REMINDER: Last Day to Enter the Spring 2010 Doll Giveaway!

Well, the title says it all! Please enter by midnight Eastern Standard time tonight to be counted!

Click here to go to the post for the giveaway!


And go here to see the handmade item
we are giving away with the doll!


The winner will be announced tomorrow morning!

Sabrina Models Liberty Jane

And here is the last Liberty Jane post for the first four outfits of the Spring 2010 International Collection! What's next? The next four outfits, of course! But we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves...Sabrina wants the limelight today. :)

Sabrina models the "U.K. Holiday" outfit from the "Euro Libby" theme of the International Collection, probably the most popular outfit of the Spring Line. People really went crazy over this puppy. The leggings that look like black denim are very "in" for human fashion right now, so it was neat to see them available for us dolls. :)

So here are the pics of "U.K. Holiday!"

And here is Sabrina's Mix and Match outfit.... the tank top from "Getty Villa Stroll," the skirt from "Harajuku Station," and the leggings, belt and boots from "U.K. Holiday." We kinda made the top and skirt look like a one-piece dress thingy....

As usual, stay tuned for more Liberty Jane posts!
And if you feel like shopping...click here or here!!!

Most importantly, today is the last day to enter our Spring 2010 Doll Giveaway for a chance to choose between Sonali, JLY #21 and Kirsten, so if you haven't entered yet- enter today!

Naya's Designs Party Dress for Josefina

Well this dress should really be showcased during the holiday season in the wintertime, for it is really the type of garment that Josefina might wear for Christmas or a holiday like that. But we haven't posted a Josefina outfit in a long, long, looooong time--- so we wanted to showcase her again.

Our Josefina is a Pre-Mattel cutie that is a bit chubby in the arms and mid-section. So she can't easily wear many of the outfits in the Mattel JLY line. Truth be told, she doesn't even fit into Mattel shoes made for Josefina. Sad, I know. But luckily, most of the Mattel AG Josefina outfits fit her, and it is nice that designers like The Dollies Dressmaker and Naya's Designs make their Josefina dresses in a size that fits our girl.

So today we show you this dress from Etsy seller Naya's Designs made in a beautiful striped fabric and trimmed with a lovely green ribbon. This dress is based on the AG pattern for Josefina's Christmas Dress (which is also striped). Yes, we already own that dress, purchased back at the dawn of time when it was first released- but this Naya's Designs dress is awesome too, so we bought it as well. And FYI, the necklace is the red coral piece we commissioned from Melody Valerie Couture, several moons ago. :)

Enjoy the pictures!

We haven't talked about Naya's Designs in awhile-- so we wanted to let you know that she currently has 4 pages of rad AG-sized clothing in her Etsy shop. Here is a quick little slideshow to show you some of what she is offering at the moment....

And remember----- The Spring 2010 Doll Giveaway winner will be announced on Tuesday, June 1st--- so be sure to enter your name in the contest before then!!!

Enchanted Designer's Alice Coat

There has been a lot of buzz on the street about Etsy seller Enchanted Designer and her recent line of Alice in Wonderland costumes for AG dolls. We already told you about her blue dress, but this time we get to show you the blue coat! Other costumes from this line include the Mad Hatter, the Red Queen, and the White Queen. The items sell out occasionally, but she seems to keep creating them and listing them.

According to our research, the Alice project seemed to start off as a custom commission from an avid AG collector who wanted the outfits from the new film in AG size. So luckily for the rest of us, Enchanted Designer made extras for her Etsy shop. Huzzah!!!

