Reader Leora asked how I organize the clothes for the girls. Let’s just say that I loosely organize their clothes.
Thanks to my generous husband, I have two decorative suitcases that I use. They’re really his, but when he heard me complain that I was running out of storage space, he promptly donated them to the cause. First, he gave me the red suitcase, and then later – as more and more things needed storage – the brown one. Let me also take a moment to express my thanks for a husband who not only tolerates the dolls and all their stuff, but actually likes them. A lot. The den, which is already crowded, has now become the home for the shelves displaying the girls and their suitcases. (We already had a sofa and a chair, several tables, two dollhouses, bookshelves, a stand for the television, and a china cabinet in here when the first of the girls arrived.)
The red suitcase interior:
Let me say that this can get messy quite quickly. It needs a bit of sorting, but this is the basic configuration. Pants, overalls, etc, in the upper left hand corner. Directly below, coats and jackets. Next to the coats – sweaters. Above the sweaters – tops and t-shirts. To the right – dresses. Below the dresses – skirts. And to the right – more dresses. But as I look at this, I see a dress among the sweaters and that will not do! So I’ll probably do a bit of straightening up today.
The brown suitcase: On the left – clothes for the BJD dolls (Wren and Lily) Below them – three stands, which are used for displaying the dolls when taking photographs. (I also use wooden skewers – in fact, I use them the most.) Above them – a stray deer hat meant for the Blythe girls. Above that – all of the Christmas sweaters. Interspersed among all these things are various boxes, mostly from shoe sources, which I’m sure I could throw out at this point. You’ll also see tights, tote bags and handbags, ribbons for their hair, a ziplock full of socks, and a the tin that my Fossil watch came in, which holds…
Shoes and boots. This isn’t large enough to hold all of the footwear. Fortunately, at any given time, the dolls are wearing 17 additional pairs of shoes/boots, so I don’t have to invest in a bigger container.
I also have three little cases that hold things like extra hands for the girls, eye chips, the tortoise shell glasses, a couple of wigs, and hats, hats, hats.
None of this is ideal, but I already have an office full of dollhouses and art supplies and I share it with my husband who has a LOT of guitars and amps. So I really can’t use that space at the moment. This seems to work nicely. I have the big suitcases right in front of the china cabinet. The little gold cases sit on top of a pile of books over in the corner.
I also have that charming cabinet for the girls that I got in an antique shop. I have yet to fill it with anything, but I’m going to add a clothes rod and put some accessories in the two drawers.
Yesterday, I gathered up my courage and unbraided Nina’s hair. Would she still have curls? Would I hate it and have to re-braid it?
The answer:
Oh my god! It’s gorgeous! She’s stunning. I’m going to trim the length just a bit – already started – but I love, love, love this. I can also pull the sides back and clasp them at the back of the head, have long braids, etc. Lots of possibilities. It’s made of mohair and it’s incredibly soft.
Nina came with a taller body – an OB 24, rather than the OB 22 a lot of my girls have. That means she’s 2 centimeters taller. Since she’s taller, I couldn’t fit her on a shelf, so I had to reconfigure the shelves. I’ll finish that up today and take some photos.
Sorry – an all Blythe related post today.
Stay safe.
Happy Thursday.
