My current doll collection

Soo…. I recently got back to collecting Barbie dolls.

I always loved them, since I was 6 or 7, but for a long time I felt like I’m ‘too old’ to enjoy such hobby.

Luckily, my hubby is extra supportive and wishes me the best. Even if it includes owning and enjoying some dollies ☺️.

So, last autumn (2020) he gave me a surprise gift – my first curvy Made to Move Barbie 😍 I was sooo excited! I think I actually screamed a bit 😅 But it was such a great feeling – as a girl, I always dreamt of articulated Barbies, and even now, I was drooling over this exact model for a few months at that point, still not allowing myself to spend ~26€ for ‘such a frivolous thing’… So when he made an effort to make it a surprise (and I really had no clue about it beforehand), and made sure to get the exact body type and skin color I wanted, it made me feel all glittery inside 😻 By doing so he showed me how much he supports my interests and how highly he values my happiness, even if it means some ‘frivolous’ purchases 🤗. Thanks again, dear…

But enough about how awesome my husband is (cause that’s a very deep well), let’s talk about dolls!

So, ever since then, I was on a look out for a worthy ‘boyfriend’ for my voluptuous beauty. And I was very happy to soon find the BMR 1959 series, which now has three for the first time ever, Made to Move Ken dolls! Ahh! And they had the one that looked similar to my hubby, so, I purchased it, as an early Christmas present to myself 🤭 (yes, I finally allowed myself such a luxury ☺️). The whole holiday season they served as a decoration while hugging each other sweetly nearby our Christmas tree 🎄. Ken’s doll stand was very helpful for this.

But I still felt a bit silly about all of this. I felt like I should have a reason, a function for these dolls. Certainly, my own enjoyment is not enough, is it?..

But luckily, I soon found a like-minded lady here in Lithuania, who quickly became one of my favorite people to chat with and share anything doll and craft related 🙂 She is also enjoying making be-au-tiful clothes for these dolls by hand 😍 I always love seeing what she makes, and even purchased several items myself – the quality of her work is impecable, let me tell you. As a common craft-head, I am inspired to up my own skills so that my own work could stand at the same level as hers one day.

So, encouraged by this new acquaintance, I slowly started sharing my passion for Barbies and 1/6 scale crafts with other friends. And I was again, pleasantly surprised to receive only support and possitive reactions 🤗.

So much so some of them suggested me making stuff for sale.

On which I am still working, as I needed some tools to make my seams nicer and faster (so far most of them has been done by hand, which takes a looot of time, and even then I am not 💯% happy with the final look). I invested in some attachments for my sewing machine to make this easier and finally got them delivered. I tried them out last weekend (April 16-18th of 2021) and am very happy with my decision to buy them, even though it was quite expensive and took so long (almost a month) due to Brexit and the still ongoing pandemic to get them. How making doll clothes is much more enjoyable and I might soon be able to start selling some of them. Stay tuned if you’re interested in that 🐱.

But, until then, I thought, why not share what I found/purchased/created online? It seems like a more efficient and time-saving way of sharing the same pictures and experiences with my current friends anyway, and I always wanted to give blogging a good try too ☺️

It also seems like a good time, distraction-wise, at least for me, to have something else to think about and do, other than worrying about our general global situation right now (you know what I mean… the certain pandemic and all the related unpleasantries that comes with it…). Escape to the small scale world in which we have so much more control than the real one, seems like a very welcomed change of scenery and pace…

Therefore, I want to share my collection of it’s inhabitants, as it grows 🙂

Three smallest ones. My first ever Barbie babies.

Toddler sized ones. I bought three on the left pre-owned. From the left – Evi Love (Simba), no name one that’s begging for a re-root and possibly a repaint, old fashioned Kelly with a switch on a back that makes her wave her arm. Bought shoes for two of them separately, still have none that would fit the Simba one, and knitted a dress for her only after taking this picture (will share it later). The crocheted and the longest one made myself, plan on posting about that later. The long one fits perfectly the soccer player Chelsea, but made it so it could fit these too. And the last three ones on the right each came in a set with the same skin color baby from the photo above. These toddlers seem to have an uneven under chin situation, unfortunately.

Chelsea sized ones. Bought both of these pre-owned. Chelsea came with shin guards, but with no shoes, gave her the one’s for this boy who’s supposedly called Tommy. Chelsea here surprised me as she can kick, but is unable to sit 🤭. And she has a peculiar torso shape as it hides the mechanism that makes her kick her leg when you press her down. After finding that out bought another one with a standard articulation and body type only with ginger hair, green eyes and a sloth 🦥 on a painted top, haven’t taken her picture yet though. I gave Tommy yellow sandals that I bought separately pre-owned and unfortunately he has some issues with uneven mold under chin, which as I found out, was a common issue. Might try to fix it somewhat with a sharp craft knife at some point.

My first ever Stacie. She came with a basketball, the stand with a hoop and a medal. Waiting for a delivery from USA of a similar sized boy with an art set.

My first ever Skipper with a similar sized boy. Bought this Skipper pre-owned, together with some Barbie clothes and accessories. The boy was new, came with a plastic baby bottle and a cell phone and also some cardboard accessories. Also bought a more articulated Skipper version with a surf-board, haven’t taken her picture yet too.

