Prettie Girls Tween Scene Outfit Sets: Rockstar Rage

Back in late August I took some photos of one of the Prettie Girls outfit sets. The lighting was less than ideal so I didn't post them at the time, but I've since noticed that there aren't many reviews of these floating around, so I thought there might be some worth to putting them up regardless of the photo quality.

The particular outfit that I picked up is called "Rockstar Rage". It includes 6 pieces: a t-shirt, dress, pair of socks and pair of shoes. The dress is faux leather, the top has a shiny pink body with leopard print sleeves, and the socks are camoflage.  The shoes are pink converse-style and made of the same soft plastic as the doll's default footwear.

The clothing quality is in-line with the default outfits that the dolls arrive in and fits the doll (in this case, Dhara) well.

But enough talk, let's look at some photos!

Attack of the Giant Barbies: Can SD-range BJDs wear Barbie BFF outfits?

Mattel has been putting out extra tall Barbies at regular intervals for years, but yesterday was the first time I realized that they actually sell extra outfits for their 28"/71cm BFF line.  And since that's roughly the same size as a number of SD+ (65cm+) sized BJDs, I naturally wondered if this meant we now have a mass marketed supply of giant doll clothes, and so brought one of the outfits home

The tag that caught my attention.

Today's photos aren't the best, but I thought this was too interesting of a find not to share.

Doll Clothing Review: Yoga Chic (My Life As)

American Girl Kaya in the "My Life As" Yoga outfit.

I was wandering through Wal-Mart's toy section the other day planning to take photos of a ridiculous Barbie (the subject for a future post), when I spied the "My Life as a Yoga Instructor" doll on the opposite shelf.  I was tempted to pick up the doll just for the mini yoga mat that was included with her, but saner heads prevailed and instead I picked up one of the tie-in outfits, called "Yoga Chic".

The "My Life As" is a line of 18" play dolls that retail in the $25-$30USD range.  They're similar in size to American Girl/Our Generation/Maplelea/and other dolls of that style.  The individual outfits are generally less than $10USD, which puts them in a significantly lower price range than comparable pieces from American Girl, so I was curious to see how they would compare.

Shopping for Dolls: Wilde Imagination

The "Bitter Cold" outfit

Back at home at last!  But my camera seems to be MIA, so please forgive today's photo quality!

A few weeks ago I ordered a pair of outfits during the one of Wilde Imagination's regular sales; The "Bitter Cold" outfit and the "Seeing Red" dress.  Both items were on sale already, so that was an additional bonus.

As you might remember from my review of my Ellowyne Wilde line Lizette Spice, I liked the doll and her basic outfit, but didn't adore them, so I was curious to see what the non-basic outfits would be like.

The package arrived within two business days (as happened with the doll), so again I'm very impressed with their packing/shipping times.  I wasn't home to open it up that early, but it's still solid service that's worth mentioning.

Upon coming home and picking up the box, the biggest surprise was the sheer size of it:  the box for these two outfits was just as large as the one that had come when I ordered a doll!

Look at the size of this box!

The size of the box was somewhat excused by the size of the inner packaging (although there was quite a bit of extra space as well) - each outfit had an additional thick cardboard box inside:

The second layer of packaging

Within each of those was another box, this time the decorated Ellowyne Wilde-branded ones:

The "Seeing Red" Dress box

Inside the dress box, was an inner layer of thin board to which the dress was stitched to.  That part was wrapped in a layer of tissue:

Seeing Red Dress

The Seeing Red dress is simple in style but is a lovely colour and a solid quality material.  The dress portion isn't lined, but the top is.  The buttons on the front are non-fuctional; the dress closes via a series of snaps up the back.  Being a fairly simple piece of clothing, it's easy to get on the doll, and has a classic look:

Lizette in the Seeing Red Dress

The Bitter Cold outfit, containing more pieces, came in a larger inner-box (and one with a clear plastic window):

The Bitter Cold outfit

The top adds too much bulk.

As with the red dress, this outfit was stitched to an inner layer of board.  The full set included leggings, a top (which turned out to be leotard-style), a coat and boots. 