So we purchased the blue coat (which Alice wears at the end of the film) to go with our Drommer0 blue Alice dress, which we posted about here. The two items weren't exactly designed to go together, so the bow around the waistline of the dress and the overall fullness of the dress sort of interfered with the hang of the coat. But it still looked good enough for us. I imagine the coat fits perfectly over the Enchanted Designer version of the Alice dress. :)

So for our photo shoot, Stella wanted to hang out with her Emily, The Corpse Bride, doll. Stella is our resident Tim Burton fanatic and she wanted to bring together "Alice" and Emily. For the initial images we put the coat over the Drommer0 dress, and for the later set we put on some Liberty Jane leggings, boots, and a Doll Closet top to go under the coat in order to show you 1) how it fits without our semi-bulky dress under it and 2) how it can also work as a modern Neo-Victorian coat as well.

Enjoy the photos!

Cassie (Julie) Models Liberty Jane

Tada! Aren't we doing so well with these Liberty Jane Mondays now??? Well, let's just say we finally got our act together.... at least for now. ;)

Today Cassie models the first "Outback Libby" themed outfit from the Liberty Jane Spring 2010 International Collection: "Boomerang." This is our favorite outfit of the Spring Line so far- although it was a close competition. "Harajuku Station" almost bumped it out of first place, with "Getty Villa Stroll" and "U.K. Holiday" close behind. Haha.

So here is Cassie in "Boomerang"..... it looks so good with her blonde hair and brown eyes!

And here is her Mix and Match outfit... the purple top from "Getty Villa Stroll," the belt from "U.K. Holiday," and the skirt from "Harajuku Station"....such a cute combination!!!

As usual, stay tuned for more Liberty Jane posts!
And if you feel like shopping...click here or here!!!

Mari's Outfit from Seejoansew

Welcome Saturday! It's nice to see you again.....heehee.

Today we are going to show you the third outfit we purchased from the Beds-n-Blankies Sassy Separates Punk Pirate line handcrafted by Seejoansew last year. It was modeled by Marisol on the shop's website, so hence it is known as "Mari's Outfit."

We purchased everything except the long pink sash used a belt on Mari. For our photo shoot, we have Ramona modeling this lovely outfit and she is using the headband as a belt. We added in a generic light pink tank top under the cropped jacket, and the black, strappy boots to complete the outfit. So basically: the cropped jacket, headband/belt, skirt, and tights were all created by Seejoansew. And they create one very fantastic outfit!

We love how the silvery gray of the silky cropped jacket matches the silver highlights on the black fabric used for the skirt and headband. All the little pirate skulls, bones and swords are silver and sparkly.

Thanks for "Mari's Outfit" Joan-- it is one of our favorites! Enjoy the pics everyone and be sure to sign up for the Beds-n-Blankies newsletter to know when Joan announces something new in her shop. :)

Hannah's Handwork Green Dress for Elinor

Hello again! Wow, I wrote a lot of stuff for yesterday's post! So I will try and keep this one short...

Today I am showing you a green Regency dress for our Elinor Dashwood, handmade by Etsy seller Hannah's Handwork. That Elinor sure is getting spoiled this spring...heehee. Maybe it is time to get another Regency doll so that she can share Elinor's clothing???

We really liked the deep emerald green color of this dress and how it was contrasted with the white underskirt and trim. It is pretty easy to find Regency dresses in pastels and light colored floral fabrics. So this item really stands out of the crowd. Not many people do the pinner caps, so it was refreshing to get one with this dress. The wired white ribbon ties onto Elinor's head easily and holds really well. Wired ribbon was a good idea for that. The tiny white bows on the cap, sleeves, and waistline add a nice touch. It is all very well made, and we were impressed by the gathering on the bodice, the hand-stitched ribbon accent at the waistline, and the gracefully puffed short sleeves. We added some white tights, white gloves, pearls, and a puppy for a complete look. :)

Thanks for the great dress Hannah!
Enjoy our pics below!

Spring 2010 Doll Giveaway Handmade Item!

Hopefully by now, you all know that our Spring 2010 Doll Giveaway is currently happening. If you don't know what I am talking about- Click Here! and be sure to enter your name by May 31st, 2010. The lucky winner will be named on June 1st, 2010.