Petite body type ones. I love made to move level of articulation, but for sewing and fitting it’s also a good idea to have at least one doll of each body type that is more sturdy. Cheapest Fashionista level ones seem like a really good choice for that purpose. Both of these had different shoes (the ones in the photo I bought separately). Articulated one is from BMR1959, also had earrings, oversized jacket and yellow sneakers. And the one on the right was a pet vet one, which came with a grey cat, lavender crocs type shoes (😍 them, btw 😂), stethoscope and a white lab coat.

My curvy beauties. The one on the right has been re-headed, her body is the same as the one on the left, which is the one that my hubby bought me as a gift 🎁. I wasn’t planning on owning doubles, but when there was an online sale of this yoga series with no choice of which exact model you get, I played it as a lottery and ordered three hoping they would give me the one’s I needed to finish my collection. They did not give me doubles in this order, but as I already had a curvy one, I ended up with a double (and was still missing the darkest one). These ‘twins’ had grey and orange color tops with teal stitching and came with no shoes. The one in the middle is Fashionista which came with the ‘Dream often’ sweatshirt dress and white sneakers (both of which I gave to the one on the left) and she also had black sunglasses. The dress and the flats she’s wearing in this photo I bought from the lady I mentioned above. The doll on the right is wearing a blue dress with white polka dots that I made myself. This is actually the first curvy sized item I’ve ever made right after I got my first such doll. She is also wearing white 3D printed sneakers that my hubby resized and adapted for a curvy dolls feet. I also have the Pazette dark skinned curvy beauty from BMR1959, just waiting to take her picture.

Three others from the same Made to Move yoga series. All of them have the original body type. It took me quite a while and a lot of effort to find the one with the dark skin on the right 😅 I finally found her from a private reseller. They all came shoeless, BTW. Yellow sneakers belongs to the petite BMR1959 doll, and the others I bought separately pre-owned. The pink ones I remodeled myself as I didn’t like their shape before.

Three more of the original body type. From the left: first wave Made to Move ‘purple top’ (came shoeless, bought these transparent purple heels separately). middle one is Fashionista, she also had gold color hoop earrings. The one on the right is still a work in progress as I made her out of pre-owned scraps: the leftover body (from making a custom curvy made to move one in a blue polka dot dress above) and a head I bought separately and re-rooted some hair she was missing, which is a whole another story. She is still mising left hand as I bought her only for the head and in the previous home she had an unfortunate run-in with some animal which liked the taste of plastic, apparently… But I have a plan to fix it eventually, stay tuned, if you’re interested in how that goes. She’s wearing a stripped tropical floral pattern jumpsuit with a ruffled top and pearly aqua color heels (both bought separately and pre-owned). I have no clue from which model her head is. I bought is separately, and it was missing some strands of hair in the front and some of it was cut short in the back which gave me a chance to try out re-rooting doll hair for the first time using synthetic knitting yarn. Luckily one of the three colors I had matched almost identically her original color. I might try straightening it later to make it more silky.

My tall ones. The one on the left came with a basketball and the one on the right is a Fashionista. At some point I made switch the head of the left one with the redhead above as I like her face shape much more than this one and their skin tones seem to match.

My original body type Kens. The left one is from the BMR1959 series, and I switched his and the broad one’s (next photo) tops. He also had transparent glasses, a black belt pack and black slides instead of these red shoes that I bought separately in a Ken shoe pack. The one on the right is a Ken 60th Anniversary Doll 1 in Throwback Beach Look. Can’t wait until there’s slim and broad ones with Made to Move articulation too… And still need a Fashionista with slim body type.🙂 Also have the original body type Made to Move Fashionista in a wheelchair, and two other BMR1959 ones, just haven’t taken their pictures yet.

My first broad Ken. Switched his top with a BMR1959 above. This one seems to have a bit of a wobbly head IMO. Hope it won’t get too much worse.

My only one with rubbery legs (except for one broken headless body that I’m still keeping for experimentation purposes). Bought this one pre-owned for few euros together with the Kelly one above mostly because I was intrigued by her feet. Which proved to be quite unique, as she can’t fit any of the shoes I have, but at least they look quite well proportioned. Her joints are quite floppy though. And she also has a glue head issue, which makes her a candidate for re-rooting at some point. She is wearing the top and the skirt I made myself. I am also still making her some platform slippers to match this top.

So this is my current collection. I am still planning to get a few Fashionistas, as I still have none of the Kens with slim body type and the new, smaller bust Barbies. And like I said already, very much waiting for more made to move Kens with slim and broad body types. Would also love to find similar level of articulation for the ‘youngsters’ (Chelsea, Stacie and Skipper sized ones), especially the boys, but I not holding my breath for that. It seems like Mattel is focused on other things lately. But you never know…

All in all I love my collection. At this point it feels very well balanced and full enough for my taste and goals other than those two exceptions I mentioned. I love how diverse my small scale ‘neighbourhood’ is right now. That’s what I like about Mattel dolls – that there’s so many options that almost anyone can find what they are looking for.

I also have a few body-less heads of Barbies for experimentation with hair re-rooting and face repainting. The latter is something I currently have no experience with, but am very interested in. But for that I’d need to purchase some tools that I currently don’t own.

And for now, sewing, knitting and crocheting is what satisfies my need to make stuff in small scale 😏. Next photo series might be just that.

By Katie