do the shoes all seem a little big to you?

I agree with you. And it's not just MSD size! It does get frustrating, I just try to ignore it till something better comes along.

 

I think one of the reasons is because dolls' feet are inanimate and inflexible. While those of us wearing ladies 8 can comfortably fit into that size, dolls can't bend their foot to easily slip into the shoe. Also, taking into consideration the fact that most shoes seem to be made out of leather, and are also fairly inflexible (though admittedly more flexible than our dolls' fee!), it makes putting them in that much more difficult.

I have a 70 cm size boot that's roughly the same size as my 70 cm doll. It's really difficult for me to get his feet in those shoes, and I always worry about staining. However, with my 60 cm doll, who has the "clown shoes," it's much easier to put him in those. MUCH easier.

There's also the fact that cool-looking shoes (and let's face it, we all want our dollies to look cool!) are harder to make, especially at that scale. Granted, a few centimeters here or there probably don't make that much of a difference.

There could be other reasons than this, and I'm just pulling all of this out of thin air. It's entirely possible, and I reserve the right to be wrong.

 

I have this problem, especially with my Littlefee. Their feet are so little and the shoes are HUGE! She looks like she's wearing shoes like five sizes too big, big but I can't really find anything that fits better.

 

The smaller the doll, the harder it is to make shoes for them. I agree that it's hard to find MSD and smaller shoes that fit well. In any scale, going bigger than the actual foot size is pretty important unless the shoe is made of a very flexible material. If you've ever had to try to wrestle a resin foot out of a shoe that fits exactly right, you'll know why! (Getting a HDF shoe off a YoSD once led to an accidental restringing for me . . .)

With MSD shoes I think part of the problem is a tendency to make cute round-shaped shoes, which makes them look bigger and clunkier to begin with. I don't have any 1/4 girls so I don't know where you might find more refined shoes for them, but probably companies with mature minis would offer some leeway there?

 

When you say your doll's foot is 5.5 cm and the shoes are 6.5 to 7cm, are you measuring the whole of the shoe in that 7cm quote or just the inside of the shoe? I wondered about this myself when looking at my MSD shoes a long time ago and once I realized the reason they seemed so big was because it needed more than the size of the foot to really be able to count as a shoe and not just a firm sock. Many of the shoes I had for my MSDs fit the inner of the foot perfectly, in some cases they were even almost too tight, but when looking at the feet and then measuring the foot with the shoe on, it still appeared too big. The amount of material being wrapped around the foot can easily add up to a couple cm and make their feet look odd, but that is how it pretty much has to be for stability.

 

Not all MSD shoes are the same size. Releaserain on ebay for instance sells shoes that fir small feet, and Leeke does, and Fairyland. There's plenty of places, you just know where to look. A good place to start is the suitable discussion thread for your dolls.

 

Maybe it's because I currently have all boys but it really doesn't bother me so much when the shoes are a tad too big. I've known plenty of guys in real life who'se feet are simply BIG to the point of looking disproportionate, and really, I don't have such dainty feet myself so it never occured to me to be annoyed if the shoes were a bit large. I'd really prefer too big as opposed to too small, as after bringing home a pair of itsy bitsy 9NineStyle boots I was only saved by the fact that my DiM boy has ridiculously tiny feet which I switched out with the boy who was actually intended to wear them (who'se own feet got so stuck in them I feared I'd never get them out again).

This also goes to say that just becaus a doll is sculpted with small feet doesn't mean it's going to look proportionate either. I once bought my Glorydoll boy a pair of boots that fit his measurements exactly and they realy did fit him quite well, but once they were on and I stood him up, my sister who was in the room with me burst out laughing and pointed out that he looked like he was walking on tiny pinpricks. Really, he looked ridiculous and since then I actually purposefully buy shoes that are too large for him just so he won't look so odd.

 

On the disproportionate feet thing, I totally agree: on my 65cm+ boys they're usually in big shoes, especially my Crobidoll boys. I don't like them looking like they've got little feet, especially since Crobi boys have massive hands. Girls I can see being more of a problem.

 

I personally have had very little problem with shoes fitting right.
For small MSD shoes you could try Goodreau, they’re feet are rather small, and the shoes are very well made.

 

I have the same problem with MSD shoes.
All of them have 5.5 cm feet and when I do find smaller shoes
they're too small. (Like, 5.4cm for example in the case of Leeke.)
I prefer shoes that are about a half a centimetre bigger, because
if they're just as big, they're a pain to get on.

 

It seems to be too, that the shoes have been compared to 'clod hoppers' or the like.
I think it's because they are made to fit a 'general measurement' since every company's
doll as different measurements.

My Ringdoll boy's feet measure 7.5 cm but most shoes that fit the
SD and up size can go up to about 9 cm! I think it's definitely the size
range that makes shoes so flimsy.

MSD's always have very strange proportions from
company to company, it seems to me. @@

I'm sure it's indeed very frustrating.
(I hope you weren't offended by her laughter. lol)

 

And I find big shoes on small legs quite adorable **
Especially when it comes to boots....

 

My dolls usually wear boots, so if they are too big it doesn't matter too much.

I know that with shoes, if they are too big, they look bad and will fall off! But most companies have to err on the large side because doll-feet vary a bit and if they are too small, then that would definitely not work.

Most of my dolls seem to find fitting shoes pretty easy. They don't seem to always run too big.

 

Coming from someone who has several dolls, both SD and MSD size, with giant feet, I'm glad shoes are on the large side. I've had trouble in the past finding shoes that fit one (or four) of my dolls who can't wear anything smaller than 8.5 cm (inside measurements) and I've got a couple bigfoots in my MSDs too. This means the small footed must deal. I buy shoes that fit the largest feet (to an extent...the Glamor Model and EID have their own shoes) and everyone shares.

I am having trouble with the Zaolls though. The SD shoes are too big and the MSDs too small...must keep looking....

 

You need to shop around more, it took me a while to find shoes that actually fit my dolls. Some that are made for the dolls in particular run a little big, others run too small. Some are boots and leather like which are big anyway, even boots on human feet will at times run bigger. Lighter shoes like canvas pumps will fit your dolls probably more snuggly. Dale Rae makes the best fitting shoes in my opinion, especially for slim feet MSD.
I remember when it was either get MSD shoes or Minifee/Unoa size, but now MSD feet on the whole have gottena lot smaller. If you look for Minifee, Unoa, Narae size, they may fit alot better.
I remember the days of searching on Ebay for Serendipity size clothes for my dolls when slim MSDs were quite rare to me.

 

I would rather have the shoes be a little bigger than necessary over too small or "just right". My Hound has a pair of dress shoes and while they fit him perfectly in size, they are a pain to take off. Honestly I wish they were a little bigger, comical feet be darned. As someone mentioned earlier, since the feet aren't flexible like ours, wiggle room is nice. I have to manhandle my boy's foot and the shoe for like 7 minutes in a sad looking attempt to wrestle them off.

Have you tried the company specific to your doll for shoes? Sometimes they may offer more specifically sized ones.

 

I find Musedoll Petite and Soom's Rosette Dolls shoes to be on the smaller size of the mini foot spectrum.

I know how frustrating it can be when it seems like something that looks so perfect in pictures end up looking ridiculous when your kiddos wear it. Ahh, good days lol.

Above all, I wish you the best of luck!

[ETA]

Forgot to add Fairyland's, too. Loved it when those shoes got stuck on my Unoa's big feet.