So what is this post about? Well, for (almost) every doll that we give away we also include a handmade item from one of the many talented seamstresses that we talk about on this blog. This time, we decided to commission a unique item for the giveaway. Next time we will probably do some Liberty Jane separates for the Summer 2010 Doll Giveaway.... but for now, we are still working on Spring.....

We found this picture of a dress created by "Another Space" for Ball-Jointed dolls, or BJDs as they are sometimes known, at the Dollmore.net online store.


BJDs usually have some amazingly awesome clothing options available for them all across the Internet. Why? Well they are collected all over the world by women, men, and children--- creating a rather large, diverse market for many types of BJDs and many types of BJD clothing. Hence, BJDs and their clothing can be manufactured by many different high-end companies all over the world-- unlike AG dolls which are trademarked and can only be made by AG. And in turn--- high-end, mass-manufactured clothing for AGs can then only really be made by AG.

So the heart of this issue is: Many people would/could buy a $75.00 outfit for their $400.00 Limited Edition BJD.... but how many people would/could buy a $75.00 doll outfit for their $100.00 AG doll? Probably not as many, and so doll clothing companies (besides AG) don't tend to create a diversity of high-end, AG-sized clothing to rival that of the BJD world. But yet, the Liberty Jane Spring Line sells for that much and more consistently. The answer to all of this (in our opinion) is this: Foster more of an AG adult collector community and one will be able to sell a lot more high-end, expensive clothing for AG dolls. Hmmm... deep thoughts...now my brain hurts....

As much as we'd love to collect BJDs as well as AGs, we can only really afford one dolly obsession at a time. Heehee. So when we found this really cute Another Space BJD dress, we thought: "Hey, why don't we ask someone to make it as an AG dress?" It is our homage to Another Space, à la AG.

So who do we ask to make it??? Etsy seller Doll Closet immediately sprang to mind, so we asked her if she was willing to dive into this unique project. And she was! So she made us two dresses, one to keep and one to giveaway. Our giveaway dress is being modeled today by our Sundari, so you can see what it would look like on Sonali (one of the giveaway choices). And our own dress is being modeled by Marvelous Me, Nora Demington. I get to show you a unique look courtesy of Doll Closet, Liberty Jane, and Etsy seller Pirate Camp....but we will get to that later....

First, here is Sundari in the purple, black and white dress for the giveaway.....

The following pics are of Marvelous Me in my dress and accessories. The hat is a custom-made creation from Etsy seller Pirate Camp, specifically crafted to go with this dress! The "belt" is the black raffia tie from a Liberty Jane package (heehee). The striped leggings are from Etsy seller Doll Closet, currently available in her shop. And the boots are from Liberty Jane. Looking at these pics, I just realized the dress might look pretty cool with a black tee or tank top under it too... hmmm, something fun to think about for future photo shoots..... Anyway, here I am looking awesome!

And our final pics for today: Sundari and I looking contemplative in our fantastic duds! :)

Hope you like this custom-made dress as our Spring 2010 giveaway item! And big "Thank Yous" go out to Doll Closet and Pirate Camp for working with us on these projects!!!!

Ooh La La Couture Dress

Looking for girly clothing that is really frou-frou? We weren't, but we found some that intrigued us anyway! First we came upon this....a Kaiya Eve boutique dress....

Dear God, my eyes! The ruffles.... the ruffles are everywhere!!!!

Needless to say we didn't buy this ensemble, though I am sure little girls might be very happy to have such an outfit for their dolls. But it did lead us to investigate boutique lines of clothing for young girls and to check out what they are making for American Girl dolls. And we found these....all from "Ooh La La Couture"....

The original four outfits you see first in the slideshow, with the toile shirts attached to the petticoats, are mostly sold out and the new line with the peace signs on the shirts are what is currently available. Interested in them? Click here to visit Lil Britchin Post (the online shop where you can buy the in-stock items and look at the full Ooh La La Couture line for dolls).

