All Dolled Up

2009-08-10T12:51:00.000-07:00

Well, I am just back from IFDC and I entered four of my designs from Project Dollway into the competitions.
I entered my Challenge 1 Vintage into the Time Warp Category and got second place.

I entered my Challenge 7 Empire Pantsuit and got First place.

And, I entered my Challenge 10 Fitted paired with Rufus from the Wedding Party on Challenge 12 into the Miscellaneous Category and got First place too!!!

I also got a number of positive comments from some professional doll clothing designers!!! After the trials of PDW@H, it restored my confidence.

Challenge 7 Empire

2009-06-06T21:00:00.000-07:00

Just want to add a little note to this. I entered this design in the competition at IFDC this year and it won first place!!! See I knew it was good, hehehehe.
Now I thought it was time for my big comeback. I thought about this challenge over and over. I must do something really unique. I looked at fashion sites to see what had been done with Empire and suddenly it hit me. The one thing I didn't see was an Empire pantsuit. That was it, I was going to design a pantsuit in an Empire line.

I loved what I did and I was confident that I was going to win this challenge. I even loved my purse and I'm not great at the accessories side of this. When I showed my family they all said...Wow, best yet. Believe me, my girls would tell me if it was awful, so this bolstered my confidence again. I sent in my photos and waited form my congratulatory email.

Unbeknowst to me there was a lot of stuff going on in the background of PDW@H. Now I was hearing that some designers were using commercial patterns. Then I heard that another designer was being sent nasty emails saying the doll she was designing for should never have been allowed in the competition. Next I heard that a judge had made some nasty comments to a designer. The only thing I noticed was that if there was a question and I made a comment on it that went against anything the organizer said, my marks seemed to reflect that comment. I thought it was my imagination, but towards the end of the competition I found out that it was not just me.

On this dark side, designers began dropping out, claiming the judging was biased towards "friends" of the judges and organizers. Well it certainly began to look like there WAS a lot of nepotism going on when the scores given to certain designs were so high, while others were so low. Frankly I was happy with the judges at this point. Judge 1 and 4 always seemed to like my stuff, Judges 2 and 3 didn't!!! Sort of a balance. But then I found out that the persons that were suddenly getting the improved marks, had contacted the judges and asked them how to improve their designs..........what the heck, that wasn't fair. So I decided to try. I was given the judges emails and I emailed them and they said absolutely nothing that was helpful.

But I digress.......back to Empire. Judging day came and here were my results:

EMPIRE POINTS: 53 OVERALL: 320

JUDGE 1:

5 5 4 Oh Larraine, this is great! Double Empire? Fantastic. You never disappoint me. Years of schooling have given years of SO much to look at and I have to tell you, that I wouldn't think to put these together, but they go really well! Good Job!

JUDGE 2:

4 4 4 I love the pantsuit idea. Very nice. I think the lower sleeves are a tad bit over exaggerated and when you add the vest part all of the gathers draw the attention to the middle. Love the pants part and the belt at the empire waist. The fit if the pantsuit is really nice. Your collection does have a bit of a commonality to it but you need to keep it together for a more consistent flow.

JUDGE 3:

4 4 5 Good interpretation of empire waist in the vest and the jumpsuit The skirt attached to the vest has the expected loose fit. The pants do not fit that fullness definition, but have an excellent fit. Garments are well crafted.

JUDGE 4:

5 5 4 The pants idea is a pleasant change. You're right I don't see much in the way of "Empire" pants, but you made it work. By using the "Empire" design on both the pant suit and the vest piece, you have doubled up on the "Empire" idea. You did a really nice job hemming all the pieces. I would have probably liked the sleeves a smaller, but then, I think they complement the rest of the look well. Nicely done!

And the winner of this challenge:
Yeah I lost..........sniff

Challenge 6 Peek-a-Boo

2009-06-06T20:23:00.000-07:00

Well I have to say I flat out hated this challenge. I just don't know what to say about it. I tried to pull off something different by combining vinyl and organza. One of the judges didn't even know it was organza and made a very strange comment: the vinyl and chiffon might have worked. Might have worked, but I guess that brown ribbon made it not work. I had to laugh at that comment, if she'd seen it without the brown ribbon she would have said..........it's all faded into a yellow blob!!! The ribbon at least helped to define it a bit more. Without the ribbon it just looked blah. Another judge griped that my peace sign wasn't centered.......oh for Pete's sake Ellowyne, did you have to slump at the moment I snapped the pic!!!

JUDGE #1

4 5 5 Larraine, this is great. Going back to your first 3 or 4 outfits, this blends nicely and adheres to the word, the line and your overall approach. I think the pleating is a little uneven in the back, but is easily fixed. Your colors are always on the ball and your line is really starting to look like something! I'm going to use you as an example to everyone b/c I feel you are one of the best with keeping your designs alike and yet original.

JUDGE #2

3-3-3 You made this challenge harder than it needed to be. The vinyl and the chiffon MIGHT have worked, but the brown ribbon overshadows all of your work.

JUDGE #3

3 3 4 The peek-a-boo elements of the bodice and skirt fit the theme, and the pleated portion of the skirt adds interest to the back. The organza is neatly hemmed. The bodice would look better without the vertical ribbon trim.

JUDGE #4

4, 4, 4. The best thing is that you captured the "peek-a-boo" element in this design. However, the peace symbol in the middle of the "peek-a-boo" is off-center, and may have worked better as a necklace. It seems a little large and out of scale with the doll. The pleating on the back of the organza isn't quite as even as it should be, but it's close. This design fits in nicely with the rest of your collection thus far.

PAB SCORE: 44 TOTAL: 266

Here is the winner of the Challenge:

Can we say STUNNING!!!

Sidetracked again..........

2009-06-06T20:21:00.000-07:00

OK, I got sidetracked again and all my good intentions of writing up PDW@H got put on hold because the weather turned sunny and hot and I couldn't resist the pool in the backyard. So guess what, the weather has turned cool, and LOL, I'm back to writing!!!

On the the next Challenge.

Challenge 5 Zodiac

2009-05-23T00:36:00.000-07:00

This was the design that put me behind the eight ball. As you may have read earlier in this blog my daughter's apartment above our barn caught fire in December and she lost everything including her kitty. This was a devastating blow to us all. However despite this and the fact that PDW@H decided not to take a break over the Christmas holidays, I still had a design to hand in on time. I had no desire to do this design and it shows. The judges were harsh on me and that piled on my other woes, I was ready to pack it in. As I was comiserating with some other designers I learned that there had been some things going on behind the scenes and that some designers had resigned because of it. However I carried on despite our heartbreak and Zodiac was not a stellar performance.

JUDGE 1: 3 2 3 Comments: Larraine, I don't want to score you badly b/c your past creation have been stunning. However, based on this challenge, I have to calls 'em as I sees 'em. This is not Taurus, nor is it your best. I think all of the pieces have fitting issues and though they do go with your line, this will be your forgotten piece. Better luck next time, I really really feel you will top yourself!
JUDGE 2: 5-4-4 You do meet the description of a Taurus sign. The outfit is cute and I can see the apron look In your piece, I think it could have used a little more. I think the jacket could have used a tiny splash of the aqua color, maybe some buttons or beads for buttons or even add a little bow at the neckline matching the ones at the hem of the capris. Your construction looks good although I can't tell if your top stitching on the Jacket is uneven or if it is just the photograph.
JUDGE 3: 4 3 3 The colors reflect your collection and your clients sign. The overall fit of the jacket appears too large. The neckline is droopy and it is too big around the bottom. I would have liked to see the ensemble without the peplum/apron, it's fullness takes away from this ensemble.
JUDGE 4: 4, 4, 3. I like that this outfit is simple and cute. I like the brown polka dots on the turquoise top and the brown pants and jacket. I agree this is a nice way to introduce another color into your collection. I think the style of your jacket is cute, but the brown polka dot fabric you used takes away from the design. I would have liked it better if the sheer brown polka dot fabric had a softer look to it or flowed better. I can't determine if the sheer fabric is attached to something or is a separate piece. It would work fine as an apron, but you didn't show it as a separate piece. The seam in the back of the jacket does not appear to be centered on the doll. Nice idea!