I quite like the style of this outfit, but unfortunately the quality was hit-or-miss.  The leggings on their own are fabulous:  they're a nice quality material, an in-scale print and they're lined which is wonderful.  On their own, they fit the doll perfectly.  Unfortunately though, because this outfit's top is a leotard, there's extra bulk on the doll when the two pieces are worn together, and because of that it's near-impossible to get the leggings to close.

The too-small left boot

The boots were even more disappointing.  the colour (a dark blue) goes perfectly with the colours in the leggings, and the style is an eye-catching one - lace-up high heels, slightly higher than ankle-length.  Unfortunately though, the quality doesn't live up to the appearance.  The first challenge was just getting the books on as the zippers on the backs are both weak and stick easily (I had a similar problem with the boots on my Tonner DW Martha Jones).

The tip of the heel.

Even after getting the zippers unzipped, only one of the boots went on as the right boot turned out to be too small for the doll's foot.  And then to top it off, it turned out that the glue on right heel tip had started coming off, and the tip was hanging off of the boot.  That's an easy one to fix at least!




All of that said, the coat didn't disappoint, and is a solid thickness, is nicely lined and has solid details.  Still, with all of the other issues with this outfit, I'm very pleased that I didn't pay full price for it.

The Bitter Cold outfit (minus the boots).

Shopping for Dolls: adbarttelt/Rhinnaco for AG

Clothes modelled by AG Cécile and SewDolling Madison

I'd seen photos from Rihanna and Co pop up on Flickr a couple of times, and thought her stuff was cute so when I saw listing a decent-sized lot on eBay for a low(ish) price and thought "Why not?"

The package arrived fairly  quickly and was well-packed for shipment.  The outfits themselves were each individually packaged in clear plastic as well.

The lot included one pair of pyjamas, one skirt/t-shirt set, one skirt-halter set (which I'd actually thought was a dress based on the sales photos), a t-shirt/legging set, and a shirt/tank/legging set.  The first thing I noticed was that the items all mix-and-match well, so that's always nice to see.

Outfit #1 will be the Halter/skirt set:  the material is a light sundress-type fabric with a colourful geometric design.  The skirt is just above knee-length, has three tiers and is well sewn.  It has an elastic waist that is tight enough to allow it to sit in a number of positions on the doll.

The top is the same material (giving the outfit the look of a dress) with the neck-tie being a green ribbon.  The ribbon is a little small for my tastes (I'd have rather seen a slightly thicker one), but it's fully functional, which is the most important thing.  The top is well-sewn, but there are a few ends that needed to be trimmed off (I only noticed them after I'd already taken photos).

This was actually the outfit that I was most uncertain about (I'm not usually a fan of outfits that show the cloth-body/vinyl limb joints, but this one has really been growing on me. 



Outfit #2 is the t-shirt/skirt set.  The top is a white t-shirt with a printed yellow-and-brown animal design.  It's made out of a fairly thin material, so it should work well layered under a jacket or cardigan.  It's solidly constructed and opens completely down the back, which is fantastic for play (although less so if you're wanting to take "realistic" photos from the rear).

The skirt is similar in style (and of a similar material) to the one from Outfit #1, but is slightly shorter and uses a differently patterned fabric.  I quite like the look of this skirt, but the back is less well-finished than any other item in this lot - it's functional, so the dress will hold up to play, but it does look a bit messy when you flip it over.

I actually wish I'd thought to photograph these pieces with other items, because I think that both of these pieces work better with other items than they do together.

Outfit #3 is the t-shirt/capri leggings set.  The t-shirt is constructed exactly like the one in outfit #2, but I found both the light blue colour and the pink and grey print to be quite a bit more appealing (some of that may be the way the colour works with this doll's eyes, of course).  The material also appears to be slightly thicker on this one.


The capri-length leggings are made of what feels like the material used in track (or yoga) pants, and are solidly-constructed and neatly finished.  They have an elastic waistband and are made of a stretchy material, so I expect that they could be worn by dolls of a wider range of sizes than some AG clothes allow.  They're also a nice solid neutral grey, so they're a great mix-and-match piece.



