ANSWERS TO MS LEO'S QUESTIONS

 Better late than never - here are my answers to Ms Leo's from I-Luv-Dolls questionnaire. 

When did you start collecting dolls?
I've actually started collecting dolls twice.  The first time was in my teens and twenties and I collected Barbies (that was really all that was available at the time.)  I remember my younger sister laughing about how she went to a toy shop with a friend to buy me a Holiday Barbie for a Christmas present and her friend asking anxiously, " Are you sure that is what your sister wants for Christmas?"
The second time was just a few years ago, when a sewing student of mine brought her ball-jointed dolls to class so we could make clothing patterns for them and I rediscovered my love for dolls.

What was your first purchase as a collector?
In my first phase, it would have been Busy Barbie - she had articulated hands so she could move her thumb.

In my second phase, it was 'Innuendo'. She is a 16" (40cm) Goodreau American Ball Jointed doll who I named Naimh (pronounced 'Neve'). I've been told she is about the same body size as a Minifee.

How many dolls do you own?
Umm, how widely do we cast the net here? Do I count the StarWars Armidala doll and the Hasbro Jem dolls I bought and have left in their boxes as I may want to sell them some day? And what about the Monster High doll/s that my daughter and I both claim to own?  Probably about 30 - today.

What is your favorite doll and why?
I like them all.  Maybe my first Barbie because she was my first real Barbie - and I remember wanting one for a long time.

What doll or dolls are not your favorites and why?
Moxie Girlz and the new Bratz. I keep looking at them but I don't like their faces.  My daughter calls them 'ugly'.

What is the biggest challenge about collecting dolls?
The cost - dolls are always more expensive to buy here in Australia, sometimes a lot more judging by the prices I see quoted on some of the other blogs (eg. $50 for Moxie Teenz). Plus we don't have access to the variety that is available in America. I can buy over the net  and then I have to watch the exchange rate and also factor in postage, which can add significantly to the cost.  And storage - I have to do something about that.

How do you display or store your dolls? All over the place.  They pop up everywhere.  One day, I may have a more dedicated space.

Have you ever been to a doll show?
The closest thing we have to a doll show near me is the Melbourne Doll market which is held twice a year.  The next one is on August 4  and yes, I have been (and will go again).

When you travel, do you look for dolls?
Yes, you never know.

What is your latest purchase?
A Fashionista Ken - I decided I needed more male dolls.

What doll is on your wish list now?
Lots - too many to mention.

What do you wish you didn’t purchase?
None yet, although there are some dolls I will pass on to someone else as I bought them for the furniture and the doll was included but not really wanted.

What is your favourite doll related item?
Well, I seem to have developed a sideline collection of doll clothing patterns - I have a lot and people see my interest and give me more.
Otherwise, I would say doll shoes.  This is one area where I think Mattel has improved over the years.  The early Barbie shoes were mainly slides or closed toe in various colours but now there are lots of different styles with interesting detailing - although I do notice a lot more pink and black.

Original shoes above, modern shoes below.

How often do you photo your dolls and what doll is the most photographed and/or photogenic? Actually, I don't - yet.  My photos are done by either my daughter or my husband who both take photos as part of their jobs and all my dolls are being photographed more regularly now..  (I do have a digital camera I have to learn how to use.) 
My most photographed dolls are my Fashionista Barbies - I love the poseability.

Do you talk to other collectors in person or just on the web? Mostly on the web.  Very occasionally in person.

If you could talk to Mattel or other doll makers, what would you say?
Please keep producing articulated dolls.  Also, could we please have more of the Monster High males as single dolls and not just as sets.   And the most important thing - don't forget you have an international market as well as a domestic one.

Which doll do you wish would be reissued?
After reading everyone's blogs this week, it would have to be the Liv dolls.

What two dolls would you combine and how would you want them combined (Muff style quesiton)?
I'm not sure if this is the type of answer you wanted but I would like to see some of the original Barbie heads reissued on a Fashionista type body.  I know I could do it easily enough myself because I do love the ability to pose the dolls.

And the last thing I would like to add is: thank you very much Ms Leo for a very entertaining and thought-provoking set of questions.
 

MY NEW (ALMOST ACCURATE) TAPE MEASURE

Measuring a doll with a tape measure and getting accurate measurements is difficult.  And the smaller the doll, the more difficult it becomes.

The way I usually get the most accurate measurements on dolls  is to use narrow cotton tape.  It doesn't stretch  and  is narrow enough to get into the curves of small dolls.  Once I've marked the measurement, I lay the cotton tape against my tape measure and get a very accurate measurement.
But the other day, I was in one of our local quilt shops and I found this:

It's a narrow cotton tape that's being used as decoration on lots of quilts and bags and whatever else a quilter/sewer can think of. It's marked in 10cm (4") increments.  It's pretty accurate - over the space of 10cms it is 3mm out (which equates to an 1/8" over 4" for those still using  inches).

 However, if I use it to measure a doll and then use it to make the measurements on the pattern, the pattern will fit the doll.  And it is narrow and flexible enough to fit into the curves of a small doll so I can use it to measure small dolls (like Monster High and smaller) just like a tape measure.

 (It'a very hard to take a picture and make sure a tape is held straight. )

  And it gives Barbie a tape measure too!  (Doesn't she look professional?)