The winner of the challenge:

Challenge 4 Layered

2009-05-22T23:34:00.000-07:00

This was a fun challenge, but layered has been so "done" that once again it was a challenge to come up with something different. So I decided to make her skirt layered as well as layer the items of clothing. While my outfit looked fine in person, my photography of it was not stellar. I just couldn't get the darned thing right. Shadows and all kinds of things kept happening to my photos. Colours were off and I was going crazy trying to get things to go right.

Added to my photographic problems I was becoming frustrated with the fact that several designers were always late and exceptions were always being made for that lateness to the point that the rest of us were always waiting for the collages to be posted and the judges scores to come up. To add to that frustration, the person doing the blog and the organizer had a falling out and the wonderful blog was axed by the organizer. On top of that, the organizer now wanted to be a judge herself. Things were really getting stirred up.

However, the show must go on and the judges made their ruling. The judges liked what I did, but not enough to keep me in first place for another challenge and I slipped into second place 2 points behind the first place designer.

JUDGE 1
5 4 5 Always impeccable! Love the yellow again! The skirt, having all those tiny layers would look great if it were a little fuller!!!!
JUDGE 2
4 4 5 Nice skirt, cute leggings, layered top and tank is cute too and nice purse. The vest looks almost out of place. I think it is the stand up collar that detracts from the rest of the vest. otherwise it is great. The belt is a nice touch though. The vest does need it.
JUDGE 3
4 4 4 Good use of layers, colors and textures. The seams in vest back almost reflect the pleats in the skirt. The bands of color on the skirt pull in the darker colors, but seem a bit too tight.
JUDGE 4
5 5 4 I LOVE this layered look, and stripes are always good. Your stripe print blends in well with the yellow and the brown, and the turtleneck sweater is perfect under the little vest, then the vest jacket. Nicely done. I'm not sure what you did with the stripes around the skirt, because I see shadow between your stripes and your fabric. I think the outfit would have been better and more sophisticated without the stripes going around. You don't need them. Otherwise, this is a nice design.
The purse is really cute!

Here is the winner of the challenge:

Challenge 3 Dolman

2009-05-22T23:16:00.000-07:00

Challenge 3 was one of the most uninspiring challenges of the contest. I could think of nothing to do that was original. Finally I decided on a silky fabric with bright bold stripes. I decided to make it very short for the mini skirted influence. BTW I hope you have noticed that all my designs so far have incorporated the peace sign.....sign of the sixties. This week I came right out and said PEACE man!!!

This challenge a new judge joined us and now we had four judges and a possible 60 marks.

This challenge turned out to be a tie between two very talented designers. It just made me more in awe of the fact that I had won the first challenge!!!

Larraine's collection: Dolman proved to be quite a learning experience for me. I have never owned or made a Dolman sleeved garment before, so I had no prior experience to base my ideas on. Keeping with my bold colours and patterns I introduced a new colour in this dress and gave it some bold stripes. That little peace sign just crept right back into the beltlace worn with this dress.
Judge 1
5,5,5 Overall adorable. New colors mix well with old but you're creating a bold look here. The dolman is simply marvelous. For someone not knowing Dolman, you perfected it. Unbelievable details! Another great one from you!
Judge 2
4,5,5
This piece looks nice , in scale, and neat. Love the use of strips and the matching up of the stripes. Love the scale of the accessories. finishing techniques look nice and smooth. Details are nice.
Judge 3
3,3,5 The garment is well made, stripes match perfectly, easy to see the dolman sleeves. The size of the handbag is distracting but a good color match.
Judge 4
5,4,5 This dress definitely meets the challenge of Dolman sleeves. Ellowyne wears her dresses a little shorter than I like, but this dress fits her nicely. The dress is not really original, but your use of the stripes and trim made it your own. There isn't much detail in the outfit...It is what it is...You have catalogued the opening of the dress magnificently. I can't even tell where it is. Nice job!
Extra 1/2 point
Total points: 54.5

But, hehehe, I was still in first place!!!

The winners tied with 58.5. Here are the winners:

PDW@H Challenge 2

2009-05-22T10:18:00.000-07:00

Inspired by my win in Challenge 1, if forged into Challenge 2: Pleats. I researched and drew ideas and finally hit on my design. The work was intricate and difficult, but I did it and then looked at my outfit and realized, it was NOT bold as my premise had eluded to.

So I chose new materials and reproduced the outfit. This time the results were more to my liking and I submitted my design in time for that coveted extra 1/2 point.

I thought I had nailed it, but the judges put me in second place for this challenge, but I was still in first place overall.
Larraine's collection: Bringing the cocktail dress of the sixties into the 21st century by styling it in two pieces, but keeping with the bold colors of the sixties. I chose two styles of pleats and used the contrasting colors inside the pleats to give it an even more sixties look. The top is corset-like with Honeycomb Pleats and the box pleats of the skirt match the top. The skirt is also shorter, a la sixties, but not a mini.
Judge 1
5, 4, 5 incredible. this is SO well donme I can't even stand it. I LOVE what you have done and i'm blown away at how tiny these details are and they just make this SO cute...The peace sign on the purse ties together with your line and is really shaping this up to be an amazing collection! Bravo!
Judge 2
3; 4; 4 Nice entry. Very unique use of pleats in the top, Nicely pressed
Judge 3
4, 4, 4 The combination of colors combined with the honeycomb pleating creates a uniquely styled top. The reverse coloring between the skirt and top makes each stand out.
Extra 1/2 point
Total points: 37.5

The winner with 40 was:

Wow, gorgeous, I love the colours and the style was exquisite!!! I didn't feel bad about losing to this talented designer. In fact she inspired me to work even harder!!!

So now we were on to Challenge 3.

PDW@H Winner one is chronicled

2009-05-22T10:13:00.000-07:00

So my win in the first challenge made me top headline news in the PDW@H blog. This incredible blog was published by Dot Festu and was scheduled to run throughout the competition, but that is yet another part of this saga!!!
Read about it here:
http://projectdollwayathome.blogspot.com/2008/11/artists-larraine-michaela-gene.html

Project Dollway @ Home is DONE!!!

2009-05-22T09:52:00.001-07:00

Well the competition that turned into a nightmare is finally done and I'm now just recovering from sewing burn out and the disbelief that this turned into a forum for the organizer's friends to be recognized!!!
What started as a fun challenge competition took a turn for the worse about half way through and things started going terribly wrong.

Challenge 1
We started back in October with our first challenge: Vintage. The contest was all about design. I have NEVER designed anything in my life. I have sewed for my Barbies once now and again, but actually design something and actually make my own patterns.......NEVER.
So I jumped right in. First to interpret the challenge word Vintage. I chose my era the bold and swingin' sixties. My premise for my collection: I chose the sixties as my vintage era, partly because I grew up in the sixties and loved the variety of styles, from Austin Powers to Flower Children, and partly because of the use of bold color and wild patterns. Anything seemed to go together in the sixties!!! I would like to take this bold use of color and build the collection on it by bringing this boldness of color to the styles of the 21st Century!!!

I chose as my colours for this collection: brown, orange and yellow.

To my surprise and delight I won the first challenge!!! http://projectdollwayathome.blogspot.com/2008/11/challenge-one-winner.html

Judges Comments:

Judge 1
5 5 5 Total 15 Super all around
Judge 2
4 3 4 Total 11 Good interpretation of the 70's. Loved the bag and the long vest and the peace sign. The color is very indicative of the 70's. I like it.Over all construction looks pretty good.

Judge 3
3 2 3 Total 8 Bright, colorful, very 60's. Garments fit well. I like the coat, but aren't the shorts too long for this era?

Total points: 34

Also, here is the Point System the judges used for this competition:
Points go from 5 - 1, with five being the best , in these three categories:

1) Designer's interpretation of the theme, Vintage. How successful were they?

