The Organizing of my 18” Doll Patterns

It sure does feel good to get a big job done, it is so nice to sit back look at what has been accomplished and take a moment to enjoy the fact that it is done. I am finally at that stage on the job of organizing my massive collection of 18” doll patterns.

If you follow my mini blog and videos then you might know about the big organizing job I did with my polymer clay a while back. You see I have been doing polymer clay for about 20 years and over time the way I stored my clay went from being very functional to being a disaster. It wasn't because of any one problem it was just that what works when you have a handful of packages of clay doesn't really work when you have hundreds of blocks of clay (yeah, you read that correctly I have hundreds of blocks of clay) If you want to learn more about that project the blog where I detail the organizing process I used is here, and the video for it is here.

Well, I have been enjoying my clay so much more now that I can actually find what I have. Heck now I even know what colors I have. It is great and it has put the pleasure back in my clay work.

You have to understand that by nature I am not an organized person. Quite the opposite in fact, I have to really push myself to stay organized but I know that when I am things run so much better.

Now onto those patterns. This came about because I once again realized that what had worked for organizing my patterns when I just had a few was no longer working. I have picked up many patterns online and whenever Joann's has patterns on sale I pick up whatever of the doll patterns that they have in stock that I don't already own. So the collection is growing, quickly. Also I want to point out here before you see how many patterns I really have that I have been buying doll patterns for about 20 years and only a few of these have been bought at full price, most of them were purchased for around $1 each.

In defense of the massive number of patterns I own I do sew and sell some doll clothes and hope to step that up a bit more over the next couple of years so I look at them like I look at my clay they are a business asset (or will be when I get off my butt and get busy listing stuff for sale again)

So back to that mess that was my patterns. I had previously sorted them by manufacturer but that was getting out of hand and it really didn't help me to find what I wanted. Also the containers I was keeping them in had been outgrown long ago so the patterns were rather haphazardly stuffed into plastic containers. I knew I had to get a handle on this.

I decided to really look at the system I had in place for my clay and see how I could adapt it to the patterns. The base of the clay organization is a 3 ring notebook so I decided that would be the launching point of the pattern organization system also. I also needed a place to put all the patterns but we will get to that in a moment.

I thought about what information I wanted in the notebook. I decided that for the patterns I had purchased in the fabric stores I wanted to have a copy of the front and back of each pattern envelope. I also wanted to have any information from the instruction sheet that pertained to things that I need to buy (or have on hand) to make the pattern. If you haven't noticed it lately a lot of the patterns have moved the notions needed for the pattern to the instruction sheet.

I proceeded to use my scanner to scan all this information and put it into files on my computer. I then printed a page for each of these patterns with the front of the pattern envelope on the front of the page and all the other information on the back. These were then put into a very large 3 ring binder divided by manufacturer with the pages organized by number.

Front cover of my pattern notbook

one of the pages showing front of the pattern

reverse side of page shown above

Next I looked at all the patterns I have gotten online. Most have not been printed out so they are neatly sitting on my hard drive but that also means I forget about them when I am ready to sew. For all of these I printed out pages with the cover page for the pattern on the front and whatever page gave the materials needed on the back. Those also moved to my notebook.

Next I realized I had better include my collection of pattern books mostly written by Joan Hinds but I have a couple of others too. I decided for those to just scan the cover of the book and a photo of each outfit in the book. I put all the pictures onto what my photo editor program called an “index sheet” with one book worth to a page. This doesn't give me any kind of materials list but it will make finding specific patterns a lot faster in the future. At a glance I can see which book an outfit is in.

the index sheet for one of my pattern books

Now that I had a really thick binder full of pages showing me what I have I needed to figure out a storage solution for all those patterns. (there are well over a hundred of them)

One problem I have always had with keeping the patterns neat is that I usually put the patterns into a gallon size zip-lock bag after I have used it. I simply don't have the patience to get all the pieces back into the little envelope again. Also a lot of times I end up with extra pieces because I many times scan my pattern pieces and make needed alterations on the scanned copy rather than on the original. I also normally put the downloaded patterns into the gallon bags when I print them too. So I really needed to have some system to organize that size.