Outfit #4 is the tank/shirt/leggings set.  The tank is basically a plain sleeveless version of the t-shirt from Outfit #2, although it is slightly longer than the t-shirts.  The leggings are similarly a longer, black version of the capri ones - again well constructed and nicely finished.

The highlight of this set for me is the plaid shirt with front ties.  It's brightly coloured, well-finished, a nice thick material and - for me at least - very visually appealing. 


The final set is the pyjamas, which I didn't  open as they're a gift for a friend's daughter, but I'll share them here in case anyone wants to see what they look like (and what the inner packaging looks like).

Overall, I'd happily recommend these items - especially for people looking for basic items, or looking to add to a play collection.

Shopping for Dolls: The Volks USA Clearance Sale

Earlier this year, Volks USA closed their California showroom and relaunched their online shop.  During that process, they had a weekend clearance event that saw their stock offered at some impressive discounts.

I tried to grab a number of outfits, wigs and dolls (the Dollfies in particular were steeply discounted), but the competition was fierce, so in the end what came home was two outfits, a random pair of wigs and some paintbrushes.  The wigs turned out to not be to my taste, but the outfits were both ones I'd been wanting, and turned out to fit larger-than-standard dolls, so that's what I'll be sharing.

Outfit number one, called "Hoodie set" is a navy blue track suit with white an lighter blue piping and strips.  It's designed for the Volks SD17 model which is a 65cm, narrow-bodied dolls, so I wouldn't have expected it to fit a broad-bodied 70cm Iplehouse EID, and yet it does.  I've been looking for a track suit for Murad (EID Chase) for years, so I was thrilled to find that it fit.

EID Chase in the SD17 Hoodie Set

The school uniform set - under layers.

The second outfit is called "School Boy Set" and includes a grey tank top, a white uniform shirt, a tie, a camouflage  jacket and black cargo pants.  It's designed for the Volks SD13 doll, which is a 60cm doll.  Being made of less flexible fabrics than the track suit, it can't fit quite as wide a range of sizes, but parts of it do work on André, my Dollzone Alpha which has a 68cm body.

The pants fit this doll perfectly at the waist but are a good 1.5cm too short.  Luckily, this is easy enough to hide with tall boots (this particular doll is quite narrow for his height, so often ready-made 70cm pants are too loose on him).  The tank top is perfect though.

The shirt and jacket are really too tight around the shoulders, so they'll be moving on to a different doll, but André did get to try them on.  All of the pieces in this outfit are of really fantastic quality, so I'm quite pleased with this outfit (and with the number of pieces included in it).

The camouflage jacket.

The shirt and tie.

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Clothes shopping for MSDs: Guess Doll

Two outfits spread out over 3 dolls.

One of the added money-sinks of getting into ball-jointed dolls is that the relative price of ready-made doll clothes tends to be proportional to the price of the dolls, which is to say high.  That tends to be offset by the fact that these guys are large enough that sewing for them is less of a challenge than it is for smaller dolls, so it does even out on that front.  Unfortunately for me, my sewing machine broke when I moved, so I've been watching for alternative clothing sources.

One clothing line that caught my eye was Guess Doll.  I've primarily seen the clothes sold through the dealer Denver Doll Emporium - shipping costs from them had turned me off when I was on the other side of the border, but now that I'm based in the US, I decided to order a couple of outfits and hope for the best.

The two outfits sets that I ordered ("Casual Affair" and "Cagey") were both in the $50-$60 range, which is quite reasonable considering the number of pieces included (two tops plus jeans in the first, and three tops plus jeans in the second).  I wasn't hugely impressed with the darker jeans from the "Casual Affair" set, which seemed a little thing and with only basic detailing, but everything else exceeded my expectations.  In fact, I would say the the quality is almost on par with some doll clothes that I've seen listed at twice the price.

Lumedoll Atik in the "Cagey" jeans and hoodie.

Withdoll Aiden in the "Casual Affair" tank and jeans.
These jeans were my least favourite item in the bunch.

JID Boris in the "Casual Affair" overshirt

SDC Miko in the "Cagey" t-shirt

SDC Miko in the "Cagey" jacket and t-shirt

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