2) Originality (the style)... Is it different or does it look like something you have seen before in fashion... accessories... color.

3) Execution: How well is the garment made? Does it look finished? Are there clean edges? Ironed? The full presentation.

The most a designer can acquire from the judges is 15 points.

This should have been my first clue. The organizer suddenly decided, after a number of designers were late with their designs, that if you got your stuff in early you would get an extra point. Being a teacher I had to put my 2 cents in and said that when you do that you only encourage sloppiness and people will hurry their designs, better to say points off for late. I think that vocalization might have been my first mistake.

After the first challenge we were told that one of the judges had not been able to receive the pics of our designs and so only three judges had judged our work. One judge turned out to be the organizer's daughter.........hmmmm shouldn't that have been our second clue.......or is that foreshadowing!!!

But we were all new to this and everything was exciting. After that first challenge a number of designers quit.......one even claiming, "I can't believe that she beat me by 1/2 point!!!"

On to Challenge 2...

Where does the time go...Part 2

2009-02-20T09:54:00.000-08:00

Another reason why I just stopped blogging was that on December 17, our daughter's suite above our barn caught fire. I was home by myself when the lady who cleans our barn ran down to the house and banged on the door. The neighbours had seen smoke coming from the windows above the barn and I grabbed the key thinking that it might just be steam from the dryer being left on. When I rounded the corner of the garage, I knew it was not steam and I ran to meet my neighbour at the barn. He is a fireman and asked immediately if anyone was inside........my daughter had gone to school, to write her final exam of the term, the dogs were outside, only Roxie the cat remained inside. I told him and opened the door for him. He raced inside to try and get the cat, but stopped halfway up the stairs and yelled call 911, I can't see a thing in here and the heat is intense, is there another door. Yes the patio doors around the other side...he raced out and to the other door. I called to his wife and the lady who cleans the barn to get the horses out, while I talked to the 911 operator, fire is on their way she said and I hung up. I went into the suite and up to the landing, but the heat and smoke was bad. I called and called Roxie, but she never came. Our neighbour came back from the other side and said the black, thick smoke was floor to ceiling and he couldn't open the door for fear of a backdraught. He said there was no hope for the kitty. I called my husband at work and told him what was happening, he said he would wait for my daughter at her school and pick her up and bring her home, but that they wouldn't allow him to do that until after her exam was finished. Hope was running thin.
But hope we did, we hung on to that or at least I did. The firetrucks, all four of them seems to take forever to get there and the firemen seemed to take forever to get inside. When they finally did and did their room to room search, I was standing next to the fire chief and I heard the words...the cat is deceased...my first thought was how am I going to tell my daughter.
The snow was coming down thick and fast and as neighbours came and went and I was finally standing by myself watching the firemen, I realized I was frozen. I told a fireman that I was going to the house to warm up a bit if they needed me. He told me to do that and they would come and get me, when things were under control.
I walked to the house and called my other daughter who was at her working, inventorying stock and cleaning up after the break in to her nearby business the morning before. By this time I was in tears and my daughter said, I'm closing the store I'll be right there.
The fireman came to my door to get me, so I could identify things in the apartment. The heat was still intense and the smell was nauseating. The fire had started in the dryer and smouldered in there for possibly three hours before we had seen the smoke, he told me the cat was long gone by the time we saw the telltale smoke escaping the windows. I did what they asked and then another fireman asked me to get a blanket or towel so he could bring Roxie out and down to the lounge. I opened the bathroom door to get the towel and the heat and fumes that hit me nearly knocked me out. The fireman pulled me back and said, well we are not going in there right now, but I had grabbed a towel as he pulled me out and I gave it to him.
My other daughter had arrived from her store and was making her way through the suite to where I was standing with the fireman. We just cried. We made our way back outside and waited. About 10 mins later the fireman came out with Roxie. She was laying on the floor beside the bed. She looked like she had just gone to sleep, so the fireman said she was probably overcome by the heat and then she passed away due to smoke inhalation.
When my daughter and husband finally arrived(the roads were so bad that they were constantly being detoured away from their way) we were back in the house. The feeling of loss over Roxie, the feeling of losing everything, was so overwhelming.
The feeling of hopelessness, helplessness that I felt while watching the firemen, brought back all my feelings of that January 16th morning when one of my students attacked me and tried to stab me.................
It has taken a long time and a lot of money to get everything back(we can never replace Roxie), we are still working on the suite.........so you see, that's why I haven't had time to blog.
That's Roxie, sitting in her favourite place..........my daughter's bed.

Where does the time go...

2009-02-20T09:41:00.000-08:00

Starting Project Dollway @ Home and winning the first challenge as I did waaaaay back in November proved to be a huge time consumer. Having never designed any clothing in my life, I was on a schedule of coming up with a design suggested by one word, every two weeks. Wow, does that put a dent in your schedule. I had planned to show and talk about each design every two weeks, but then we were forbidden by the organizer of PDW to show our designs outside of the MySpace area set up for them. Well I hung in there in first place for about three, maybe four more challenges and then someone else began to move up and now I am still there, but in third place. Not bad for a newb if I do say so myself. Other developments like, other designers selling their outfits on doll boards and other things not to be mentioned here at this time has lead me to believe that it might be OK for me to post my designs here and now talk a little about them. After all the MySpace pics are open to anyone who signs up to see and the designs have been posted somewhere outside of MySpace by the organizers, so that people who fear they will get viruses(and that's another story) from MS will not have to go there.
We have four designs left...reversible, fitted, drape and bridal. For some reason the organizer gave us all the clues at one time.......we are supposed to receive the next word after we turn in each challenge.
So, speak about time, reversible is due on Sunday and I am still fiddling with a few details..... Oh the pic is Ellowyne wearing the entry for the Woeful Winter contest.....a different challenge group.

11:22 pm and the Winner is Announced...

2008-11-09T23:22:00.000-08:00

And it's ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe I won the first Project Dollway at Home challenge. I am so excited. Wow, I just don't know what to say. I'm not used to making acceptance speeches, LOL. Well here is my design.
Well now that the winner has been decided, I can share my pics of my outfit and my thoughts while making it.
Our first challenge was Vintage. My thoughts flew back and forth through the centuries. I love the Victorian and Edwardian clothes, but such a challenge to design for. Then I thought of the era I grew up in........the swinging 60s!!! I loved the boldness of colour and pattern and texture. I knew that was the era I had to design for. Ellowyne Wilde is my model and while splashes of wild colour and patterns don't seem to be in her repertoire, I noticed that she was really smiling when I tried on the vintage 60s outfit I had designed for her. With her darker colouring and her black hair, I think she is going to be the perfect model for this adventure.
So I thought about what I wore in the 60s as a kid and what my older cousins wore. I looked at books and websites and researched and I think I came up with something that will fit my philosophy for Project Dollway at Home(PDW@H). Here is what I sent to the judges with my entry:
I chose the sixties as my vintage era, partly because I grew up in the sixties and loved the variety of styles, from Austin Powers to Flower Children, and partly because of the use of bold colour and wild patterns. Anything seemed to go together in the sixties!!! I would like to take this bold use of colour and build the collection on it by bringing this boldness of colour to the styles of the 21st Century!!!
If you would like to read more about PDW@H please check out this excellent blog: http://projectdollwayathome.blogspot.com/
The PDW@H site is on MySpace, you might have to join to see the entries, but here is the URL: http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=414135773&albumID=821494&imageID=6537735#a=821494&i=6537735

Doin' the happy dance!!!

Project Dollway at Home

2008-11-09T20:18:00.001-08:00

Well, we were supposed to hear this, Sunday, morning who won the first challenge in PDW@H, but there is still no word and it is 8 pm here. Apparently there is one judge still to give their points in. Well I have been busy working on challenge 2 pleats. I think I have a really good design, but construction is really the problem on this one. Very finicky. I guess that is about all I am allowed to say. Would love to post some photos, but no go until the judges have given their votes in.

