Weekly DQ: #20

[richila]

I mostly make my own. My real puki has a purchased outfit because I wanted the beading and refuse to do it myself. I have made all of Cordie's clothes.

[Lamia of the Dark]

Bought.

I used to make a lot of things for my 1/6th and tiny girls, but I don't really get bored enough to sew anything anymore now that I have internet at my house... so most of the clothes are bought now.

[Linteia]

Make mostly, I'm too cheap to buy anything I can do myself unless it's a real bargain. Then again, I don't like to buy clothes for myself unless I have to either.

[coloredimage]

I have to buy. No matter how hard I try to sew up something, I can't make anything worth wearing.

[SoapBubbles]

I just buy the outfits. Making my own clothes just for my dolls sounds really nice, but I already have so many different hobbies that I really shouldn't take up another. ^^;

[hanabushi]

Hmm, interesting question!

For me it's about half and half. I can't always find material that "scales down" well (I work almost exclusively in 1/6 scale), in which case I will buy. I do make all my doll's kimonos though (where required).

[famedglory]

Both. Almost any outift they wear is half home made, half bought. Except for the MSDs. I think I've purchased most of what they wear but that's just because when they came home and up until now I didn't have space/time to make them things. But that's changed and I think from now on I'll be making everything myself.

[twiddle66]

I was a professional doll maker and prototyper for years. I worked for The Franklin Mint, Hasbro, boyds bears, and Bradford exchange to name a few. When most of those jobs got moved off shore I made my own dolls for sale, and dressed them, and traveled around to miniature and doll shows and was kept extremely busy for 6 years, before realizing I had no vacation and not enough time with my family and decided to get a desk job.

Now I enjoy collecting dolls and often think of clothes I could make for them and designs for them. That being said, when I sit down to sew for them I tend not to finish things. I just think I sewed too much for too many other people for so long that I can't seem to get over that "burn out" kind of feeling. I hope it passes because there are alot of really nice clothes out there, but they tend to be made for certain body types or styles and some seem to be oversized for the dolls.

I do buy most of what my kids are wearing, but I am very picky about fit so its hard to find things I am happy with when they arrive.

Some makers are wonderful and when I ask if I can send measurements and have them scale to fit Mui-chan or my other dolls they are very willing and do a great job. But there are alot of cute things I see but they just don't work out.

Some things I look at are the seams and the proprtions of the garment with the physical attributes of the doll. EX, Pukipuki can easily look dwarfed or like the head is stoo small if put in shirts and pants that are too baggy. Poor seaming at the crotch of leggings can make unsightly puckers and gathers in nasty looking places, and layers of material and binding- while appropriate in real clothing, can really "bulk up" a garment on smaller dolls and are sometimes better left out of smaller doll clothes.

I hope my burn out subsides becuase I do have whole wardrobes of really well fitting clothing dreamed up for my dolls- but until then I do buy clothes when I can find things that meet my criteria LOL

[twiddle66]

PS-- I have too many naked dolls becuase of how insane I am. LOL

[Mirrin]

It's for sure both. Most of my doll's clothing is 'handmade', but a fair bit is from things like swaps so I didn't make them myself.. or purchased gifts from other people.
I don't buy a lot of my doll's clothing unless I find something I don't have time to make or can't live without.