So what did we end up buying? Yes, it has pink on it..... and yes, it is kind of frou-frou. But it was very entertaining in its design and we wanted to see it up close and in person. We discovered it is basically a little onesie for your doll with a petticoat thingy attached at the hip-line. And in its own way, it can be very versatile.

Here is Mary modeling the dress as is....

And here is Mary with a tricked out dress...
We added a hat, vest, belt, socks, sneakers, and a purse.....

Accessory round-up: the hat is from Seejoansew's "Squeak's Outfit," the vest is Liberty Jane, the belt is the JLY Meet Outfit headband you see in the previous pics, the socks are also from Seejoansew, the sneaks are AG, and the purse is one of those lipstick cases we found in a shop once upon a time.

Doesn't Mary look awesome???..... despite the pinkness that Penny abhors so much... Heehee. :)

Ruthie (Jess) Models Liberty Jane

In this post our Ruthie, once upon a time "Jess," is taking her turn modeling some items from the Liberty Jane Spring 2010 Line. She starts off wearing "Getty Villa Stroll" and then gets to model some Mix and Match outfits, just like Arista did last week.

So without further ado....the first outfit from the "Malibu Libby" theme...."Getty Villa Stroll".... without a doubt the most mix and matchable outfit amongst the first four outfits of the Spring 2010 Line....

And next is the green top from "Harajuku Station" with the jeans and shoes from "Boomerang"... (very versatile jeans, btw)....

Our final combo today is the jacket from "Boomerang," and the purple top and white shorts from "Getty Villa Stroll." The shoes are again, from "Boomerang".....

As usual, stay tuned for more Liberty Jane posts!
And if you feel like shopping...click here or here!!!

Arista Models Liberty Jane

Hello again everyone! Sorry for the delay. Once again, I meant to get this out on Monday but that didn't happen. I should just give up on the Liberty Jane Mondays and call it "Liberty Jane Once A Week." Haha. Wish I was faster posting things, but time goes by so quickly!

Anyways, today Arista will be modeling "Harajuku Station" for us from the Liberty Jane Spring Line, the 2010 International Collection. Then she shows off a couple Mix and Match outfits combining pieces from the first four outfits of the Spring Line. It was fun to just have four outfits to work from, limiting the possibilities but encouraging creativity. Remember- this is all about play! Be adventurous in mixing and matching your dolls' wardrobe and see what you can come up with. ;)

So here is Arista in "Harajuku Station" with Sparkplug, our metal dog (heehee)......

And next she is wearing the tank top from "Getty Villa Stroll" with the jeans from "Boomerang".....

And finally, Arista models the top from "U.K. Holiday," the shorts and sandals from "Getty Villa Stroll," and the fishnet tights from "Harajuku Station"...

Hope you enjoyed this post and our pictures!!!

Shop at Liberty Jane's Ebay store! Or at the Online LJ store!

Hanfu for Ramona

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Today we show you the Hanfu set that was purchased for Ramona from Etsy seller makotokou. Her Etsy shop is known as "Jupiter's Closet"- which is a cool name. We have purchased a couple items from her before, including this kimono, which we posted about back at the dawn of time when we were just introducing our dolls and getting used to taking photos of them. Ah how time flies. Heehee.

Well "Jupiter's Closet" doesn't offer a lot of stuff on a regular basis so when we saw this red and white Hanfu costume we knew it was too cool to pass by. :)

What is Hanfu?

Enter Wikipedia: Han Chinese clothing or Hanfu, and sometimes referred in English sources simply as Silk Robe (especially those worn by the gentry) or Chinese Silk Robe, refers to the historical dress of the Han Chinese people, which was worn for millennia before the conquest by the Manchus and the establishment of the Qing Dynasty in 1644. (In simpler terms, Hanfu is a form of traditional Chinese fashion, using elaborate silk cloth robes, that inspired traditional Korean dress and the Japanese kimono.)