Maybe some Guild Wars would help, LOL!!!

Just had to share more pics of Pru

2008-11-05T11:20:00.000-08:00

Here they are!!!

I won, I won, I won

2008-11-05T11:17:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited......I entered a Hallowe'en Costume Challenge and I won!!!
I designed the outfit and dressed Prudence Moody as the cutest little Hallowe'en witch with her cat Esmerelda. They were the Notsowicked Witch and her Notsoblack Cat.
WOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!

A Mystery

2008-10-26T16:13:00.000-07:00

I translated the FLC blog today and Kiki talked about it being sewing day on Monday. She also mentioned CCS and Momoko, but the reference wasn't clear as to whether they were sewing Momoko clothes or not. I wonder if they are going to make more OOAK Momokos after the ones they auctioned a couple of weeks ago went for such high prices.

I got my Doll Coordinate Recipe Book last week and looked through the FLC designs. Yup they are makeable even though I don't read Japanese. However I have to get my PDW design finished by the weekend and another Halloween challenge has to be done by the weekend too. So FLC designs will have to wait.

Besides that, the weather is just too nice to be in the sewing dungeon!!!

Reading Blogs

2008-10-23T22:12:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading some of the blogs that are written by friends. I am so amazed at the talented writers out there. Wow, they write a blog everyday and it is so interesting and fun, makes me want more, more, more from them. At the left you can see two of my favs, check them out verrrrry interesting reading.

But on the dolly scene....

2008-10-22T20:31:00.000-07:00

I had resisted the charms of the Dynamite Girls, but my resolve is beginning to slip. Well let's just say it slipped big time at IFDC this summer. I was not sure about the first DGs, sorry David, but I liked their style and clothing, but they seemed a bit too anime for me. I know this sounds bad coming from a person with hundreds of Jennys and Liccas in her collection, but something didn't click for me. However, when I saw the first FR dolls AND the first Misakis, none of them forced me to rush out and buy them either. For Misaki it was the Patent Please, Sassy Stripes and Get Graphic girls that hollered my name, and in the case of Patent and Graphic they are still hollering, only Sassy has found her way here. In the case of the FR dolls, I thought they all looked like they were have a fainting spell and their eyes were rolling back in their heads. But when the wigged dolls came out, the FR girls seemed to have had some eye surgery. This time I LOVED them and had some catching up to do.

So it was with the Dynamite Girls. When I saw that cute Rufus Blue at IFDC this summer and then Spooky Sooki, I gave up and surrendered to them. So then I went back and looked at the first girls. My daughter had bought one and I realized that she was very cute, not at all anime like she had looked in the pics. So once again catching up with the DGs.

The latest editions, Eltin and Jolly Jett are absolutely stunning.

PDW Day 4

2008-10-22T20:29:00.000-07:00

Well here we are into the fourth day of the challenge. I think I know what I am doing and my design is done. Now to draft the patterns. Sorry that's all I can say for now, hehehehe!!!

Project Dollway At Home

2008-10-21T16:24:00.000-07:00

For those of you that don't know.....there is a challenge group called Project Dollway. It is the Project Runway of dolly designers. This idea all began about a year ago with Ted Menten hosting the first PDW. There were a number of designers and it worked the same way as PR with eliminations each week. The winner Andrea Jacques is going to have her collection produced. Running at the same time, the people who were watching at home and were brave enough, could do the same challenges as the designers. I actually did two of them. That's one of them to the left. It was the FR challenge and our keyword was moonlight.

Well after PDW finished, we were out there in no man's land........then tada!!! Gabby to the rescue. PDAH is all about home designers. There are 31 designers. There are no eliminations(thank heavens or I would be out the door the first day!!!).

So spurred on by my outfit winning second place(my daughter won first, sheesh) at IFDC this year and the positive comments of many people who saw the outfit, I entered PDAH.

It will be hectic and I don't know if I will get to document all the ups and downs, but I'll start. There will be twelve challenges, all one word. When we got our first clue...VINTAGE...I really didn't know what to think. I read all the posts on the group list and I still didn't know what to think. I have been thinking and thinking and I have kind of an idea forming, but we only have two weeks to complete the design and sew it into existence. Well I'll give it a try because it sounds like fun and fun is what this challenge is all about according to our fearless leader Gabby!!!

So as to not give away anything, I think we are supposed to post our thoughts on the challenge after the due date for each challenge..........I'd better get a pen and paper, well maybe I don't want to remember some of these thoughts!!! LOL!!!

Here we go..............

Well then I forgot to mention Licca too......

2008-10-21T16:08:00.000-07:00

When I first started collecting Jenny, I thought that Licca was her little sister, a la Barbie and Skipper. Not so. Licca is a personality unto herself although she is made by the same company as Jenny. http://www.larraine.ca/index.htm

Licca came into exsitence in the 1960s. She is 11 years old. The list of dolls in Licca's family include her parents, twin sisters Miki and Maki, triplet siblings, Gen, Kako and Miku, and her long lost older sister, Rie(who is an airline stewardess). There are also Licca's grandparent and several cousins. Licca also has a large number of friends, boyfriends, maids, her music teacher and her doctor.

Now as I said above, Licca is definitely a different personality from Jenny's family. In fact Licca's life story has been written more fully than Jenny's and can be viewed here: http://www.larraine.ca/liccalife.htm

On Licca's 30th Anniversary, three very unique sets were made, http://www.larraine.ca/anniversary.htm . These sets depicted Licca at different stages of her life. The Stages were 1967, Licca's birth;

1970 Kindergarten Licca/Birthday Party Licca/Licca's first kimono;

1981 Licca enters High School and is the High School Tennis Champ/Goes to her first dance;

1988 Licca at College/Graduate party/ Diplomatic core;

1992 Marriage;

1997 Licca is a Mother.

The Sets came in three versions, Blue, Pink and Yellow(yellow was the hardest to find).

There was also a separate Pregnant Licca set, with Licca and baby, sold.

Did I forget to mention Jenny???

2008-10-12T16:37:00.000-07:00

Well, it started with Barbie and then moved to Jenny. Yes, I at one time collected Jenny dolls too. She was my first venture away from Barbie into the world of Asian fashion dolls. I was fascinated by this cute little doll with her cool clothes and for me, sometimes the most intriguing part of the collection, all those wonderful friends. I soon became a member of Biscuit's Club and couldn't find enough Jenny and friends. Now you have to remember that this was back in the dark ages of doll collecting.......NO EBAY!!! So though a publication called Collector's United, I found a lady in Japan who had a monthly auction of Japanese dolls......in particular--Jenny!!!

I bought many dolls from this lady and then suddenly the auctions just stopped. It was a Jenny desert for a couple of years before eBay took up the slack. Around that time Helene was bringing her wonderful Jenny site to a close. I just couldn't imagine letting all that information go offline, so I asked if I could move it over to my barbigirl site. Helene very graciously agreed and here is sits today: http://www.barbigirl.com/jennyhome.htm

Since the discovery of Momoko, Susie and Misaki, Jenny has fallen into decline. I haven't kept up with her as much as I would have liked. I think I owe it to her to get my rear in gear and update her section of the website.

For those of you who don't know her, Jenny is a 17-year-old high school student from Los Angeles (born on August 1st under the sign of the Leo). Her father is a film producer and her mother is a designer. She's a cheerleader at school, but she also has modelling experience and has made her debut as an actress in musicals. Jenny is good at all kinds of sports and especially likes horse-riding, scuba-diving, and aquatics.

Jenny began her career in 1981 under the name Barbie. It seems that at that time, for some reason, Mattel's Barbie was very popular in almost every country in the world, except Japan (maybe she looked too grown-up and glamorous?). That's why Mattel decided to collaborate with a Japanese company to develop a special Barbie, adapted to Japanese children's taste, exclusively for the Japanese market. The first result of their efforts was the doll known as Takara Barbie, and when Mattel withdrew their license in 1986, Takara changed her name to Jenny.

Today I have over 100 Jennys, hmmm, maybe more.