I thought about the problem for a couple of days. I even tried a couple of different types of storage containers with out success. Then one night I thought of the solution in the middle of the night. I had a large number of hanging file folders that I didn't need for what I had purchased them for. I got to thinking that those patterns, even in the gallon bags would fit just fine in a hanging file.

I just needed something to put those hanging file folders into. On my next trip to town I looked at both file cabinets and the large file boxes. I decided to go with the large boxes (the kind that can hold both regular and legal size files) simply because I just don't currently have a place to put the file cabinet. I ended up needing to get two of the file boxes to accommodate my pattern collection but I do have some room to grow. If they get too crowded in the future I can simply get another of the file boxes.

I currently have the 1000's through the 5000's in one box and the rest (including printed patterns from online and books) in the other box.

both boxes open showing the hanging files, each one of those has a pattern or book in it.

the two boxes stacked up

I picked up a couple of new patterns the other day and they were really easy to incorporate into the new filing system. More importantly it is really quick to see if I have a pattern and more importantly to find the pattern when I need it.

In the future if I get room to put it I might move the patterns into a regular file cabinet but I do like the portability of the boxes.

I know that most of you that read this post probably won't have nearly as many patterns but I think this system would work no matter how many patterns you have and it will expand with your collection.

Product Review- Doll Costume Dress Up book

Since I just got this book a couple of weeks ago and have had time to actually make something out of it I thought I would do a quick review on it. I admit I am a huge Joan Hinds fan. I own several of her doll pattern books, a couple of her DVDs and a few of her patterns. They are my go to patterns when I want to make something quickly that I know will be really cute and easy. I also go her patterns when I am in the mood to be creative and customize the pattern since most are very basic and work well to customize.

The Doll Costume Dress Up book contains 20 really cute patterns for doll size costumes that would be perfect either for Halloween or just for general dress up. Joan divides the costumes into 3 basic categories: Fun and Fancy Costumes, Traditional Halloween Costumes and Playtime Costumes.

One really nice change that this book has that none of my other Joan Hinds books have is that the patterns are all on a CD in the back of the book. All of my other books by this author have paper patterns included, some printed directly in the book to be scanned, some on regular pattern tissue, and the rest on large sheets of paper that you have maneuver to get into you the scanner to make copies of what you need.

The first chapter of this book (and of most of Joan's books) is dedicated to measuring/fitting, some general sewing tips and some of her techniques that will make your sewing much easier. The first chapter in this book also includes two accessory items to use with some of the rest of the costumes in the book: a mask and a slip with hoops.

The Fun and Fancy section has patterns for: a Fairy (lilac outfit on the book cover), a Ballerina, a Wedding Gown, Cinderella, a Southern Belle (green dress on the cover of the book) and Little Bo Peep.

The Traditional Halloween section has patterns for: a Witch, a Pumpkin, a Kitty Cat (with instructions to change it to a leopard, a dog or a mouse) and a Clown.

The Playtime section has patterns for: a Pirate, a Mermaid (also on the book cover), a Cowboy, a Superhero, a Pilgrim, a Sock Hop Dancer (with a poodle skirt), a Ladybug, a Doctor and a Gypsy.

I decided to make the witch costume from the book for my Molly. With the exception of the rick-rack trim that I had to buy the rest of the fabrics and materials came from my stash. The lace leggings are from a different pattern but look a lot like the ones the doll in the book is wearing. I love purple so that was the color I made my version out of I do love purple and black for Halloween.

 

Really the only problem I had with the pattern was getting the rick-rack to cooperate to make the trim used on the bodice. Other than that it was smooth sailing. I made the pattern just as specified without making any alterations in the sizing and I think it fits Molly just fine. I did like the fact that Joan suggests using your pinking shears to cut out some of the areas so you don't have to hem. This saved a lot of time and makes the dress go together very quickly.

I am really looking forward to having time to make more of the costumes from the book. There are several that are tempting me. I am pretty sure you will be seeing more of the outfits on this blog around Halloween time if not before.

My opinion of the book (and just about any of the Joan Hinds books I have ever seen) is that it is definitely a good purchase. I can see myself going back to the patterns in this book many times in the future.

