestions, ideas, or just drop by to say hello!

Monday, January 19, 2015

TONNER BJD DOLL FASHIONS - Doll Clothes to fit both Tyler Wentworth - Ellowyne Wilde - City Girls


Thanks to a custom order I had to do for a client, I came up with the inspiration for this design.

I needed to create a bridesmaid ensemble for the modern slimmer Barbie doll and while putting together the long white train for each evening gown, I started to see the potential in how this design would be perfect to fit multiple dolls.


This evening gown (which I'm thinking of naming the butterfly gown) is stretchable, and can easily slip on, with the shoulder sleeves adjustable from the back with elastic.


But best of all, this doll fashion can be shared by several BJD (ball jointed dolls) in the 16" range.

Due to the elasticity of the gown, it virtually has a one size fit's all benefit - especially for the Tonner dolls ---Ellowyne Wilde, Tyler Wentworth, and the gorgeous Tonner City Girl's doll (which is modeling this gown.)


This year, my goal is to come up with newer designs and to add a few new models to the runway.

For current designs that are available for purchase, you can visit my ETSY STORE OzarkFashions  - I specialize in handmade doll designs for a variety of vintage and modern dolls.

If you haven't already, feel free to join my Facebook community - DolliciousBoutique. I welcome suggestions, ideas, or just drop by to say hello!

Monday, January 12, 2015

BARBIE DOLL CLOTHES - Fashion Jumpsuit for Barbie and Friends


My newest fashion is the Barbie Jumpsuit. This two piece ensemble is versatile enough to fit Barbie and all her friends of similar size. SO far, I've successfully fitted this outfit on Vintage Barbie, Modern Barbie, Collector Barbie, Silkstone Barbie, My Scene Barbie, Midge Doll, and Liv Doll.

What makes it work, is that it is a one piece with a separate crocheted belt. As we all know, belts can do wonders for adjusting that perfect fit. I really love using crocheted belts as they maintain their shape when tying at the waistline of dolls (unlike using a firm ribbon.)

The fully lined bodice with darts keeps the shape in the bust line and provides ample space for the larger or smaller sized dolls.


I like to describe my fashions as "heirloom quality" when I take the extra effort to fully line the outfit. Lining the outfit not only gives the outfit a more professional finish, but it also makes the garment more durable to prevent wear and tear.

When posting fashions in my store, I do specify on whether an outfit is professionally serged, or fully lined. Some outfits are also hand stitched due to the size as sometimes a machine or serger proves to be more difficult when handling narrow contours in small doll fashions.

 
Using snaps will provide a more cleaner look and more professional edge, not to mention, it maintains that vintage look. I do use Velcro occasionally on some outfits and will specify when I do.

I'm inspired with the fashions of the 60's! Currently, I do have some jumpsuits available in my store. I do welcome ideas for custom orders, but can't guarantee I can pursue each request. Usually when I agree on a fashion, I will list the item in my store with no strings attached.

You can follow my line of fashions here at ------> OzarkFashions:

Feel free to contact me or to follow along on Facebook for updates -----> at DolliciousBoutique

Sunday, January 11, 2015

CAN BARBIE SHARE CLOTHES? Not All Dolls Are Created Alike


When I was growing up in the sixties and the seventies, all the Barbies were the same size. There was no confusion on which outfits would fit, or what "type" of Barbie a person had. All the standard Barbies had the same shape and they all shared clothes that fit.

After I started designing Barbie clothes, I noticed that some of the newer Barbies I had purchased weren't looking so hot in the outfits that I had designed when using a vintage doll for a fitting. Shirts were either too tight or loose, or worse, a strapless dress would slip off the slimmer more modern doll.

Another issue was the texture of the dolls. Some of the vintage dolls had the rubbery legs while the newer versions were sleek and smooth and clothes would glide on and off like butter. Which wasn't a bad thing, but if I was using that newer model to tailor an outfit, I would later struggle to "slide" the outfit on a vintage.

All these were major issues when trying to design and sell clothes to the public. WHICH doll was my customer trying to fit? Even though this outfit looked great on my newest model, was my customer purchasing this for a vintage?


 
Here's a comparison on some of the dolls. As you can see, these dolls are obviously shaped differently and this will play a part in how well an outfit would fit.
 
 
 
 
 
As you can see, the newer model does not match up with the vintage in size. The collector Barbie is much slimmer, has a longer trunk, and her bust is not as full.
 
My goal now is to design more outfits that are versatile and can fit ALL the various Barbies.
 
 
Questions, or like to chat? You can reach me at my Facebook community - DolliciousBoutique