Hi everyone, recently we saw an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about how lots of new 18 inch dolls are coming out. You can read it here.
In our view, this suggests an opportunity for each of you – if you want to begin targeting one of these dolls for your sewing business – it might prove to be a good niche. The other thought that comes to mind is that we’re going to need more people customizing our patterns to fit these various sizes. If any of you are interested in partnering with us in that way, (like Maiden Flight is doing with Karito Kids), just let us know. Obviously to do it you’ll need the ability to take our pattern and modify them to fit the new doll correctly, then work with us to publish the pattern guidebook.
Food for thought!
Jason & Cinnamon
24 Comments on Attack Of The Tall Dolls
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Very interesting article. I will have to give this some thought. My nieces love the new Monster High dolls, but I’m not sure how tall they are. They’d be fun to design for!
this is really great I have been collecting dolls for years! it is nice to see more 18″ dolls in the market ( I have a few) my daughter has AG dolls I just bought my first one(kanani), I have had customers ask me to make daughter dolly sets and I am so happy I came upon this Liberty Jane partnership to offer them more “hip” clothing options, than the twirl skirts or crochet poncho sets.
as for the monster high dolls they are the same size as Barbie 11 1/2″ I have a few of them they are a bit slimer than barbie also
This article sounds like a great opportunity for starting a new home grown business. The hard part is deciding what doll to custom cloth.
I started collecting the AG dolls from estates and yard sales, so my decision is made.
Love your articles and patterns. Hope to have my webite up and running soon.
When my granddaughter got a American Girl doll for Christmas from the other gramma, that is when I started to sew for her because I like the doll. I do not like those other 18″ dolls and I do not like the Barbie doll, that is why I will stick to AG. That is just my opinion. I like to do this for my enjoyment too.
The BFC Ink dolls are very cute! I am going to order one and get started on some outfits. The AG patterns should work on these, just maybe slimmed down a bit to fit.
I agree, the BFC Ink dolls are really cute! We have one and although she’s the same height she’s very slim compared to an AG. Her feet are also too small to wear AG Shoes. The great thing is that they are sold at places like Target and Wal Mart, so there are a lot of them out there! Clothes for these dolls is a great idea!
Got a BFC Doll today! She is made a lot different than the American Girl dolls!All hard plastic and jointed everywhere!The face is beautiful!Will take a lot of downsizing your patterns to fit right, gonna give it a try!Wish me luck! I will send you an email after I get fist one completed (if I do)and see what the next step is. Thanks for all the opportunities!
Good luck! 🙂 Since the doll is so much thinner, it might be easier to use the clothes that she came in to create a base pattern and go off that – just a thought…
yep, just what i was thinking, her jeans dont have pockets, so i will have to redesign that area,,but i already done that with the mini skirt pattern to ad pockets to that.
I love all dolls. I have not seen the BFC inc dolls, but I think I will love them, the Moxie Teenz look very cute too.
I have made a lot of doll clothes in the past and have even sold a few. I do have an etsy and ebay accounts, but really haven’t put them to use; I hope to change that. I even have a blog but my limited computer knowledge has really slowed my success. I really love your designs and all the other partner designs and am looking forward to jumping off here with you. After I figure out what I’m doing I may be interested in designing for one of the above mentioned dolls 😀
Thank you for the fun opportunity. sweetscraps (Donna)
btw I’m sweetscraps online everywhere. including scrapbooking
ok so I went to target today to buy a BFC doll, I have to do more research on them, I was not really impressed. Are these dolls really that popular?
If anyone is interested the new line of BFC (theyhave swimwear on) is being sold intarget for 19.99 they even have a boy doll for those who may be interested in boy doll clothing design.
Just to clarify, there are two types of dolls that BFC makes. One is 18 inches tall and the other is more like a barbie, I’m guessing that the barbie size has a boy doll. The large dolls collection is just girls, that I know of.
OK, never mind 🙂 I just saw an 18 inch boy doll online at walmart.com hmmm, this might be a popular item for tween girls that have alot of girl AG’s. ha ha! Funny that BFC doesn’t have that on their website.
OK, got the trendy tee pattern for the BFC doll done, still tweking the jeans pattern,so skinny, not happy with the length and how they lay on top of the shoe,to tight at ankle, but dont want bells.workin it out. made a pair of skinny jeans, does yours fall at the ankle bone?Idon’t have your skinny jeans pattern yet, so not sure on the length.
Thanks for sharing this article with us. It’s definitely incentive to keep at it. I always hated making Barbie Doll clothes — they were so small that they were a pain to try and sew with a sewing machine, but I had always loved making clothes for my kids when they were younger. When they started sewing for themselves, I turned to AG dolls and fell in love with designing fashions for them.
As an aside to Sweetscraps:
Don’t let limited computer skills worry you or hold you back. Cinnamon can attest to my own very sadly lacking computer skills. She’s had to put up with them on more than one occassion. But I have really been helped by the articles here on the LJC PP site. Time and time again they have pointed me in the right direction to get the information I needed to develop another computer skill required to grow my endeavor. I’ve still got a long, long way to “grow” my computer skills, but thanks to the information on this Liberty Jane site–I now have some hope and direction.
Thank you. I anticipate many good things. I have soooo much in my head, if I can just bring them to fruition
I fell in love with Liberty Jane doll clothes when i first stumbled across the website when looking for ways to make doll clothes on Youtube. I have since ordered several patterns and the Design Academy e-book. I have made a few outfits for my niece and she adores them! I learned how to make Fashionista Cloth Dolls that are 22″ and I am in the process of trying to scale Liberty Jane patterns to fit them. What a challenge since my tailoring skills are nil. But I’ll keep at though. Thanks Cinnamon for giving us the opportunity to join as partners.
I finally found a doll that my granddaughter loves, it is the BFC, Ink. dolls. I have been adjusting other AG patterns to fit them. I have also downloaded I believe all their patterns from Liberty Jane. I have been crocheting dresses for the 18″ modern doll for years, just did not know how to market them. Now I do. Thanks Jason and Cinnamon for sharing all of your knowledge and experiences with those of us that just didn’t have the know how!
I think I’ll stick with the AG Doll to start with. My daughter had two of them and we still have all of her AG dolls, clothes and accessories. I need to just get my little corner carved out and then decide if I want to branch out…Do appreciate all the info.
What about coming up with entirely new patterns altogether? I’m experimenting with drafting currently and have been a sewer since I was 3 years old actually.
I too love to design new outfits. I use a pattern as just the scaffolding and then go wild from there! That’s where the fun is!
I have a journey girl and would like to contribute. This would be fun.