Product Review- The Perfect Party Dress DVD

Let me preface this review with the statement that I love Joan Hinds patterns! I purchased my first Joan Hinds' book when I first starting doing the 18” dolls, it was an impulse buy because it was on sale. At the time I had no idea who she was or anything about her or her designs. I took the book home and fell in love. One of the things I love about her books is the way she explains everything. If you are new to sewing in general, new to sewing doll clothes or teaching a child to sew doll clothes I highly recommend her books and DVDs. I also love the simplicity of her designs for the more advanced sewer they leave a world of possibilities for customizing.

The Perfect Party Dress has will video guide you step by step as you complete the pattern to sew a really cute party dress for your favorite 18” doll. Joan even spends some time telling you how to measure to be sure the dress will fit your doll.

The pattern used is conveniently located right on the disk as a PDF file so you can print it off via your computer's printer. Just be sure that you choose the “no borders” option and that you are printing at 100% size to make sure it will come out the correct size.

Also included on the disk is a pattern for a very simple pair of doll size shoes.

So what do I think of the DVD and pattern?

As far as the pattern I am going to have to assume it is up to Joan's normal standards because I haven't made the dress or shoes. I can tell you I have used a lot of her patterns in the past and have usually been very happy with them. As for the style of the dress it is a very simple dress with a straight cut gathered skirt, a lined bodice and short puffy sleeves. She even adds a cute ribbon belt with a flower accent. As for the shoes, they are very simple ballet flats. I think that there are other patterns out there that will result in a nicer shoe but those would be much more difficult to make. For a beginner (especially if you have never made a pair of doll shoes) I think this would be a good pattern.

I did enjoy watching the DVD and I feel the instructions are given in way that even a beginning sewer could follow and be successful. My only real criticism of the video is that Joan repeatedly sewed over her pins. I know a lot of people do but I cringe every time I see it done. I know first hand how much damage that can do to your sewing machine so I am very careful not sew over pins unless it can't possibly be helped.

I can say I would fully recommend this DVD especially like I said earlier if you or someone you are helping is just starting out sewing doll clothes.

Look for another review soon on the latest Joan Hinds doll clothes book.

What I have been working on

One of the reasons I wanted to start this blog was so I would have a place to show off my creations for my 18” dolls. This is going to be one of those posts.

Most of what I have been making lately for the dolls falls into two categories either clothing (some underwear for a sew-along for a group I belong to) or some props to use in the Allison's Journal posts. I think I have a different mindset when it comes to making accessories for the dolls because of my background in dollhouse miniatures. If you were to shrink yourself down and wander through the dollhouses of most of the adult collectors I know you would be right at home. Most of us even fill up the drawers in the dollhouse. I have silverware and pots and pans and food (well, it looks like food- mostly polymer clay and printies- the dolls really don't eat much so they don't mind) in the kitchen cabinets and drawers. There's even clothes in the dressers. So when I fell in love with the larger 18” dolls I brought this madness with me. Slowly I will be making enough props to use in the posts that if the dolls were to come to life they would be able to just move in and enjoy the house.

I decided long ago that for the most part the kids are about 12 or 13 years old. I got to thinking what do girls that age have. Well, when was the last time you saw a pre-teen that didn't have a cell phone and all the girls that age I know have a purse to keep them in. Then I didn't want to the boys to be left out, I started to think about how to make a boy's wallet (they have money and debit cards too you know)

I worked out the pattern to make the first boy's wallet and I think it turned out really well. I also made a debit card and a school ID card to go in it along with some printable money I got online. I think it turned out pretty well. I did take a moment to trim the extra threads that show up in the photos. In truth I didn't even notice them until I was editing the photos to post them for some friends to see. 

Jeremy is very proud of his new wallet.

He wanted you to take a closer look. I promise I did clip those loose threads.

Here is his school ID card and his debit card- he likes to be prepared

a better look at the cards and some of his cash

 

I did make some cell phones for the kids before I did the first of the Allison's Journal posts way back in December (or was it November?? I'm too lazy to look as I write this LOL) but I was never completely happy with them. So I am re-working those this week too. I will try to remember to post some photos of those when I get the details worked out.

