The Doll Wardrobe

Friday, November 13, 2015

Custom Doll of the Day: Zoya

Yo, whassup?

We are starting a new thing.

Yes, on our road to the mental recovery of this blog there are many new things going down. ;-)

Of course, it is really an old thing masquerading as a new thing, haha.

It is our habit of taking doll photos.

Yes, we still take doll photos. In fact, we have been taking more and more recently in order to get back in touch with the hobbies that have sparked our imagination in the past.

But we have been putting them up on Instagram instead of the blog.

That may seem like blasphemy, but Instagram allows us to "instantly" -- haha, get it? -- get those pictures up and out into the world.

We will explain the technology we use in the next post, but basically Instagram allows us to deal with our photography anxiety. More to come on that. ;-)

For today, we present our new tradition -- "Custom Doll of the Day" -- where we give you little thumbnails of pictures we have taken of custom dolls we have been creating.

Today's Custom Doll of the Day is Zoya.

She is a bald Ivy that will have her wigged swapped around.

In the pictures we have taken of her so far, she has been wearing a Caroline wig.

She has been very popular in this wig, so we haven't switched her to a different one, yet. ;-)

The Instagram tag for her is #tdwb_zoya, and you can check out all of the pics we have taken of her so far if you click on this link....

https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/tdwb_zoya/

And here are the thumbnails....

Her jacket is from https://www.etsy.com/shop/QTpiedollclothing

FYI -- Marilyn will be having three releases in November for this shop.

November 14th, 21st and 28th. She is taking custom orders, but space is very limited.

I will be posting about these two other customs ^^^ soon. :-)

Or you can check out the Instagram hashtags for them if you are impatient, haha.

The blue-eyed girl is #tdwb_rhis, and the brown-eyed girl on the right is #tdwb_julia.

Zoya's top and skirt are from https://www.etsy.com/shop/Closet4Chloe

Laura pretty much constantly does little releases throughout the month for this shop.

This is a great shop for separates!

(We made Zoya's necklace ourselves.)

This ^^^ is the moment we put Caroline's wig on her head, haha.

Zoya traveled with us to the Columbus, Ohio AGP on October 18th, 2015.

These are pictures of her hanging out in the displays.

Her cat ears are from https://www.etsy.com/ch-en/shop/SeasofLavender

Megan won't be making anymore cat ear headbands -- so what is currently in the shop is all she will have available. When they are gone, they are gone!

I can't remember where we got Zoya's hat from. Derp.

But her top is from https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheGlamDoll

And her skirt is actually a dress from https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/BuzzinBea

Late night lipstick application for her big day at the AGP ^^^

I honestly can't remember where her scarf is from, it may have been a gift, haha. Derp again.

Zoya in the dress from https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/BuzzinBea

Feel free to follow us on Instagram if you are interested!

Lots of weird stuff happens there!

https://www.instagram.com/thedollwardrobeblog/

We have over 1,000 posts!

(Clearly we have too much time on our hands, haha.)

Thank you for visiting us today!

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask us in the comment section below!

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Be Sure to Check Out Mod Doll Monday Giveaway from Liberty Jane

Liberty Jane and Pixie Faire are alive and well -- for some reason some people on Instagram seemed to have forgotten about them.

One person asked -- is Liberty Jane still a thing?

Um, yes. Yes it is.

It stills exists, so it is still a thing, right?

I think so anyways....plus, they are super active, doing lots of fun stuff!

For example, they have been hosting a Mod Doll Monday weekly giveaway for quite awhile.

This week they are offering one of two AG dolls to the lucky winner -- in the dress that you see below.

Go to the Pixie Faire blog post to enter: http://www.pixiefaire.com/blogs/freebies-and-giveaways/64560325-mod-doll-monday-nov-9-16-who-models-it-best

Go to the website: http://www.libertyjaneclothing.com/ to sign up for their newsletter, so you always know what is happening with their giveaways, patterns, and shop.

