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Organizing your doll clothing?

Feb 25, 2020

    1. I'm slowly coming onto a problem as I sew (and buy) more things for my doll- simply placing the clothes in boxes isn't too helpful!
      Particularly since I assume a lot of us have mixed sizes of dolls.

      How do you organize your doll's clothes?

      Do you hang them up?

      Sorting by color or style?

      What do you do when you have completely different themes of clothes?

      I'm half curious and half needing some ideas!
       
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    2. I mostly divide the clothes by which doll they belong to. I have a themed box for each "set" since all of my dolls are characters from my stories. For example, my medieval dolls use a trunk for their clothes and it doubles as a prop. My "extra" clothes go in a repurposed collectable doll case that just happened to look like a glass walled wardrobe.
       
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    3. I'm pretty lazy and cheap when it comes to storage, so I use this type of unit. I have plenty of closet space, so I just keep a few there, dividing drawers by shoes, pants, tops, dresses, or whatever. I also have a drawer devoted to wigs (of which I have far too many :sweat), and one for eyes, putty, elastic and tools. Maybe not the best system, but it works for me!
       
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    4. My bjd clothes are in boxes. Each size of bjd clothing gets its own box. I like shallow boxes with clear sides and clear lids. It's better to have 2 shallow boxes than 1 deep box. Also, I label each box with the bjd size, brand and sculpt.
      Knits don't wrinkle much, but large woven items might be better off on hangers to avoid wrinkles.
      I recommend you plan and work toward complete costumes instead of buying/making separates without a plan on how to combine them. I have too many items that don't go with anything else. Keep the various pieces of a costume together in a bag, so you don't have to hunt for items. If needed, you can hang a bag from the neck of a hanger.
      I'd also advise making a written or photo inventory as your collection gets larger and as time passes. I've bought the same shoes three times over the years! ARGHH!
      Keep in mind how much space you have for your items. I'm downsizing other collections to make room for my bjds. I wish I had a warehouse!
      Best of Luck!
       
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    5. I use 6 of the same units removed the wheels and top on 4 of them snapped them together stacked 3 high and placed them 2 wide in my master bedroom closet. Also I've labeled each drawer for each doll type ie: Tinyfairy, Pocketfairy, Venitu, iMda 3.0, iMda 2.6 you get the idea
       
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    6. I separate all my clothing in seasons and also by the doll they belong to, I don't have that many clothing but it is easy for me to find what I'm looking for that way or just explore my options when I feel like changing their clothes.
      I keep all the accesories in a separate box, also by seasons and type of accesory.
      The shoes alone get another box cause I have a bunch, and those I separate by the type of shoe (sandals, boots, sneakers...).
       
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    7. I put all my clothes in individual grip seal bags and store them in a large shallow storage tub. Putting everything in separate bags makes it easier to look through them I find, and keeps them neat and clean. (I do the same with my fabric now, and label each bag with the type of fabric, and aaaah it is so satisfying, especially when I remember the huge mess my fabric tubs used to be!)

      I suppose I have it easier because nearly all my doll clothes are SD size. I think if I had different sizes of clothing I would put them into different tubs for each size.
       
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    8. Because I display all my dolls in various vignettes throughout my home as though they’re art, I’ll just use whatever furniture I can find, usually sourced from thrift venues. To accommodate their accompanying wardrobes, I always try to carefully choose display pieces with storage drawers in addition. It’s not difficult to find used dressers, old TV cabinets, armoires, large trunks, etc. that have added storage in addition to ample display space. Then I put each complete outfit into zip-lock gallon storage bags, and find a drawer or trunk nearby that doll to put it in. I also have an entire drawer devoted to just shoes, and one for hats as well.
       
      #8 PoeticSoul, Feb 26, 2020
      Last edited: Feb 27, 2020
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    9. Really Useful Boxes.

      Some dolls (the ones who have a lot of clothes they dont' share with others/very individual style) have a box of their own, mostly the boxes are arranged by size and gender of doll (SD13 girl, Sd10 girl, SD13 boy, SD10 boy, MSD girl, MSD boy, Yo-SD boy, Yo-SD girl... etc. The shoes, and socks, and wigs hve their own boxes whihc tend to be devided by just doll size rather than devided by gender as well (the really useful boxes with devided trays come in various sizes and some are idea for shoes while others are great for wigs)

      I would LIKE to have most of the clothes on hangers and even bought a stack of doll sized hangers and some hangingrails, but - looking at it realistically, It's hard enough to take the time to stuff them into the correct boxes rather than leaving them in a heap when I've been dressing dolls, I'd never get around to putting them all on hangers, and hanging them up.

