Baby Born Links and Stuff...

One of our favourite baby dolls is Baby Born (43cm).
A sturdy plastic, realistically shaped Baby doll. Of course when new, she can be fed, and pees etc. Not the case in this house, ours came to us secondhand. I notice too, the eyes on the older Baby Born dolls can tend to go a rather creepy opaque reddish or purplish colour - Ive seen cases of both, which may explain the strong secondhand market? Or it may be, that there are always new ones coming on the market, and the older ones are supplanted by the new.
 One tip, dont get felt pen on her, its a devil to get off... In fact, Missy's has orange high-lighter on its face and it will NOT budge! Still, she doesnt mind (Missy, not Baby born!)
Theyre a good size for wee ones to carry, and theyre awesome to dress... and readily found, even in NZ - Around $100 here in NZ. Our toy shops dont carry a great variety of high-end dolls, so Chou-Chou and Baby Born are about it.

Heres what Ive found online for dressing dolls...

A brilliant site with all kinds of info/patterns on it.
Also includes knit & sew patterns for Chou-Chou Dolls, Baby Annabell, Sally, Hannah & Sarah, and Mini Baby Born (11cm)
NOTE - Free patterns - some NOT in english, but also instructions about how to use the pattern, downloading e-patterns etc. Easy to follow.
http://free.wollyonline.com/baby_born_dolls.asp

http://www.zapfcreation.com/
Zapfs Official Website

Maalfrid Gausels Knitting Patterns - Some for Baby Born sized dolls
http://www.doll-knitting-patterns.com/index.html

Variety of Free Dolls Clothing Links
http://barbscraftbooks.tripod.com/dolls/id15.html

BABY BORN SOCKS - Knit
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/baby-born-doll-socks
BABY BORN MITTENS -Knit
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/baby-born-doll-mittens

FREE Itty Bitty Baby Dress Pattern - MADE BY RAE
http://www.made-by-rae.com/patternfiles/ITTY%20BITTY%20BABY%20DRESS.pdf
- Noted as a very small fit for a preemie sized baby. It is ideal for Baby Born or perhaps Berenguer Dolls
Pattern is PDF format.

E-Patterns for Beautiful Baby (doll/baby) knitting
http://creativedollsdesigns.co.uk/

Simple Baby Doll Knitting - BOOTIES
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art24943.asp

AN E-BOOK on Dressing Dolls
http://www.bellaonline.com/ebooks/ebook149

Great eye-candy and some other links I found when I was searching...
http://www.libertyjanepatterns.com/
http://www.dollsclothes-emilyrose.com/

MINIS4U - NZ
http://www.minis4u.co.nz/

NZ Dolls Clothing makers
http://www.littleprincessdollsclothes.com/

Making Dolls Clothes - scroll and see a whole lot more links for pages online!
http://www.making-doll-clothes.com/index.html


Have a Good Day!

Finally... A place for Doll-talk!

As the title says, this is a place for Everything Dolly!
Any type of doll, any size, shape or colour!
Teenage, toddler, baby doll, ball-jointed, plastic, vinyl or silicone.

As a Mum to three boys, I was delighted when I found out I was to have a daughter.
For all the usual reasons, of course, but also, in the hope that I would finally have someone to share my passion for dolls...
Im not sure she is equally as passionate -give her time, but my five year old LOVES to play with a box of dolls every now and again.
She is, at present, sitting in front of my Barbie furniture, sifting through it, putting things in her Fisher Price dolls house, and talking avidly about the things she is finding. See, for us, THATS what its about...
Not a lot of my dolls are in original condition. Not a lot of this NRFB (Never Removed From Box) to be found here!
Either theyve been mine from childhood, or theyre picked up cheaply and lovingly restored or cleaned up in the hope that I might onsell them (yeah right!) or... well, theyre *saved* now and have a place on a shelf or in a nook at my house, rather than out there in the cold vacant world of the Toybox. I do have some that Ive scrimped and saved for because I simply couldnt do without them... *Riley Kish* cough... yes I have one... and yes, she was worth every penny!
The older I get, the more I realise - I am connected with my dolls and the energy they invoke. When Im stressed, or if Im unable to get into the garden, my other passion, I revert to my familiar energies - dolls.
I look online, I search out information, I read. I knit and crochet, but only ever do I successfully knit or crochet for my dolls. (I couldnt sit still for long enough to complete something human sized!) I may even sew for them if I cant find what I want elsewhere... That might help the endless line of naked vinyl babies we have here!

To *play* with my dolls sometimes just means picking up one, and stroking its hair, admiring its fine detail, then placing it back down again and going on my way. Or it could be that Missy wants me to change one of her dolls for her, and I will sit there fiddling with tiny poppers or zippers or whatever... Wondering about styles, sizes, shapes. Or finding an odd shoe, and rabidly hunting for the matching one :-) If you have Barbies or fashion dolls, youll know what I mean! Those shoes have a way of getting lost... like socks in the washing machine - ya know?

So - This month, Ive just purchased my first dolls online in a loooong time. Not expensive ones really. And I looked around here. Ive been TRYING desperately to de clutter. My extensive Barbie collection is almost thirty years old, and I cant sell them for what theyre worth to me, and I will not give them away... So. Im selling other things instead. And I ll showcase my dolls online. Here. And hopefully others will share their loves, trials, experiences with dolls... If not, I ll yak on, and post photos and links...

Thanks for reading!
Happy Dolling :)