I dug through some of the doll stuff I had previously made to see how many purses I already had made so now I can start on some more purses this week. Of course the girls will each need a wallet to go in their purse too, so more planning and pattern drawing for that. And when was the last time you saw any girl that just had a wallet and cellphone in her bag. I am going to have to do some thinking about what else should go in them.......

Now onto that underwear, like I said earlier I belong to a doll sewing group and we have a monthly sew-along. For that the theme/ pattern is posted at the beginning of the month and then throughout the month as each person that is taking part gets done they post photos of what was made. It is a lot of fun and there are some very talented and creative folks on there. Here are the things I made for this month's sew along.

Allison and Molly went to Allison's room to try on theirs

closer look at Allison

and Molly

Jazmin loves hers

And the boys couldn't be left out

I hope you enjoyed seeing what I have been up to with the dolls. I have a couple of more blog posts planned for the near future so keep your eyes open for those. I got a new pattern book and doll sewing DVD that I want to review and I have a bunch more of the Paper Minis done to show you too.  If you follow/subscribe to the blog you will be more apt to see the posts when they come up.

Meet Kati

A page from Allison's Journal

Kati just moved in next door, She is going to be living with her grandparents from now on. Since school is already out for the summer I decided it would be nice to invite my friends over for the afternoon so she could meet everyone.

Mom made some chocolate chip cookies and picked up some soda for us.

Jazmin arrived first- she is always ready to excited to meet new people. Her mom had made some of her famous lemon bars so she let Jazmin bring some of them. YUMMMMM It was so hard to not eat them all before everyone got here.

Jennifer was next to arrive. She had met Kati a couple of years ago when Kati had spent the summer at her grandparents house. Molly was late but she texted me so we wouldn't get worried about her. 

When she got here she had big news! There are new people moving into the house next door to her and they have 2 girls our age. She invited them to come today but they said they really needed to help with the unpacking.

Molly also got to meet their new baby brother! He is only about a month old and she said he is soooooo cute! 

Micheal and Jeremy showed up about then. They wanted to get a snack to take with them. They decided that since the weather is so nice today that they wanted to go on a hike. After they said hi to everyone they grabbed some snacks and took off for a nice long hike. 

 

Us girls decided to hang out in my room and play some games for a couple of hours. 

I think we are going to have a lot of fun this summer. Just think 3 new girls in the neighborhood and mom said the house at the end of our road just went up for sale too. I wonder if another new friend might move in there???

Another New Doll

Boy I have been buying dolls a lot lately it seems. It all started a couple of weeks ago when American Girl announced they are retiring Ivy. That announcement reminded me that I have been wanting to add an Asian doll to my collection. Ivy does fit that but I have never been in love with Ivy. With the price of American Girl dolls I really feel like I have to love a doll to buy one of theirs. I have two of the AM dolls: Alison (My American Girl #53) and recently retired Molly. I really do love both of those dolls. There is another My American Girl doll that I am hoping to get in the near future but we will wait until that time comes to talk about her.

Since I don't “love” Ivy I set out to find a doll that I did love to fill that spot in my collection. I have found her but she is not what this article is about. You see that doll is not available yet, hopefully by the end of summer (according to the last word from the makers of the doll)

In the meantime all this doll shopping opened my eyes up to a couple of dolls that I did decide I wanted to add to the collection. I talked about the 2 Our Generation dolls I got at the Target sale a while back in another blog post. I still need to work on their hair and if I do solve the hair issue I will do another post about them.

I was at Walmart the other day and of course I had to take a trip down the doll aisle. I came across the display for the My Life dolls that Walmart is currently selling. I had not really looked carefully at them before. In my looking at them this time I ran across one doll that I found appealing. I decided that she should join the rest of the collection.

Kati in her meet outfit

As far as I can tell she didn't actually have a name, she is referred to as “outdoorsy girl” on the box. I find it kind of funny the way I name dolls, sometimes anyway, they just seem to tell me what their name should be. As soon as I had her out of the box I just knew her name should be Kati. This same thing has happened with a couple of the dolls, I just knew when I saw them what their name should be.