GET HER TO THE CHURCH ON TIME

 As soon as my dolls heard that one of them was invited to Rod and Danielle's wedding in Morristown, they headed into the sewing studio demanding a new outfit.  (It must be a dressmaker thing - one of my husband's cousins who also sews has been known to be hemming the outfit she will be wearing at a party on her way to that party.)
They raided my fabric, trying to decide on colour and fabric. (I made them take their shoes off. )

They debated about this: 

and this: 

This fabric the Monster High girls claimed (they're demanding clothes too):

And then they saw these scraps left over from the most recent wedding dress and they were unanimous - this was the fabric: 

I wasn't sure that I could make this work as the fabric is a delustred duchess satin and although it was lightweight for humans, it was actually pretty thick for a doll dress but I tried it anyway.
I made the outfit and then was told it needed a hat, so I made my first doll fascinator and she was ready for THE wedding

Hopefully, the flights will all connect well and no luggage will be lost on the way.

BARBIE HANGOUT

My husband went away for the weekend and came home to find the Barbie dolls had taken over one of the open shelves in our bedroom.  I'm not sure whether it will end up being a boutique or an apartment - in fact, I think they are still making up their minds, or possibly plotting to take over more shelves -



Yes, definitely plotting to take over every single shelf.

.

Will Liv Survive in Australia?

Liv is a 29cm fashion dolll produced by Canadian company Spin Master.  She is the same height as Barbie but has a larger head similar to Bratz.  I can't find an actual release date for her but she seems to have become available some time in 2009.    However, she only made it to Australia (at least in toy stores) late last year.

I saw my first actual Liv doll (as opposed to a picture on the net)  in a toy shop just before Christmas.  She was in the middle of the doorway, obviously so everyone could see her because she was new and special.  But I was shopping for nephews and neices and she wasn't on my shopping list so I thought 'interesting' and walked on.  One of my friends bought the Boutique Window set as a present for her daughter but told me it was a Barbie set so I don't think that special display made much impact.

But now Christmas is over and I have time to wander and look and so a few weeks ago, I was in our nearest Toys'R'Us store. Now I had time to explore and I found - Liv dolls. Not many - the choice was between a set with Alexis and her dog (and her eyes were set so she looked a bit cross-eyed) and Schools Out Katie.  But at $10, Schools Out Katie was good value.  You could also buy extra wigs for $5 - they only had pink.  And they had some playsets - the scooter, the drum set and the Boutique Windows set.  So I bought Katie and a wig. 

It was only later that my daughter (who is also my photographer) said I should have bought the Boutique
Windows set as she could have used it for some good photos.

Our nearest Toys'R'Us isn't that near so it was a couple of weeks before we went back there. Naturally they had sold out!  So I thought I would check out the other local stores that sell dolls:

K-mart and Target - no Liv's.

Toyland - which is where I saw Liv first.  Here we had a choice of Katie with two extra wigs marked down from $34.99 to $13.99 or $10.99 if the box was damaged, or Schools Out Daniela marked down from $24.99 to $13.99.  (I wasn't tempted.)  The only other Liv items were these:

also heavily marked down.  In fact, it looked to me like a final clearance of an item which will not be stocked again.  We'll see.

Big W - here there was the whole range of female Schools Out dolls - all on the clearance rack marked down from $13 to $10.  No other Liv items.

So I haven't got the Boutique Windows set (which for some reason is being sold here as a Fashion Design set) yet.  But I did end up with another Liv doll.

I couldn't resist as she reminded me of a girl I know and I couldn't leave her on the shelf. She has been renamed Raquel in her honour.

So will Liv be easy to buy in Australia?  At the moment, I don't think so.  Will I ever get the Boutique set?  We'll have to see.

The Doll That Was Responsible

I was going to start this blog by writing about my new Liv doll.  I had just bought her and it seemed like a good idea - new doll, new blog.  Then I saw the J doll - Marche on Doll Epic's blog and I thought, 'there's another doll I would like' - yes, there's alway another doll.  And that got me thinking about the doll that started it all.

This one:

My first real Barbie - a strawberry blonde ponytail Barbie in a red swimsuit and shoes, with a wire stand.  (Why don't the new Barbies come with stands?) Her red lipstick has now faded to pale pink, her ponytail had to come out when the rubber band perished and she's lost some of her nail polish but she is the doll that started it all.

Obviously she is responsible for my love of fasion dolls and BJD dolls and I blame her for the growing numbers that keep coming home to live with me.  But she is also responsible for a number of other things.

She is responsible for my first foray into sewing.  New Idea published 'Enid Gilchrist's Teen Dolls', a magazine with trace off patterns for a complete wardrobe of Barbie clothes  and I wanted to make this wedding dress.

So Mum bought the magazine and said she would help me later on.  Of course, I wanted to do it now.  I had a lovely piece of white satin so I traced off the pattern, cut it out of the fabric, sewed it up - and I had HALF a dress!  Mum had to explain that the fabric should have been folded so I had a full front and two backs.  Now I sew for a living.

She was responsible for my dream of sewing and selling doll clothes.  When I was 12 a big new shopping centre was built near our home and I had a dream of a stall in our front garden full of beautiful Barbie clothes for sale.  That never happened. But now, thanks to the internet, I am taking the first tentative steps to selling to the world.  If you want to check them out, the links to my shops are on the sidebar.

And finally, when I started to write this blog post, I went to find this doll for her photo and found - "the Box under the Bed" which was full of more dolls than I remembered  I had. ( No photos - they need to be cleaned up first.)  So now I have to find a better place in our home for these dolls to live.  And she's responsible for that too!