Choosing your doll's clothing....

What is the limit between overdressing and underdressing a doll, for you?
I am definitely influenced by the money... for me, I prefer to get crafty and build my skills at making things like clothes, even if I'm not 'there' yet... but there have also been times when I've just had to buy a 'nicer' piece. But... the boys I have right now are MOSTLY casual dressers anyway, at least day-to-day. It's nice to have nicer pieces that they can be dressed up in for special occasions/photoshoots, but I don't think it's 'underdressed' (in a bad way) for them to spend most of their time in cute tee shirts or pajamas. I think with mini and yo-sized dolls, you can get away with that more, perhaps? With the really big dolls, even if they dress in casual basics, it's so much easier to spot if something is 'wrong', and you want those basics to look well-made and 'real' rather than wanting everything to be 'cute'.

Regarding the first question, do you also take into consideration the doll's value, when buying it clothes?
Nope-- who gets what spent on them has nothing to do with what I paid for the dolls themselves, it has to do with how much I would need to do/spend for the doll to look the way I envision them.

Does owning the doll itself as a possession mean more to you than the way it's dressed?
Yes, in a sense-- I haven't really stressed out in the past about making sure my dolls would come home to a 'nice' outfit. I've wanted to get the doll itself in my possession, and then building up a wardrobe for them could be a continual process. It's okay for them to wear some junky pieces early on, just to keep them from sitting around totally nude while I hunt for the perfect look-- but I do like once I finally have at least a couple pieces that are good enough by my standard, or I've found just the right accessory to bring a look together. It's a nice sense of accomplishment, even if the outfit is really casual, when it's finally made up of individual pieces that are well-made and look good, whether they're handmade by me or purchased.

Planning a doll's outfit based on its given back story/character...?
I definitely take character into account when I look for wardrobe pieces for my boys-- except for Billy, who I did make plans for, but abandoned all of them when my sister made him the most fantastic little dino costume. But character informs my other choices, even down to what color a basic prop is, or even what color of little storage container I keep their individual belongings. In Pete's case, it's largely a color scheme that I keep him to. With Vince, he just likes dressing up in anything and everything, so I don't have to worry about what style things I buy, but I do think 'this shirt goes with these pants, these shirts go with this pair of shorts, these two things can go together if it's what I pull out when I want to change him but I prefer to keep them paired with X'.

Does makeshift/sale clothes/generally dressing a doll in very cheap clothes count as doll mistreating/negligence to you? Or as owner-side-only gratification with the possession of the doll itself...
Not at all! I mean... I would think it was very odd for someone to consistently leave a doll they had worked hard for wearing a badly-sewn sock dress or a cheap body stocking without something over it, rather than work on building up a wardrobe. But, sometimes life happens and if you are the type to get the doll and then slowly build up a wardrobe that suits them as you get to know what you (they?) like, you might hit setbacks along the way. You might not find the right outfit for a long time, or want to do your own sewing but feel frustrated with your early efforts. OR, you might be really proud of those efforts, even if someone else sees them as 'makeshift'. And if that's the case, your dolls' outfits will get better with time and practice. But how long it takes, that's nobody's business but the owner. And if you only dress them when you want to take them out to meets or photograph them, and the rest of the time you prefer to keep them in a body stocking with their clothes stored away nicely somewhere, that's also a personal choice.

For persons who also have a particular OC/character assigned to a doll, does the way it is dressed influence your perception of your doll/OC?
Hm... not really. It's more that I try to make my clothing decisions for them based on the character they're meant to be. But sometimes I guess it does work out the other way around-- like Billy's dinosaur costume being too cute to take off, which kind of makes him look sleepier/cuddlier/sweeter/younger than he might have been if I'd built up the wardrobe I'd first imagined. And Vince spends more time in casual wear than I first intended, which makes him feel more rough-and-tumble playful and less of a spoiled, demanding little prince-in-his-own-mind. But... with Vince, he does have both a playful side and a more spoiled side, it's just a matter of which one he dresses more like more of the time.