One thing I found interesting about the packaging of this doll, in place of all those wire twist tie things I am used to seeing holding dolls in the box this doll was tied in with what appears to be a paper twine. I saved it, I am hoping to figure out a craft project with it.

paper twine from packaging

The first thing I did notice when I got Kati out of the box was the odd odor she has about her. It was very strong at first but dissipated after about a day to being just a bit noticeable. I am hoping with time it will go away entirely. If not I have a solution to try and if it works I will share it on the blog later.

My biggest concern about this doll was the hair especially after the hair disaster that I am dealing with on the Our Generation dolls. I brushed out Kati's hair with my regular doll hair brush (actually it began its life as a dog brush at Dollar Tree I bought it to use with the dolls and labeled it as such) After a brushing her hair looks great, it is soft and shiny. Not the superior quality of dolls like the American Girl but still nicer than some other dolls at her price point. The thing about her hair I don't like is that when you touch it, it feels dirty. I can't think of another description for it. If I had picked this doll up at a thrift store I would assume that it felt this way because it was really dirty but this doll is new out of the package. I will leave it as is for now but I may have to resort to washing it to see if I can get it to feel nicer to the touch.

Her hair-do is a very straight to just below the waist with a cute braid on each side. For now I am going to leave the braids as is since I like the look. I may take them out later if they interfere with styling. The back of her hair is not cut straight however so that will need to be dealt with soon. It bothers me every time I look at her from the back but I wanted to leave it for pictures for this blog post. A quick trim should fix that though.

Back of hair needs some work

One of the things that drives me nuts on some of the dolls on the market is the color the manufacturers use on the lips. I was so happy that this doll has fairly natural looking lip color. That is actually a thing that will stop me from buying a doll once in a while. As for the rest of Kati's face, she is a really pretty little girl. Her face is not “made-up” so she looks clean and fresh, like a little girl should. Looking at her face it is almost heart shaped which I find very appealing, I think it gives her a more innocent look. She has beautiful brown eyes that open and close- they seem to work perfectly- along with nice lashes that seem in proportion to her eye size. 

She has a pretty face

 

She is made by the Madame Alexander company so we do expect a certain degree of quality and I think it is there.

This is a doll with a plastic neck/chest area. As I stated in my post on doll measurements I am torn about which body style I prefer. The advantage of the plastic neck/chest like Kati's is that necklines on clothing look a bit nicer. There is the downside of a weird caved in area where the cloth body meets the plastic part. At least on Kati that is not too noticeable.

The outfit she came in is really nothing to be excited about. She is wearing a butterfly printed tee-shirt that velcros up the back. It is not very well made and the facing on the neckline shows (it did on all the dolls in stock at the store) She also has blue shorts made of a denim looking fabric. These are also not well made and I don't think they would stand up to a child playing with them. Her bright pink high top shoes are surprisingly cute even though they are made of plastic.

cute shoe

One of the “selling” points of these dolls is that they are poseable, as far as I can figure out the only extra moving parts are the knees. The problem is the leg flattens out in a very strange way when you bend the knee. I also worry about the plastic on the legs not holding up to the bending. I think I will probably just pose her like the other dolls in my collection and skip this “feature”

Other than having slightly longer legs than my American Girl dolls she is the same size as they are. This will make dressing her much easier than some of the other dolls I have.

Because of the way I use my doll collection, primarily I want to have dolls to use as a story telling medium for my blog posts. I need to be able to fit them into the story of my dolls in order to justify buying them. In other words if I can't come up with a reason they are in the group they don't belong. Kati will be showing up in future blog posts and I am sure her story will come out over time. In the meantime I hope you have enjoyed the photos I took of her and got some helpful information from this post.

Doll Measurement Comparison

One the questions I see the most often when we are discussing the various 18” dolls is “do you know if she is the same size as ***”

Just like when we get a group of 10 or 12 year old girls together these 18” dolls vary in size and shape a lot. I like that though and as I have stated on other posts on my blog I like variety. I think that having dolls from different sources makes the group look more interesting. This can however be a problem when I go to dress them. Just like that group of real girls these girls wear slightly different sizes.

