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It's been a while since I dissected the current selection of boy fashion dolls!  Fortunately, from a sewing perspective, while there are a lot of different bodies here, they aren't all that different! Here's a breakdown of the smaller-than-Ken-doll-boy-dolls currently made by Mattel.  On the smallest end, we've got Monster High, who is the only boy doll in this picture who is in 'Slimline' boy pattern size.    Everybody else: Reboot Monster High, BTS, Ever After High, "Slim" ken and the new "Original" ken are all 'Medium' boy pattern size.   The picture speaks for itself: Reboot MH boys and BTS...

I've been making patterns since 2013, and over the past year I've realized I had a problem I never thought I'd have: Too many patterns! Now, I (and plenty of you reading this) probably think 'more like not enough patterns!' and that is also true.  There's always room for more.  But like my overflowing fabric stash, there comes a point where 'a good, well-organized variety that always lets me find something I need quickly' becomes, well, an episode of Hoarders.  Pixels don't take up physical space, but over the last year I've been getting pretty regular questions from customers asking...

  This week's Materials Monday is all about fabric glues.  Eeeew, glue?  No nice quality clothing was ever made with GLUE!!! I get that a lot.  And I understand--I wouldn't glue my own clothes.  I need to wash them, and wear them around with lots of leg and arm moving.  And most of all, I don't need to use glue because all the things I'd glue are big enough to easily sew by hand or machine. But NONE of those things apply to doll clothes. Doll clothes you may need to wash, in certain unusual situations.  If so, it's best...

Last week's topic was assembling the skeleton, which only applies if you got the Final Boss grade cortex kit.  This week's tutorial is about hiding seams will apply to both Ninja grade or Final Boss grade.  You can kindof sortof get it to work on a pre-assembled doll, but the most effective method of seam blending (using plastic model cement glue to fuse parts together) won't work if you've already had your doll glued together. Wait, what about the assembling it bit?  Watch Danny's video.  Yes, it's long.  Yes, you should still watch it.  I watched it when it first...

I've been waiting for the Cortex Mirai dolls to come out for years.  That isn't an exaggeration--literally, years.  The reason is, I really like hard-bodied dolls with non-strung articulation.  Vinyl is nice and light, but it's like a stain sucking sponge, and you're always a little worried you're going to stick a pin through it when using it to fit for sewing.  Resin is nice and strong, but heavy and a paint in the butt to pose, even if you've sueded and wired the body.  You can make it easier to pose, but it will never really be able to...