Best Friends Club & Design a Friend Dolls

Resistance is futile!!!

When I saw the Design a Friend doll in the Argos catalogue I thought that this would be another nice 18" doll to make clothes for.  I was hoping she would have the shoulder plate but she has a soft body like the AG and Gotz dolls.

She has gorgeous hair, rather a large head and overall is a good doll for the price of £19.99.  Her clothes are well made and would stand up to play well.  The only problem she has is that she doesn't stand well, she has to be propped up.  Also, when I got her her body stuffing was badly placed and I had to get a big needle and adjust it so that it was evenly distributed.

 

Then, on Sunday, I had to visit a local retail park and had a look in B&M, they really do have some bargains.  That is when I saw they had the Best Friends Club dolls at the amazing price of £14.99.  Well, who could resist that!!!

She is very poseable with joints in all the correct places and she stands up on her own very well.  I love her hair-do but the loose hair was very tangled, it will take a bit of sorting out.  Her clothes are very nice and she is wearing earrings.  Her face is lovely and is more in proportion with the rest of her.  She also comes with accessories...

 

I do think that all the dolls I have bought have too much hair, and these two in particular have tons of it...

I always end up putting hair bands on my dolls as I have here with the Design a Friend.

 

The Design a Friend is a pre-teen doll and the Best Friends Club is a teen, I prefer the pre-teen dolls, can't really see the point in dolls which are over shapely.



Shoes

Finished these shoes for Bridgette today...



Marie Gets New Sandals

Marie is a really nice doll for holding things due to the joints in her elbows.  She also has joints in her knees and I see that the latest version of the Kidz n Katz dolls also have wrist and ankle joints.  In this picture Marie is holding the baby rabbit I knitted a while ago from a pattern by this blogger.  The dress Marie is wearing is the one I made recently that Bridgette first wore (they are ok about sharing clothes).  Marie's sandals I made following the videos here though I did have to improvise with different fabric because I haven't yet found the vinyl recommended.  Here's a close up of the sandals...

 

The glue did seep through a bit but I'm quite happy with them.  I think they could have been a slightly shorter for Marie, but they do help her to stand nicely.

Ruffle Outfit

This outfit has a ruffle at the bottom of the skirt and a ruffle down the front of the top.  Lately I've been having a go at using shirring elastic in the shuttle bobbin of my sewing machine.  It worked really well on the sundress I made recently and has also worked fine as a trim on the bottom and front of this little outfit.



Summer Clothes

I made Bridgette a cap to go with one of her dresses and sandals...

I got the instructions for this from a video series.  It was much easier to make than I expected it to be and I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

I also made Bridgette a sundress...

 This was also inspired by the person who made the cap video, she has made some very nice dolls clothes and they are so beautifully finished off, her work is gorgeous. Her dolls have some lovely outfits, shoes included.



Doll Hair

I'm careful with my dolls hair, I don't want it to end up like this...

Sometimes a doll will turn up at my house looking like the above Barbie clone.  I was tempted to just cut off her hair but then I saw this and decided to see what I could come up with for this poor Barbie.

First I undid all the little plaits someone had put in, then brushed it as well as I could.  Next, I soaked her head in a fabric softener and hot water solution.  I took her out of the solution and brushed her hair several times, quite a bit of hair came out but I had nothing to lose.  She ended up looking a bit better...

At least all the matted bits were out and, after combing some conditioner through it, her hair looked shinier.  What a lot of hair she has though.  I tried to give her a more under control hairstyle and this is the best I could manage...

There was just too much hair for the style I wanted to do but at least it looks more under control.  I may resort to cutting it slightly shorter though, the ends are very fuzzy.



Another Little Doll

I was away in Ilfracombe last week and came across a little souvenir doll in a charity shop.  She only cost £1, I could have had her for 50p but I thought £1 was a fair price.  Anyway, she had glued on clothes and hat but I just didn't like the style so, when I got home I removed them and knitted her a dress.  I think it suits her...

Her legs are painted and her shoes are plastic, I was glad she still had her shoes.  She has such an old fashioned look to her.

I also bought a Barbie, she has the articulated knees and elbows.  Also a new little doll from a toy shop and a little rag doll from a gift shop.  I'll show these at a later date.