Removing parts to get clothes on?

i've bought a few outfits where i've had to take heads and hands off because they are to tight. it doesn't bother me too much though.

 

Clothes that require removing a body part stress me out. I'm afraid of breaking something or being unable to get that something back on.

 

I've never had to remove a body part for a piece of clothing. Most of their clothing is either large enough to fit over their heads or has buttons/snaps/velcro. I wouldn't mind taking Ciel's head off to put a shirt on, but Colette's head is a bit harder to remove.

 

I'm willing to go as far as removing the headcap (it's magnetic, it comes on and off easily), but removing the head and hands is too much of a hassle to me.
I don't have clothes that are a tight fit for my boy, so I guess I don't have to worry about parts getting in the way.

 

I have lots of problems with it, but since I make all my dolls' clothes it's really not an issue. I just make the clothes so I don't have to.

I know some people have issues because velcro or snaps down the back of a tshirt isn't exactly how human clothes work, but there are just as many people who have absolutely no issue with it. When I started making these clothes I wanted to make them look and drape as close to human scale clothing as possible, but I had to acknowledge that these dolls are NOT human, and that requires certain concessions be made. Everyone has to decide what their own limits are, and mine do not reach to having to remove body parts.

Of course, having said that, I recently finished a shirt for my Yo SD that does require removing his hands - there was just no way to alter the pattern to make the sleeves go over his outsized hands without ruining the effect I was going for. Fortunately, he's got the Volks one touch system so it's a lot less annoying than it could be. (And fortunately, I have so many other issues with that pattern that I won't be making it again.)

Marcia.

 

I totally agree with you, LexehAnn.

I prefer my shirts to have no back openings, or else really discreet ones. That way they look so much more "real" in photos, and especially at meet-ups (when you never know at what angle someone is going to take a photo of your doll). Sometimes the back fastenings can ruin the whole shirt if badly done (like a really bulky bit of velcro, for instance).

Taking off the head is easily done in a matter of seconds, so it's a good trade-off, to me.

That said, I do have plenty of shirts with back openings, some really ugly, too, just cos they didn't make them without, and I really liked the shirt!

I'm also happy to take the doll's hands off for tightly-cuffed shirts. But that only applies to my pureskin MSDs, which have the one-touch system (you can pop the hand off and back on in seconds). I couldn't do it for my oldskin MSD *pats him affectionately*.

As someone who sews, though, I would consider giving clothes for sale back openings...just cos I know most people prefer that for convenience.

 

my kid has the one touch system...so its litterally a "pull off head cap, flip the switch" affair, when removing his head....

I prefer no back openings, which is find. Removing his hands is a far more taxing (impossible?) task without sticking a chopstick in there xD

 

I don't buy them. Even if I really like them, I just don't have the time to dink around with it. Wigs, well, you want to remove those so they don't get messed, but heads and hands are a bother.

Ah well though. ^^ I'll just enjoy those clothes on other people's dolls.

 

I have several shirts for my Narae that don't have any kind of opening in the back, they're just like people shirts and I don't want to mess up her face so I usually just pop off her faceplate (it's magnetic). With MNF Lishe I would either take off the head cap of use the one touch system and remove the whole head. With certain types of dolls removing the head or the face is easy but I can imagine with dolls like Angelregion Little Fair (where the S hook is attached to the head cap) it would be really annoying. Oh and hands....that would be the stopping point...I don't want to mess with that.

 

I wouldn't mind if I wasn't paranoid about not being able to put them back together! XD

 

I never make stuff that I have to remove body parts to put on. I don't like taking apart my dolls, and I like the challenge of trying to design outfits that use closures but still look good.

 

When was the last time you removed your head to get a shirt or a dress on? Our clothes are designed to have some type of closure or large enough to be pulled on over our heads. I think the same is true for doll clothes. What type of closure is up to you. I prefer a zipper or snaps or hooks and eyes. They lay flat and disappear in a seam if sewn properly. But that is just my opinion.