More Website work and some knitting and other dolly stuff

2008-10-09T20:14:00.000-07:00

I think I am going to overhaul this whole darned website top to bottom. Now I am re-vamping Susie's pages. Oh well I always said it was a work in progress.

Speaking of which, I am now knitting sweaters in 11.5 and 16 inch scales. I got this pattern for this very cute Christmas tree ornament which is a little sweater. However when I knit it up, it is 1/6 th scale, but the needles they called for were so big, that the stitches are very large, so now I am in the process of re-working the pattern and trying to figure out how to use smaller needles and get the proper size. This is no mean feat as I have actually no idea what I am doing. This will be an interesting project...hehehehe!!!

I got an email from the Sekuguchi website yesterday and the meanings are mostly lost in the translations, but it appears that there is going to be yet another exhibition of Momokos. Looks like this time they are about the history of the kimono and how modern girls are updating the Yukata, Kimono dress and bringing it into the 21st Century. I would love to see that as I do really like Japanese traditional clothing. Really I love all traditional clothing, and I did like the Barbie Dolls of the World that were issued from 1980 to 2000 and now being issued again. I collected all of them and just picked up the two that were issued this year Spain and Indonesia. R&D Fashion dolls put out several beautiful dolls in traditional Thai costumes a couple of years ago with their Legend of Thai series: http://www.barbigirl.com/legendthai.htm

I really am a sucker for dolls in historic or traditional costumes. The picture is Sukothai Muse from R&D's Legend of Thai series.

Juku Couture

2008-10-08T09:44:00.000-07:00

A friend emailed a few weeks ago to say he had found the cutest little dolls at his local Target store. They were called Juku Couture and there were four of them. Of course I scanned the "net" and yup there they were. Cute as a button with very cool clothes, they are reminiscent of the J-Dolls. So I ordered all four of them. (back row Jun(l) and Kana; front row Audrina(l) and Hayley)
They finally arrived this week. They are made by Jakks Pacific. They are about 10" tall, about the size of my re-bodied Mamemomokos on the Volks mini body. They are fully articulated, however the joints are a bit loose, but even that doesn't stop them from standing on their own. The biggest thing I have against them are those eyes. They have the "deer in the headlights" stare. If the eyes could be toned down these gals would be really cute. Note the pic of Audrina close up. However they are the right size for the Rement house too and can join the rebodied Mames as roomies.
At approx $20.00 a doll, not a bad price either. The four dolls are Audrina from Los Angeles, Hayley from Sweden, Jun from South Korea and Kana from New York. They are all in their first year of High School. Here is their page: http://www.barbigirl.com/othersmall.htm#juku

Knitting for dolls

2008-10-07T09:07:00.000-07:00

I love to knit and I just found the coolest shop that stocks tiny needles and sock wool. Sock wool is the best scale for knitting for dolls, especially 11.5 and 16 inch dolls.

For those of you who don't knit, but can sew, a really cool tutorial was just posted on a list I'm on about sewing sweaters from socks. Even though I can knit, I thought I might just like to try this out.

Here it is: http://tinyurl.com/3f82uv

FLC dolls

2008-10-04T21:35:00.001-07:00

The FLC auctions on Yahoo are done and my friend lost the doll. Sheesh, I don't even have the priveledge of saying: "I know someone who owns one of those dolls". Three of the dolls ended over $5,000.00. Now where did I put the FLC pattern book.................

The Momoko Section of my site has been revamped

2008-10-03T23:28:00.000-07:00

Well, the main page was getting longer and longer and I know some folks were waiting forever for that page to load, so I decided it was time for a little work. Well it took a week, but the Momoko section has a faster sleeker look. It now includes all the Momokomono(clothing) as well from each year. The dolls are now grouped by year as well. Take a look: http://www.barbigirl.com/momoko.htm
I am still working on the OOAK page, that will take some work and I might have to shed a few tears over the FLC dolls I couldn't buy. Oh well, at least someone I know has a really good chance of getting one. He is top bidder with 8 hours to go. She's not his first choice, but what the heck, she's an FLC.
And I got some positive feedback when I suggested I just might start making FLC outfits myself to some friends, they all said they'd buy them. Well I got that cool material today...............

Yahoo...13 hours to go

2008-10-03T18:02:00.001-07:00

I just check on the FLC doll that I really, really wanted and yeah, not going to happen.......she is at 501,000 yen, which is approximately $5,000!!!!!!!!! OMG, this person must be made of money. Either that or this is the first doll they have bought and they are spending all their life savings on it.......go figure. I'm off to find the Doll Coordinate recipe book. Got some really cool remnants at the fabric shop today. Design time!!!

Two new Wake Up Girls

2008-10-01T10:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I got an email from Sekiguchi announcing their two new Wake Up Momoko dolls, numbers 003 and 004. I didn't get 1 and 2 because they just didn't appeal to me. They were kind of boring, but with most Momoko dolls, even the boring tend to grow on you and you find yourself looking back and thinking, why didn't I buy those girls. Well that happened the other day when I was looking at an auction for the WUD clothing and I thought, you know these ARE really cute. So I guess I will have to go and find 1 and 2 and put my order in for 3 and 4. They are actually cuter than 1 and 2, but don't tell Momoko!!!

I would imagine that a new set of outfits for these two new girls will be produced too. After all there are only three WUD outfits and now 4 girls to wear them. Haven't heard anything about them though.

These gals too, are lower in price(approx. $60 as opposed to $135 for the regular dolls) and just might make perfect candidates for those FLC OOAKs I talked about in an earlier post...........I'm getting that hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm feeling again!!!

FLC Auction over, second set up

2008-10-01T10:12:00.000-07:00

Well, I watched and watched and the price soared on my FLC fav from round 1. She went for 280000 yen, which is approximately $2500!!! OK that's a little too much when I only paid that for BOTH DHEXl and DHEXs. So now I am watching and watching the second set of FLC on Yahoo Japan and my fav(that's her pic up there) this time is already up to 81000 yen(about $800) and this is only the first day. The one I like the least is at 31000, so I just might bid on a doll I don't care for just to say I got and FLC........hmmmmm. My daughter is really good at repaints and re-roots and I can sew really well and have the fourth Doll Coordinate Recipe book, so maybe I will just have to make an FLC of my own!!!

Auction is over...but another is still running

2008-09-29T12:51:00.000-07:00

Well Auction #5 is over and I sold lots of stuff, but not enough to cover what I would love to bid on now. Four Leaf Clover(Japanese designer) is auctioning off their Reality clothes on OOAK Momokos. There are 10 dolls, 5 are being auctioned now and I am sorely tempted to bid on one this time. Yes that is her picture. But her bid is $600 already and with 19 hours to go. What a conundrum!!! Do I bid on this gal or wait for my other favourite to come up and hope that all the rich bidders dropped their cash in the first round. I would just love to have a OOAK Momoko and FLC has some really cool clothes going on with these gals.

Red Rabbit

2008-09-25T10:28:00.000-07:00

OK I swiped these photos from Toms Toys and Goods, but just had to post this gal, she is stunning.

Back to Dolls..........Misaki or FR Nippon

2008-09-25T09:45:00.000-07:00

In 2006 a spinoff line of the Fashion Royalty line began. Originally intended to be W Cosmetics models in Japan, Misaki made her debut in three versions: Puppy Love, Casual Affair, and Harajuku Honey. While cute, Misaki did not apeal to me at first. As I said, she was cute and that's where it ended. There was no appeal to these first girls, for me. To date I still do not have these dolls.

Then came the first exclusives for the Dollystyle Convention. Two Tokyo Here We go dolls debuted. The blonde in the black dress was stunning and is still my Holy Grail of Misaki. The redhead in the white dress for me was so, so, but I wouldn't turn her down if I could get her.

