Oct 28 2008
You never know until you try it on
A big part of the fun when I first recieved my first ball-jointed doll was trying to find any and all the weird bits of this and that around my collection that MIGHT be her size. As a lifelong doll collector, I had quite a sizable stash of doll clothes, shoes, and whatnots, almost none of which ended up being suitable for a mature mini sized doll. Oddly, what I’d thought of as a Barbie coat fit Loolu like it was a custom tailored asian style evening blouse, modeled in the above photo. A couple of Ken’s looser fitting shirts were servicable ‘camp shirt’ styles, one Hawaaiin printed shirt being particularly adorable.
While the modern doll market offers Friends 2 B Made by Build A Bear, most styles of which fit reasonable well on most MSD size dolls, the vintage size charts are lacking. In my childhood toys I found a few pieces from a Mattel line called Hot Looks, from the mid to late eighties, which while very dated are fairly close in size. The dolls story had it that they were fashion models, so the plethora of fabulous stetch pants and tunic tops in all the greated shades of bedazzaled are out there. Clothing from the Ideal’s Chrissy family is supposed to be fairly close on SD size dolls, though her little cousin Velvet’s dresses are rather tent-like on a mature mini. Alterartions could be made, but it’s hard for me to cut into a piece of vintage anything, let alone doll clothes. I’ve seen a good number of people admit to stripping the porcelin dolls they find in thrift shops, a cheaper way to have the ornate Victorian gowns for your resin girls. I wouldn’t be shocked if sometimes the shoes fit as well!
Until next time, happy dolling