Han Chinese clothing is presently worn only as a part of historical reenactment, festivals, hobby, coming of age/rite of passage ceremonies, ceremonial clothing worn by religious priests, or cultural exercise and can be frequently seen on Chinese television series, films and other forms of media entertainment.

On Wikipedia they show you traditional art which includes Hanfu and some diagrams, but we wanted to share something more interesting than those things. So we went to the Internet to search out cooler pics.

Here is a human-sized set that resembles the design and
arrangement of the dolly set we purchased:

And here is a slide show of other awesome Hanfu-inspired costumes:
(The second slide shows you an example of men's Hanfu fashion)

And last but not least, pictures of Ramona wearing her Hanfu set, which included the hair accessory, slippers, corset, jacket, double-layered skirt, and two belts (one of which is very fancy and has the medallion handing from it).

Special Inquiry

Hello readers! Happy Friday!

We had a question for y'all out there: Penny has been designing costumes for herself for various types of events for a rather long time now and custom-ordering these things because she obviously can't sew them herself. Haha. So the question is: Would you readers like to see those latest projects on this blog? They are human-sized outfits, of course. But y'all might enjoy reading about them, seeing some pics (not on a real person of course- just a dress form or something like that). And they'd only happen rarely, because we simply don't buy as many human-sized costumes here as we buy items of doll clothing. Heehee.

Let me know what you think if you get a chance.
Thanks everyone!

Vintique Designs Custom Order Blue Regency Gown

Hello everyone! This post is particularly exciting because we get to share in-progress and finished pictures of a custom project with you. Woot!

Vintique Designs and Penny have been working on several custom Regency ideas and so far one has been 100% completed and received here in Badger's Wood. It is a stunning blue charmeuse gown with all sorts of beautiful eggshell white trim around the neckline, sleeves, bodice, hemline and running right down the center of the front of the gown.

This is the human-sized, Regency reproduction dress that the dolly version is based on:

Here are the in-progress photos, courtesy of Vintique Designs!

And here is our slideshow of the dress on our Elinor Dashwood. :)

Thank you for the gorgeous dress Vintique Designs!
It is just perfect. :)

Lots of Thoughts on Liberty Jane

Have you watched my new musical slideshow for LJC??? Heehee- shamelessly self-promoting myself....... but besides that, the main point of posting today was to ask.......

Do you follow Liberty Jane Clothing on Facebook?

You should! It is great fun. The LJC FB page lets you know about new patterns, new outfits, what other people are working on in relation to LJC, and you see all of the LJC outfits in the photo albums there. It is a great reference tool for when you need to remember what item went with which outfit originally. (And we have to use it all the time...... my brain cells aren't what they used to be...)

One of the interesting things about using FB is that as a business owner you can directly interface with your audience and ask them questions, get feedback, and just generally chat with anyone and everyone without having to write 500 emails back and forth.

I like it when Cinnamon asks questions to her customers/followers on there. I never reply to them because I am shy on FB-- but I like to read them and the answers she gets. So I wanted to share some of them with y'all here, add my answers, and see if you guys want to share your own answers in the comments here. :)

1) Are you working on a project with one of our patterns? Tell us about it.....

Nope! We have the gathered tee shirt pattern that was free (yippee!)--- but only Penny's Mom can sew amongst our clan. So we only have one item from a LJC pattern and nothing more in the works.

2) What are you looking forward to - New Pattern or New Outfit?
(We added a poll about this at the top of the right column here on the blog! Vote until May 25th!)

Definitely each new LJC outfit is more exciting to us than any patterns. We love the patterns- but we know we can't actually use them to sew something ourselves- so it's a bit depressing to see them and all their loveliness! Though I'm sure if we were sewing fanatics here in Badger's Wood we'd be super-super-excited about each pattern!

3) Six Spring Line outfits have been released, Which is your favorite and why? (Technically seven have been released as of today- this is a slightly older question.)