So now I was hooked on Misaki. I eagerly awaited the new line and it was all I dreamed of. In my opinion it still is the best line of Misaki. My first Misaki was from this line, Sassy Stripes. I never managed to get the other two gals from this line, Get Graphic or Patent Please. These Misakis are what she is all about to me. I love their look, makeup, fashion, everything about them. I would still love to find them, reasonably priced somewhere, but they are running way to high right now...even nude would do!!!

Misaki has proved to be a bit of a conundrum for me. She is very difficult to get(as all the Nippon dolls are proving to be) and she is very pricey. So I have been picky about Misaki and only purchased those dolls that were VHTF or just plain appealed to me. Also all these dolls so far were produced in 2006, so many dolls not enough dollars!!!

Next came the Haute Doll Exclusive Metallic Moment, followed by Autumn Champagne, Best in Brocade, and Perfect in Paris. My next purchase of Misaki didn't come until Anti-Social Girl. I didn't purchase Dreadfully Cute, black, blue or pink. I did purchase Ciao Japan which was an exclusive to the DollyStyle Convention.

In 2007, the Misaki line brought out the beach girls, clad in bikini outfits. To me their outfits were a disappointment. I love Misaki's cool, edgy style and this was tantamount to Barbie in the early days. Yes I understand that it is good to have a Misaki that you don't mind taking off her outfit and redressing, but I didn't buy any of these gals. I redress my dressed Misakis already, I wanted clothes, not bathing suits. I must admit that I did find Summer Storm very applealing, but once again, very unattainbale.

My next purchase was Pretty Sweet Misaki and I must say she is pretty sweet. Lovely face and hair and cool outfit. She was followed by the Destination Line: On the go Paris, On the go New York, On the Go Milan, On the Go London and On the Go Tokyo. For me this was not my favourite line. I found the wild hair colours and the even louder colours of the clothing not to my liking at all. I did buy On the Go Tokyo as she was a Japan exclusive. The others just didn't appeal to me.

In 2008, the second Misaki in the "Pretty" line debuted. This was Pretty Party and a very pretty doll she was indeed. I didn't purchase her as she was pricey and I am saving my pennies for those mod gals. Then Misaki blew the lid off of things again and brought out a line that I thought was the second coolest yet...A Girl's Life: Trendy, Posh and Crazy(of course in two version). I surprised even myself when Trendy and Crazy(and NOT the exclusive edition) caught my attention and came to live with their sisters. They are secretly conspiring right now to get Posh back. You see she came to live here too, but was kidnapped by my doll collecting daughter.

Then this fall, Misaki got it right again....darn I hate that, LOL. Another terrific line debuted, the Gothic Dreams line. Wow is all I can say......well maybe a bit more. Five Misakis and a Misaki friend make up the line. Misaki: The Outsider, Witchie, Witch(she's begging for a re-dress, but those boots are incredible), and Pure Evil(my least favourite, too white, too blonde, LOL). Misaki's new friend is called Amelie and what a sweetie she is. I love everything about her. Finally there are two exclusive Misakis: Paranormal Willow, love the face, but not the open mouth so much and leaving the best until last...........RED RABBIT. In my opinion, the very best Misaki of this latest line.

A Wild and Crazy Weekend!!!

2008-09-23T21:49:00.000-07:00

Wow after a busy weekend, Doll Club meeting and Tupperware party......it's time to run Auction Fever #5. Well if you are tired of eBay and who isn't these days, then join us at: http://www.dolls4sale.net/index.htm

There are over 100 doll related items for sale on the site this time. Dolls ranging from FR, Momoko, Misaki, Yuri, Kumi, Jenny, Lost Angels and more. There is clothing and accessories as well.

Just a Pet Peeve

2008-09-19T22:31:00.000-07:00

Ah, Friday night........sushi for dinner, Starbucks afterwards and reading my emails for a little relaxation before I start posting the auctions. What's this........grrrrr, why do people have to write their email addresses like they are talking to complete idiots. Email has been around for a while, how stupid do they think we are. This is what I mean: On a list a person writes, if you are interested please contact me at: blahblahblah at hotmail dot com(no spaces and "at" is @ and "dot" is the period). OMG, wouldn't it just be easier to write blahblahblha@hotmail.com
And voila, the email turns that into a clickable link. Hmmmmm do you think I should write to the person and tell them.........some people!!!

Over the Rainbow with Momoko

2008-09-15T15:54:00.000-07:00

Lucky can't describe what it means to own these beauties. For Momoko 7 event Petworks and Sekiguchi(again PW head, Seki body) collaborated on this incredible set of rainbow coloured Momokos. I managed to secure myself one of these sets through my fabulously lucky "Man in Tokyo". There are only 10 sets worldwide of these dolls. I'm still taking pics of them to add to my site.

Next to join the collection...FR

2008-09-15T09:04:00.000-07:00

http://www.barbigirl.com/fashionroyalty.html

I really discovered the Fashion Royalty dolls when I attended my first IFDC in 2006. I had seen the dolls on eBay, but they looked to me as if they were going into a seizure with those eyes looking like they were rolling back in their heads. Plus they were not as articulated as Momoko and Susie. So I said no to FR.

When I got into the salesroom at IFDC, I saw the new line for 2006. Eyes were much more to my liking and articulations were just like Momoko and Susie. I was smitten and I bought one of each character that I could find. The clothing was fantastic when I actually saw it first hand. Such attention to detail and fabulously couture. Then my friend introduced me to his friend Jason Wu. Very quickly I realized that this young super talented young man was the artistic force driving these dolls. What a super nice person he is too.

Well my FR collection has grown too, but I have put limits on this collection like no other. Due to the fact that there is such a wonderful storyline and so many characters, I decided that one of each character would be the limit. It just didn't seem right to have 4 Veroniques, which one was the real one...would the real Veronique Perrin please stand up. No, just didn't seem right. This quickly became a problem because every year a newer and more beautiful Vero would arrive. So, if I like the newer one, it's out with the old and in with the new, just like a person growing and changing, the dolls in the collection do too. To date the only doll to undergo a change is Isha. I bought the first convention one and then sold her to my daughter to buy the Rare Find Isha. Now I love the Purple Pose Isha, look out Rare Find!!!

So to date the W Cosmetics group includes: Veronique Perrin, her sister Vanessa Perrin, Adele Makeda, Isha Kalpana Narayanan, Agnes von Weiss, Eugenia Perrin Frost, Luchia Z.

Missima Cosmetics: Natalia Fatale, and the new face lifted Natalia Fatale(IFDC Convention doll), Kyori Sato.

Nu Face Agency: Lukas Maverick, Giselle Diefendorf, Erin Salston, Nadja R., Ayumi Nakamura, Colette Duranger.

Then there are the men, who knows where their loyalties lie, but I think Pierre Devries is for Vero; Darius Reid is smitten with Kyori and Francisco Leon...who knows about him!!! Well all three are a part of my collection now.

Finally, the Dollystyle exclusives that Jason Wu collaborated on with Momolita(Yuri) and Love Sound(Kumi). They are the Fantasy exclusives. Yuri is now part of my collection. She is Red Riding Hood. Her twin sister Kumi will be Wild Wolf Kumi. That's Yuri's stock pic at the top of the page.

So the page at the top is the beginnings of the FR section of my site. It needs to rain around here and make me stay inside and work on the site......alas the weather is beautiful and the pool is calling!!!

After a long break..........

2008-09-15T08:58:00.000-07:00

Wow, what happened to the summer AND the fall for that matter. You would think I had actually returned to school, I go so bogged down. Well I did return to visit on the first Friday and bring the staff treats. They wanted to know if I was there to visit or gloat!!! It was fun to see everyone and to visit my students from last year in their new Grade 7 classes. Out of that visit spun off requests to have coffee, go to the gym, all of which kept me busy.

They we had the hassle of finding a new barn helper. Wow, that is an education in itself. Well, that left me doing barn work. But we did find one, however she is so fast, I don't think we have enough work to keep her happy. Only problem with this one, is that she is here early and leaves early and won't come back to feed lunch, which pretty well messes up my days as now I am on lunch duty every weekday.