 

I love realistic looking doll clothes personally. Velcro and snaps take me back to my Barbie days, which I've happily grown out of. With our Aru's I wouldn't even touch their faces to take their heads off, I lifted them by the sides/ears if it was a problem. though it really wasn't when they had no wig on. nothing to get caught on. With Santino and Aiden I'd rather just take their head off than be sorry. It's those stupid, pointy ears. Get in the way of everything. I don't really have any problems with taking off hands either. I find taking dolls apart to be really easy. But that's probably because since I was little I've taken everything apart the second I get it. Even Santino was in pieces five minutes after we got him.

By the way, I know it's a bit off topic but can someone explain this one-touch thing to me? I understand it with the heads since both Santino and Aiden have it, but... with hands? How would that even work?

 

Volks' one-touch system isn't used by any other company, it's unique to their Pureskin dolls only. With the hands, you pull the wrist ball and hand out away from the arm. From there you separate the two slightly and pull just the hand, then twist it to rest the s-hook in the grooves on the wrist. After that, you can just slide the hand off the hook.

 

Somehow, this point always gets raised in a back opening/no back opening debate. ;-) I take the point.

But I'll also point out that human T-shirts and turtlenecks without back openings pull over human heads well enough, but that doll crew-neck T-shirts (not boat-neck or wide-neck) and turtlenecks (unless the neck is so large that it's more a cowl neck than a turtleneck) rarely pull over as well.

I don't really know why (not a proportionate amount of stretch in that small amount of fabric? resin is too hard? the doll's head is proportionately too large to the neck?). But the end result is that realistic-looking doll crew-necks and turtlenecks will often need back openings that human clothes don't need, in order to fit over the head, especially for dolls with the large head-to-neck ratio. Faced with this fact, I'd rather have clothes with no back openings, for photo-realism.

That said, this is just a preference, and I happily continue to buy clothing with back openings, because most of them come like that.

 

To prevent confusion, I'll start by saying that Volks' one-touch system and LUTS' new head removal system are completely different mechanically.

Volks' one-touch system applies only to the wrist and ankle areas, and are specifically designed for easy switching out of optional hand and foot parts. it was introduced in 2005, I think. The crux is a notch in the wrist ball that catches the S-hook when the hand is removed and prevents it re-entering the body.

LUTS' head removal system applies only to the head, for easy head removal. It was introduced in 2006, I think. The crux is a little piece of resin, like a switch, that keeps the head attached.

So, two different systems altogether. ^^ it's a bit misleading to refer to them both as the "one-touch" system.

 

Because I'm super lazy and would rather not have to remove anyone's head just to get him dressed, I prefer outfits that are easy to wear. Shirts, for instance. 90% of my boys' wardrobe consists of shirts, shirts and more shirts. I love shirts. =D I particularly like shirts with real buttons and buttonholes. Shirts with snaps don't look as "real". My boys have black shirts, white shirts, striped shirts and flowery shirts and I wish someone would start making batik shirts. Crazy Ed wants them. XD

 

I won't buy or make clothes that require the removal of body parts to put on. Back fastenings on t-shirts & jerseys can be done neatly so that they're hardly noticable. Tight sleeves can held shut with snaps on the cuff. I even sold a fabulous, limited outfit that came with one of my dolls because it required the removal of his head to get it on. The one thing I try to avoid though is velcro closures. I won't use it on anything I make & generally if it's on something I buy I take it off & put on snaps. It just looks & feels cheap.

I change clothes fairly frequently & wouldn't be comfortable popping heads or hands off so often.

 

I'd rather not too, but if it's an item I adore, I'd go trough some trouble ^^;;

When I make myself, I prever snaps or someting else... it's just so much easier xD

 

Not the head. I'd minimise all touching of the face-up. It's also a little hard since my doll's not exactly that loosely strung.

I'm sort of okay with hands and feet, but I would rather avoid it. I didn't have any problems with it at first... until the s-hook got knocked in and up when the elastic all the way to near the hip. >_> It was a nightmare trying to extract it. Since then, while I remove hands and feet if necessary, I tend to get really nervous about it. I'm also paranoid that in the end, the resin that keeps the metal hook to the hand (Volks one-touch system) might snap...