      Teddy
       
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    10. At the moment my organization amounts to putting individual doll's clothes in large freezer bags and squeezing the air out. Then storing them in a large doll box. I would like to figure out something else to do with them but that's a project for the future.
       
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    11. I have a human-sized dresser that I use half of for my BJD clothes.
      I used to also keep things like wigs and maintenance tools in there too but have recently moved the wigs to one of my doll boxes and the maintenance tools to my doll carrying bag so there's more room for the clothes in the dresser now.
       
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    12. Each of my dolls has their own box for their things. They're just shoebox size plastic totes from Target, but are perfect for keeping stuff clean and sorted. Their clothes, shoes, accessories, extra eyes/wigs and props go into the box. (Though all of my dolls only have one set of eyes and one wig, aside from Jane who has her "natural hair" and cosplay wig, and Sixx who has too many wigs and eyes for variety.) These boxes are sitting in a chest of drawers in the spare room, boys in the bottom two drawers, girls in the top two.

      Anything extra goes either in the closet or art cabinet. Extra eyes, s-hooks, string and faceup supplies are organized in the art cabinet in a little crafting box set with labeled compartments. Extra wigs are in a separate plastic tote and kept in their boxes or hair nets. I do have a few pieces of clothing that hang--formal wear, cosplay, lolita dresses and other things I don't want crushed or folded. They're on doll size hangers, hanging in the closet. Doll boxes are on the top shelf of said closet.
       
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    13. I sort my dolls' clothing by size into shirts, pants, outerwear, and large sets or dresses, and then place each of those into a zip lock gallon-size bag. The bags then get clipped together with a binder clip so I can pull out all of each size of doll clothing at once. I like to mix and match parts of outfits to make new looks, so this helps me "see" everything I have. All the bags are stored in a vintage hamper. Hehe.

      A few special dolls that have a lot of clothes (my Yuri on Ice dolls :: cough :: ) have a decorative storage box each. I redress them the most, so it makes it really easy to access their items. Aaaaaand, Victor has another box all to himself for his shoes. Because finding shoes that work on 5th Motif feet is a thing and I want them to be kept very nice. :whee:
       
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    14. Something I was going to do (but havent, I'm hammering out some kinks) is get a huge D-ring binder, and put clothing in page protectors, one item (or small set) per page (small items, like underwear and socks, can go into coin collecting pages, with multiple divisions), with a paper about what it is, who I bought it from, for how much, and when.

      The problem I ran into is that when you get into 1/3 dresses and pants, they dont fit in there without folding, and I have some things that will be way too thick once folded (ex coats, and dresses with long trains), or the item cannot be folded (ex, fake leather). I still dont know what I want to do with these items, so I'll be browsing this thread for ideas lol

      Full sets I keep together in their original box, if possible, or at least together in A box.

      Anything larger than that (I have an incoming Dollmore Trinity, 105cm) gets hung up on coat hangers

      I want to (eventually) keep eyes in clear acrylic boxes in foam padding (like a display), and shoes I tend to throw wherever, but some day I'll line them up nicely
       
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    15. I neatly sort the doll clothing into different boxes and drawers! The drawers I use are those craft drawers you can find at art stores, they are really great!
       
    16. I currently have my dolls' clothes in several clear plastic bins. My dolls are all tinies, so individual clothing pieces don't take up much space. I have the clothes divided by gender, and all the smaller dolls' clothes separate. I want to further divide things by who they fit so its easier to find the right thing for the right doll. Some of my dolls have similar body types, but everyone can't wear everything.
       
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    17. I separate items by type, pants...shoes...outerwear all go in freezer bags that I keep in a cardboard box (the kind that used to store bottles of wine and you can get free at liquor stores) with “doll stuff” scrolled on it in thick permanent marker. I moved in the last 18 months so I haven’t got around to unpacking fully yet.
       
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    18. This was a constant challenge for me as I have different size dolls. I finally got a bunch of white file folder boxes with lids and wrote the dolls' names on them (well I used removable adhesive notes). I have a metal shelving unit in the doll room. I keep the boxes on the unit so they are all in one place. I don't have any organization inside of the boxes but at least all of the clothing is doll specific.
       
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    19. First all clothes were in one box and of course there was a total mess. Especially if my cats opened it (have no idea how) and had a sleep in there. Now I seperate all my clothing by the doll it belong to and keep boxes away from my little furry robbers.
       
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    20. I do the same thing! Works really well and when one starts to get too full, I know it's time to go through and thin out.
       
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