This week I must set up the pages for our new auction on Auction Fever. Wow, whoever said retirement was lying around doing nothing, was NOT retired!!!

An Observation

2008-09-01T12:19:00.000-07:00

I was doing my long overdue search for selling prices on eBay and Yahoo Japan this morning in order to update my very in need of an updating, Value Guide for Momoko. Much to my surprise I found many Momokos and very few bids. Out of 11 pages of listings there were only bids on 15 dolls. I hope it is the summer bidding doldrums that are still affecting the bidding market. Nothing seems to be selling. Is it summer or is it the fact that collectors are pricing themselves out of the market by asking such exhorbitant prices for Momokos. Personally I wouldn't pay the prices they are asking for the latest dolls and I'm wondering if everyone else is beginning to feel the "pinch" from these high prices. For example Tin Girl sold for 19000 Japan Yen(about $185.00US), she is on Yahoo Japan for upwards of 30000 Yen. Did these people just buy the dolls to flip them, hmmmm, well if they did, it isn't working out. Right now Dorothy seems to be the only doll in demand. There are three on YJ from 2100 to 30000 Yen, quite a price range.

More from Susie

2008-08-31T21:35:00.000-07:00

I should also mention here, seriously I was so tired on my last post......spent 12 hours at a horse show!!! I forgot to mention that even though Susie has been taking a holiday from travelling around the world and modelling, she has continued to produce fabulous designs for her adoring fans. Susie has a RTW wardrobe that meets all her needs. Here is a list of Susie's designs:
Spring Bouquet in lilac or green or mauve pink
Summer Crisp
Fall Fashion - a Burberry type coat, with jeans and matching top
Winter Fashion - knit mini dress, brown solid top with brown/white striped skirt
Denim Blues
Fur Finishings - black/white or brown/black
Midnight Sparkle
Sparkling White
Ying Yang Mei Mei - black or white
Berry Lolita Red
Berry Lolita Pink
Detroit Mod
Gray Matters
Austrian Tea Blue
Austrian Tea Red
A Touch of Pink
Spring Fleur - pale blue or dark blue or pink or purple

If You Knew Susie...

2008-08-30T21:45:00.000-07:00

Somewhere in the Madness of Momoko, sometime in 2003 another lovely doll became available to collectors...Susie!!!
I remember my Mom singing a song that went: If you knew Susie like I know Susie, oh, oh, oh what a gal. There's none so classy as this fair lassie oh, oh, oh my goodness what a chassis. It was catchy, but I remember thinking what the heck was a chassie. Well turns out a chassis is a body. Well our Susie fit that song to a "T" and that is why my site devoted to her is called If you knew Susie... http://www.barbigirl.com/susie.htm

Well if you knew Susie like I know Susie, you would LOVE her too. She has a sophisticated innocence. She is lovely to look at, delightful to pose and her wardrobe is immpecable. Rudi and David, her creators made us a dream when they brought Susie into our world.

Susie came into being in 2003 and her first incarnation was China Girl Blonde, followed by China Girl Redhead and the very HTF China Girl Raven.

I knew Susie would be a doll I would want to add to my collection. I love the premise of this doll:

Susie is a 21-year old aspiring fashion designer who attends classes at the San Francisco School of Design and works as a fashion model in her spare time. In the current tradition of single name supermodels, Susie, divides her time between designing clothes and modeling them on the high style runways of New York, Paris, London, and Tokyo. Susie is a truly a multicultural girl. A San Francisco native, Susie is the daughter of a Spanish-American mother and a Chinese-American father, and has visited her parents’ homelands on several occasions.

Each Susie doll is made as if she were doing some special occasion or a photo shoot from fabulous locations round the world. To date Susie has visited: London, Paris, Milan, The Riviera, Provence, Ibiza, Madrid, Seville, Siberia, China, Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Hong Kong, Hanoi, Seoul, Tokyo, Kyoto, Sydney, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. She has many more destinations listed on her to do map http://www.rnddolls.com/site/susie.htm but she seems to be taking a bit of a well deserved holiday right now and letting her other siblings, S Deluxe and the Angels take the limelight for a while. In each of the cities listed above Susie came with a fabulous, meticulously made outfit specific to the style of that city. Her clothing is amazing and I wish R&D made them in human size!!!
Special Susies were also available, such as the Legend of Thai series and the Egyptian Queen Susie, as well as the Fantasy Susies. There have also been a number of collaborations with repaint artists and one particularly gorgeous Susie done with Randal Craig for IFDC 2007.

I was fortunate enough to win a OOAK Susie repaint by Park. She is sensational.

Susie is a wonderful doll and hopefully she will soon come out of her semi-retirement and set the world of collecting on it's collective ear again with her knock out looks and her fabulous sense of style.

At the Horse Show

2008-08-30T21:42:00.000-07:00

We have been back and forth to the horse show and I really haven't had much time to continue the saga of doll collecting a la me!!!

More Momokos

2008-08-27T20:56:00.000-07:00

As production of the Sekiguchi Momokos got into full swing by the Fall of 2005, Petworks made another announcement. They were going to issue a new line of clothing for Momoko called Close Clipped Sheep. Then yet another even more astounding announcement, they were also going to do a Collaboration Momoko with the Sekiguchi company. Oh original Momoko collector's delight, a PW Momoko!!! This doll would have the original PW head on a Sekiguchi body. The first offering was 2005AW Victorian Nature, with either blonde or red hair. How cool we all thought......I wonder if Seki thought that too. For lo and behold in the Spring of 2006, PW announced two more dolls, 2006SS Hazy Wind with orange or platinum hair. When Autumn of 2006 rolled around and collectors were presented with two more dolls by PW, we began to see a trend forming here. This offering was 2006AW Odd Girl Out, brunette or redhead...I wonder if Sekuguchi saw this coming. Now we have Sekiguchi in competition with PW, but not in competition because they are collaborating, oh my, it was getting really confusing. Well if the Seki company was being taken for a ride by PW, I began to feel the same way. Once we had PW giving us Momokos two maybe three times a year. Now Seki and PW seemed to be in some kind of a contest to see who could throw the most Momokos at us. Into the bargain, PW Momokos started around $150.00. So on it went, one company or the next bringing out specials, collaborations, Doll Show dolls...Sekiguchi acting like the owners of Momoko and PW looking like they never sold her. Just for fun, PW rounded out 2006 with two kimono Momokos.
In January of 2007 PW announced Bonus Truck sets, I think I heard cheers from Momoko fans and collective groans from their pocketbooks!!!
During 2007(not counting specials)PW produced 13 Momokos and Sekiguchi produced 10. So far in 2008 PW has produced 18 Momokos and Sekiguchi 3...what's up???
Is this a trend, is PW taking back the production of Momoko? At any rate, there are far too many Momokos being produced and they are becoming far too expensive. Also what is the point of these variations. For example, the 2008 Yukatas, Rose Chocolate came in a variation and the only difference was the colour of her shoes, same with Petit Macarron. Oh and Petit Macarron came in a special variation haircolour for the Momoko 7 event. So why is PW putting on a Momoko 7 event, shouldn't Sekiguchi, the owners of Momoko be celebrating that. Oh boy I'm confused.
My take, I think Manabe Watanabe wants Momoko back and is slowly taking her back, with a Sekiguchi body(evil laugh), can SAJ bodies be in Momoko's future???

Momoko: A New Era

2008-08-26T10:21:00.000-07:00

So began the new Sekiguchi era of Momoko: http://www.barbigirl.com/sekiguchi.htm

At first I was very disappointed in the Seki Momoko. I didn't feel the quality that PW had put into the dolls was there anymore. Her face was not as cute and impish as it had been. But being a die-hard Momoko fan, I decided to continue. I perservered through Glitter Night and asked myself, why did I buy Go 4 Victory??? My interest in Momoko was flagging as each season the Sekiguchi company would flood us with more mediocre dolls. Oh yes there were really sweet ones like Snow White, Dash After School and Mama Told Me. But for the most part the dolls were not PW dolls. I didn't like the new body either. The joints seemed narrow and made Momoko look awkward. Momoko's complexion was often "off". She seemed gray or over-blushed. Then Seki began bringing out Specials and Collaborations. The Collaborations were usually OOAK and virtually impossible to get. The Specials were the same doll with perhaps a variation in colour of her hair or outfit. Also the price of the dolls began to climb higher and higher and what was supposed to be a more affordable doll began to be as expensive as the original Momoko had been. Momokoville was becoming a confusing and expensive venture!!!