Since I have recently added 3 new girls to my little family I decided it was time to sit down and actually measure all of them. (I didn't include the boys in this little adventure although I probably should measure them too)

I chose one doll from each manufacturer/ line of dolls to compare. I left out one one my American Girl dolls and one of the Our Generation dolls I got the other day.

Included in this little adventure were:

Jazmin (she had another name but I could never remember it) who is a Journey Girl (available at Toys R Us)

Ashley-Rose- from the Our Generation collection (available at Target)- made by the Battat company

Molly – retired American Girl

Jennifer- made by the Madame Alexander company

Kati- from the My Life collection (available at Walmart) made by the Madame Alexander company

I had intended to take more pictures as I did the measuring but my camera battery was almost dead so I got the ones I could.

First I lined all the girls up next to each other in their clothes so we could get an idea of how they look together. 

From left to right: Ashley-Rose, Jennifer, Jazmin, Kati, Molly

Next I fastened my tape measure to my backdrop so I could measure heights of the dolls. They do vary a bit as we could see when they were lined up together. It isn't a lot but in scale it does make the group look nice together. The shortest of these dolls was either Molly or Ashley-Rose; they are very close to 18” even. Tallest at first appeared to be Jazmin but I think that is mostly her hair, I do believe Kati is actually a bit taller if we don't include the puffy hair. 

Molly

Ashley-Rose

Jazmin

Kati

Jennifer

Next I took off all their clothes so we could see body shape and construction. There is a mix of styles of construction with 3 of the 5 having plastic chests. I haven't decided which of these styles I like better. I do like the finished look of the chest area on these girls when there is a dropped neckline. On the other hand you almost always see the ridge where the cloth body meets the plastic part and on some of the dolls it appears to cave in a bit there.

The body measurements I took were the following:

chest (around the body just under the arms)

 
waist (around the body approximately half way down- this was where most of them had a tag sewn on)

 
hip (around the body where the body and legs come together- I tried to make sure I hit the fullest part of the tush.

 thigh (if there was a fuller area that is where I tried to measure)





 inseam (from where the leg attached to the body to the bottom of the foot- on the inside of the leg




 

 wrist (just like it sounds)

I tried to get these as close as I could without squeezing the soft bodies. Also I only went to the nearest ¼” on these measurements.

For the foot I measured the length from the tip of the toe to the heel. The width across just below where the toes should be or the widest point of the foot. These I measured to the nearest 1/8”.

(Sorry at this point my camera battery was completely dead)

Jazmin (Journey Girl)

    chest 10”

    waist 10”

    hip 10 ½”

    thigh 5 ¼”

    inseam 7”

    wrist 3”

    foot length- 2 ½”

    width 1 1/8”

Ashley-Rose (Our Generation)

    chest 10 ¾”

    waist 11 ¾”

    hip 11 ¼”

    thigh 5 ½”

    inseam 6 ½”

    wrist 3 ¾”

    foot length- 2 ½”

    width 1 3/8”

Molly (American Girl)

    chest 11”

    waist 11”

    hip 12”

    thigh 6”

    inseam 6 ¾”

    wrist 3 ½”

    foot length- 2 ½”

    width 1 3/8”

Jennifer (Madame Alexander)

    chest 10”

    waist 10”

    hip 11”

    thigh 6”

    inseam 7”

    wrist 3 ¼”

    foot length- 2 5/8”

    width 1 3/8”

Kati (My Life)

    chest 11”

    waist 11”

    hip 12”

    thigh 6”

    inseam 7”

    wrist 3 ½”

    foot length- 2 ¾”

    width 1 ¼”

At first glance these measurements don't seem all that different but we have to look at it in scale. In our size an inch one way or the other is not such a big deal. When we are looking at doll size it can get huge. In the scale of these 18” dolls it would be about the same as 3” or 4" on us. A waist that is 3” or 4" too big or too small would certainly look bad on a real person.

I am hoping that you will find this information helpful either in sewing for dolls or if you are looking to pick out a new doll.

Are there more measurements I should have included? Let me know and I could do another post with additional measurements.