For instance, they have recently set up a brick-and-mortar store in Auburn, Washington State.

Check out more information on their store here: http://www.libertyjaneclothing.com/main-street-store-information/

It is a great space and offers sewing classes, clubs, and more!

We wish we could open up one of these in our city!

But we don't sew...so yeah...kind of a dead end for us, haha.

We'll just have to open up a big playroom/club/coffee shop where everyone can come together and hang out with their dolls -- do doll hairstyles, change outfits, take pictures. Oh, if only we had a million dollars to open that, haha.

If you scroll down to the bottom of the Liberty Jane website, you will see the sign-up section for the newsletter on the far right under the title - "Stay Updated."

http://www.libertyjaneclothing.com/

So what are you waiting for?

Go sign up for their newsletter today right after you enter their Mod Doll Giveaway!

Thank you for visiting us today!

Fall/Winter 2015 Trends to Sew: Scarves

Here we are again with more of our "Trends to Sew" posts!

We have done a lot of these over the years, but for this season we will be labeling these posts "Fall/Winter 2015" -- so that you guys know what happened when if you are looking back over these things in the future.

Today's trend is scarves, and this season the bigger the scarf, the better.

They call them blanket scarves -

and it's been popular since last year really, but the trend keeps growing and you can see them in hooman shops all over the place.

Pic from: http://www.southerncurlsandpearls.com/

Her tutorial on how to tie a blanket scarf: http://www.southerncurlsandpearls.com/2014/12/how-to-tie-blanket-scarf.html

As far as our little beady eyes have seen -- no one has yet tried to make these things for the dolls.

Maybe they have and we haven't seen them -- but I would love to see them being created successfully for the AGs, in a scale that doesn't drown the doll in scarfy fabric (which is difficult to accomplish).

They typically come in large plaids with muted colors.

You can also find scarves in chunky knits this season -- nordic and wintery designs are a must for December attire. But remember, don't make these things overly chunky for the dolls. It still has to be the right scale or it won't look realistic.

You will also see fringe additions, or fluffy balls/pom poms attached, on this season's scarf offerings.

Our Generation once offered a set called "Color Me Plaid" (see below) with a pom-pom scarf in it, but I have rarely seen these types of things sold elsewhere for the AGs.

Not sure why. They are adorable. And this one is particularly versatile in its coloring.

Tube and infinity scarves are still in fashion, so don't forget about those.

Colors to create: a variety of light and dark greys, maroons, burgundys, navys, deep greens, blacks, creams, and whites will serve a lot of different outfits and styles.

Scarves are meant to go with most of your wardrobe -- not just one outfit, so please design with that in mind.

And remember, even though these things can be quite chunky on the humans -- scale it down A LOT for the dolls.

If you are knitting them yourself, use sock yarn.

And don't make the scarves so large and chunky that they look like they are choking the doll to death/suffocating them.

How To Sell Them?

You may be thinking --- "Will I sell these things as parts of an outfit or as separates?"

We would recommend selling them as a separate item, that way people can easily add them on to orders of other items from your shop.

If you put a scarf with a whole outfit, people might not buy it because they don't want the other pieces of that outfit.

We think you will sell more scarves if you just sell them as independent items.

Especially because they will be more affordable for your customer that way.

They key is to offer a lot of other outfit separates in your shop at the same time as you are offering the scarves, or hats, and other small accessories.

That way people have an opportunity to buy several different types of clothing items along with the scarves --- this way they are getting the most out of the shipping cost.

And, of course, it helps if you design your offerings as collections that can be easily mixed and matched, i.e. make sure your scarf offerings go with a lot of your clothing separates, and photograph them together to advertise that fact.

Need Design Help?

Here is an infinity scarf tutorial from Liberty Jane/Pixie Faire:

http://www.pixiefaire.com/blogs/doll-tips-and-tutorials/8536969-easy-infinity-scarf-tutorial-for-dolls