A Momoko Footnote

2008-08-26T10:09:00.000-07:00

Momoko not only brought the joy of collecting a fabulous doll, she also brought a connection to two people that would eventually become two of the very best friends a person could ever hope for. Somehow, and it escapes me now, but in my quest for Momoko I was magically lead to R&D Fashion Dolls. http://www.rnddolls.com/ There I "met" through the internet, Rudi and David, two of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure to know. We corresponded and Rudi did his utmost to help me track down many of the very hardest to find Momokos. It is because of Rudi that my collection is so complete. I had the opportunity to meet Rudi and David when I first attended IFDC in 2006. We had so much fun with them and Rudi has continued to be my Momoko Man.......hmmm not to mention a few other dolls, LOL, but that is another post!!!

Momoko

2008-08-25T23:15:00.000-07:00

Momoko was first produced by the Petworks company. The first two Momokos produced in 2000 were the DHEXl and DHEXs. I didn't discover Momoko until 2002 and it took me some time to catch up on the "older" dolls. But I have achieved my goal and today have all the Momokos produced by Petworks before they sold the rights to Momoko to the Sekiguchi company. My website at: http://www.barbigirl.com/momoko.htm will show you why I have earned the title: The Momoko Queen.

The first PW(read PetWorks) Momokos were truly delightful. Their faces were very appealing...cute, impish, innocent...Momo had it all. The body used was the Takara SAJ body and while not as flexible as the newer bodies, was far more appealing to me. Momoko's skin colour was always a pleasant natural colour and she was very well dressed in the latest Japan fashion.

Momoko soon became my passion and I eagerly awaited each new season of Momokos. Anywhere from 2 to 5 dolls were produced for Spring/Summer(SS) or Autumn/Winter(AW). At first the dolls were numbered as year and name so 02DD was a Daisy D made in 2002. Momoko became hugely popular and it was a challenge, because of small issue numbers to track down quite a few of the dolls. One edition 04RXb, http://www.barbigirl.com/momoko.htm#rxb was made in an edition of 10 dolls worldwide!!! Dolls introduced at Doll Shows were even more difficult to acquire. Yahoo Japan became my second home!!!

PW also produced a number of OOAK dolls in conjunction with various design studios. Then there were the Bonus Truck dolls and it is possible that even PW doesn't know the edition size of those dolls.

As Momoko collecting became a frantic search for the elusive dolls, PW made an astounding announcement:

On October 12, 2004, the Petworks company announced that their wildly popular Momoko doll would be made by the Sekiguchi company. It was the end of an era for Momoko collectors. Here is was Manabe Watanabe(Momoko's inventor) had to say:
Thank you everyone for your support after the end of Momoko production at the end of August 2004. Thank you also for your many ideas and opinions on how to “improve” Momoko. After many meetings with both doll companies we announce that Momoko will be sold again in the Spring of 2005. We will make a doll that will make all of our customers happy. We hope you will continue to give us your opinions and we can keep building together to make a most fortunate Momoko doll. Wishing you good luck in everything you do, Manabe.
News of the 1/6 scale real fashion doll Momoko. Petworks is very grateful to everyone for their patronage. We announce that Momoko will be selling in the Spring of 2005 and will be produced by the Sekiguchi Doll Company. Momoko will have new style but her name will still be 1/6 scale real fashion doll Momoko doll. She will by approximately 27 cm tall, will have a resin, jointed body. The estimated value of each doll will be 8,190 Yen including tax. Momoko will be dressed in up to date fashions.
The Momoko that will debut in Spring 2005 will appeal to a wider age range of customers. We hope that many new fans will come to Momoko, but we hope that her “old” fans will continue to support her.

So then I found...

2008-08-24T14:27:00.000-07:00

Well along with the plethora of items on eBay, I also found Yahoo groups. I looked for groups about dolls and there was Biscuitsclub, a group about Jenny the Japanese answer to Barbie. Jenny was more anime looking than Barbie, but she was adorable. She had a cool boyfriend too called Jeff and dozens of friends. So began the Jenny section of my now huge Barbie/Dollhouse collection. http://www.barbigirl.com/jennyhome.htm

Well then I discovered Jenny had what I thought at first was a little sister Licca. Well it turns out that Licca is a different character all together and has a huge family and friend base herself. http://www.larraine.ca/index.htm

I collected both Jenny and Licca quite fervently in the nineties. I also added another couple of Japanese dolls. First I found the adorable BG You dolls. Wonderful renditions of Japanese school children. http://www.mallaby.ca/bgyou.htm I have the whole group but for one outfit. These dolls are extremely hard to find and even Yahoo Japan has had none listed for some time now.

Then in 2000, Biscuitsclub introduced me to a new gal on the market...Momoko. Wow, she took me by storm. I had to have her. Momoko is still my favourite doll...however Misaki is catching up.

It's raining...again

2008-08-24T14:26:00.000-07:00

So here it is still supposed to be summer. It's cold and it's raining and my kitty is not feeling well. Make that two of my kitties.

When collector meets eBay

2008-08-23T13:57:00.000-07:00

Yeah there it was.....eBay. It looked very interesting so I typed in Barbie......wow!!! There were two whole pages of Barbie dolls. So I tried another word.......dollhouse. Three dollhouses appeared and lo and behold one of them was my childhood house. OK that was it, I bid and I got it. So eBay started me off on another passion. As time went by, eBay became a collector's way of life. In the beginning there were no snipers, no scammers. It was just good old, buy it and sell it. The first things I ever bought on eBay was a Barbie called Soda Fountain Sweetheart. Now several thousand dolls and numerous dollhouses later, I still go to eBay to look for rarities, but I don't buy as much as I did in those beginning years. eBay has become a bit of a nightmare with all their rules and regulations and then there's the snipers and the scammers to contend with now. I'll admit it, I've had to become a sniper. If you really want something you have to snipe these days. I've even resorted to eSnipe as you can't snipe fast enough it seems and still I get outbid on a lot of items that I really, really want!!!
Recently I set up a site for people wanting to buy and sell dolls and doll related items without the eBay hassle. We are taking a break for the summer. Check it out, you might like it. http://www.dolls4sale.net/

All Dolled Up

2008-08-23T00:16:00.000-07:00

All Dolled Up is the name of my site at http://www.barbigirl.com

Ever since I received my first Barbie way back in the Dark Ages, I have been a doll collector. At first it was OK to collect dolls because I was a kid. However when I turned thirteen my mother told me there would be no more dolls for Christmas or birthdays...I was too old for dolls. So I packed all of my dolls, Barbie included away in boxes and hid them in the basement. During my teens I tried to forget about dolls, but I still loved to see them in the toy store, when we shopped for younger siblings and relatives. After I was married and my girls were old enough for dolls, I thought I would give them my dolls. This however brought a resurgence of my repressed "doll collector" fever and I decided to buy the girls some Barbies of their own.

So my dolls made their way to a small closet in my study...I had become a closet collector. My family thought I was slightly crazy...an adult with dolls. About a week after I set up my dolls, my neighbour Anita came over for coffee. The cupboard door was open and she saw them. Anita literally screamed....OMG you have your Barbies......I have mine too. I'm taking them out and putting them on the shelf. And thus began Anita and my excellent adventure into doll collecting for real.

We managed to find a publication called Collectors' United, because we were still in the infancy of the Internet and eBay hadn't been born yet. Through snail mail we gathered together more Barbies and other fashion dolls. My dolls made their way out of the closet and into the rec room.

It was a slow process, but then one day something called eBay appeared on my computer screen.