Well out of Harajuku Station, Getty Villa Stroll, Boomerang, U.K. Holiday, Shinjuku Starlet, Posh 'n Paws, and Faraway Downs.... it's a really tough choice to pick a favorite! But we'd have to go with Boomerang. Yes, yes- we know we already have LJC jackets, tank tops, and jeans in our collection here in Badger's Wood- but there is just something about the color combination used in that outfit that pulls us in. Plus we've been dying for a dolly-sized light tan corduroy cropped jacket f-o-r-e-v-e-r!

Though we must admit that all the outfits are fantastic--- We especially love the lack of pink. Heehee. Well, my point really is that purples, greens, blues, grays, and black dominate this Spring Collection and we have to say that that fact makes it our favorite LJC Collection yet. And that is saying a lot. We really hope to see more of these color choices in future outfits from any dolly designer.

And the last question for today's post....

4) Are there products you’d like to see from us that aren’t currently offered?

Well, LJC..... we'd like to see you make every human-sized outfit we've liked for the past two years! Haha. Yeah, I guess I need to be more specific. Though this question did get 19 comments on FB-- so people have really thought about this!

Of course, we won't ask for patterns because we can't use them... so we'll stick to some core ideas for dolly clothing. First and foremost: offer those Grommet Jackets online in the store please! Other thoughts: Gray skinny jeans. Graphic tees and hoodies. Tank tops with embellishments like ruffly collars, lace insets, decorative zippers, or grommets. Cardigans and vests. Some more fancy party dresses (without pink- heehee). Accessories like scarves, jewelry, hats and handbags available as separates in your online store.

And specifically on the note of the Grommet Jackets- it would be awesome if when you offer a pattern that you offer a couple versions of the real item for sale as separates in the store. So when I can't sew a LJC Grommet Jacket, or a Dollduds dress or coat, or a LJC Shiny Happy Dress--- I can at least buy one! And they could be offered in different colors and fabrics than the original Limited Edition ones from special outfits, so they would still be new and unique.

Of course, these are all just suggestions, and no one in Badger's Wood really knows what sells and what doesn't. But it's fun to give these questions some thought and try to answer them!

So if you are reading all this and have no idea about LJC's store, patterns, blog, etc.-- Please investigate these links!

Store!
Patterns!
Blog!

Thoughts? Suggestions?
Opinions on the questions we answered above?
Feel free to speak up in the comments!

Video for Liberty Jane Clothing

Okay, so it's no longer a Liberty Jane Monday.....but we tried! This just took longer than we thought it would......

But waaalaaa, now we have a video for the First Half of the Liberty Jane Clothing Spring 2010 International Collection, featuring Ruthie (Jess), Cassie (Julie), Arista, and Sabrina!

So now that you have (hopefully) seen the video, which pieces would you like to see mix and matched in upcoming posts?

Harajuku Station includes:
Gold choker necklace
Green Tee
Fancy black skirt
Fishnet leggings
Camo boots

Getty Villa Stroll includes:
White beaded necklace
Black cord necklace with peace sign amulet
Purple Tee
Strappy tank top
White cut-off jean shorts
White sandals

Boomerang includes:
Yellow and green beaded necklace
Light tan corduroy jacket
Olive tank top
Slightly destroyed jeans
Blue patterned chuck sneakers

and.....

U.K. Holiday includes:
Black beaded necklace with silver amulet
Black, white, and silver tunic top
Black belt with silver buckle
Black denim-esque leggings
Tall black boots (we love these so much!)

Please feel free to make mix and match suggestions for the above-listed items in the comments! Then we can start to work on a new LJC photo shoot and new LJC posts! Yippee!

Hope you liked the video everyone!
Let us know if you have problems watching it.
We aren't very educated in the ways of
video production and Youtube sharing. :)

Want some of these outfits for yourself? They won't be around forever (they are all limited edition outfits).

☞So remember to check out the
Liberty Jane Ebay auctions!!!☜