Sock dresses and the anger they seem to generate.

I can't help wondering what the outside world would make of this thread.

Everyone just have a chocolate:

 

*takes chocolate* I'm sure they would laugh quite a bit

 

Oddly enough, I don't like chocolate too much...

Can you even fathom the trolls?!

 

The trolls would have a field day with this thread!

 

No offense to anyone, but to me this is my favorite response of why you would try to go for the doll first even if you can't afford the accessories. Though, I would personally prefer to leave them nude...

 

As would I. I'd like nothing better than a naked Dollshe Van. . . an angelic wig and face up. . . it would be a crime to clothe him. At least to me.

 

I have nothing against them-- as long as they don't look like socks, you know? I mean, don't cut arm and neck holes and call it a dress.

 

I've never understood buying a doll that cost you (general you) several hundred dollars and then shoving them in an old used sock that LOOKS like an old used sock.

I'm not talking about folks who do lovely things with the fabric, I'm talking about grabbing that old tube sock that looks kinda greyish and malformed, cutting the toe off and tying a shoelace around the middle.

I'd rather keep my doll in the box until I can buy or make some okay looking clothes.

And as Baakay said earlier, having standards does NOT make you a snob. Having standards is a good thing I think, it's when you get unreasonable with your standards that things get ridiculous.

This whole topic makes me giggle, I never knew there were so many sock-isms and anti sock-isms

 

You know... a sock poncho would be even easier. Cut off the ankle and the toe and just drape about the neck! I want to find some hideous cheap socks and experiment with this idea. Did anybody really start an ugly sock dress challenge thread? If not, I may have something to do with my insomnia!

I have to admit that there is something about the ease of putting on/removing a sock dress. This really came to mind the other day when I didn't want to re-dress my boy at a doll meet because it was just too much of a pain to do all those darn buckles on his shoes. Trying to get his pants into the shoes was such a process. A sock dress would have been easier to take on and off.

 

Yes, but would it have looked as nice as your boy's outfit?

Even if I didn't collect BJDs, I might still have collected their outfits and shoes. I find miniatures fascinating and I love the attention to detail given by Dollheart and AnotherSpace2. Their clothes may be expensive, but the detail is amazing and I don't mind paying a lot for something that's going to last and look beautiful.

I can appreciate how someone might take a sock and create something from it, but just cutting off the toe and cinching it at the waist with a hair elastic isn't the same level of creativity.

 

Well, I was speaking about unwritten standards. NOT what's in the rulebook or breed standards (where there really aren't gold standards, just correct type etc - no mention is made of how much said animal should cost), but what people in the sport/breed/hobby/fandom generally expect and consider acceptable. Just clarifyin'. I would say that there are certain expectations considering scale of props and clothing, correctly set eyes, tidy wigs etc that many people would point to as preferring without actually thinking about it like a specific standard. I'm just speculating there from the types of advice and critiques you run across in areas of the board where such things are asked for and allowed.

As others have mentioned numerous times, there is far more range than dreaded sock dress and expensive high-end clothing. Nekkid, homemade clothing, and inexpensive clothing are all totally viable depending on your taste and situation . . .

 

*laughs* Appreciated. I was going by the part about anyone wanting to participate and place well in the judging needed to do research. My only experience has been research into breed standards, anatomy, and such for my artwork (but that was mostly photographic research). So I certainly don't know anything about the actual competition or what goes into it.

And that really is the key thing, "depending on your taste and situation . . ." Although, after spending a lot of time trying to design clothes, shop for appropriate fabric, and draft patterns. . . cutting a few holes in a sock has its appeal.

 

I have been reading this instead of sleeping.
So. Is...is this actually a constant issue? Are there significant numbers of people posting extensive galleries of 10-second chopped-up grimy socktube garb?

 

This.

I really don´t mind sock dresses as a makeshift/temporary cover, or when the owner has obviously made an effort to make them look decent when taking the picture (that "little black dress", for example, just worked).

But there is a certain attitude that is growing in society, that bugs me to no end - people expect praise and reward for little to no effort. Sock dresses bother me in those cases where they come across as exemplary for this attitude, or rather, it´s the attitude that comes across that bugs me rather than the sock dress itself.

Someone who posts a picture in the gallery usually expects, or hopes for, a "reward" in the form of positive feedback. Most people make some effort to actually warrant this feedback.
It´s not a question of expensive outfits and/or props, camera, sewing or photoshop skills.

It´s a question of taking care to take a picture that is in some way pleasant, entertaining or otherwise appealing (in the widest sense) to look at. This includes quick snapshots, or pictures that might not be perfect - but fun. The attitude one has when taking a picture usually comes across.

But if someone does not care enough to produce a picture that is in some way appealing to the viewer, it reeks of entitlement to expect people to look at that picture and take the time to leave nice comments.

 

I've never actually made a dress out of a sock but the idea is intriguing! I imagine someone with flair and nimble fingers could make something pretty funky out of a sock, I don't know why I haven't tried.... in fact I am converted, what's wrong with all of us creatively that we don't go down the sock route, h*ll, there should be prizes for the best sock dress!!!

The vast majority of people I have met on this board and in "the hobby", are lovely, funny, warm individuals but of course we also have some sneering sourpusses out there too. Being British I haven't the foggiest idea what a "sharpie" is or why this implement is so reviled, but if you can create a face for your doll with one, then more power to you. Then put it in the mystical sock dress and take some killer photos and spam them all over the boards... because if you get a kick out of it and you are enjoying your doll in the process then you seem to have nailed this hobby!

Besides, what the h*ll else do we do with all the odd unpartnered socks in the back of the dresser drawer?

This isn't a brag, but in the last few years I have, for once in my life, had enough disposable income to buy some dolls and get them some gorgeous Val Z dresses. They look stunning in the cabinet and I am very happy BUT I intend to make all their costumes myself as soon as I have time (I'm still working on the "skill part"), so if I didn't have the cash to buy them the lovely dresses right now, while I wait to get creative, I would definitely have made them "stop gap" clothing out of paper hankies or doilies or even socks, why not? Why not?


Why Not? Why Not? That's the bit I don't get, not about this thread, i mean the attitude that inspired this thread. It's just people enjoying their dolls, leave them alone, just be happy that they are having fun

PS: What is a troll?

 

A bit OT for this thread, but Sharpie is a brand of permanent marker pencils and the ink of those markers stains the resin of dolls horribly. A face-up made with Sharpies would be very permanent.
In this regard a sock dress is less shocking as you can take those off without too much effort.

 

And this is why I don't sew . For I fear that even if I spent the time getting fabric, cutting it out, pinning it together, sewing it, it would end up looking like a hacked up sock. Even if I wasn't using a sock and wasn't trying to make a dress.

 

Since I am new to the hobby I can't believe to say much but I will still express my thoughts on this issue ^_^.

- Do you have an aversion to sock dresses?
No way ^_^! I believe it adds cuteness and actual character to the doll depending on what clothes you put it with. Course I won't put them on ALL the time. Only when needed or to add that special touch.

- Do you think it makes a doll less of a doll when it doesn't have what the average owner calls proper clothing?
I believe this is the owners own decision. I mean, it beats nakedness and probably fits their character as the owner sees it. So I have no qualms of this topic ^_^.

- Do you think less of the owner when they choose to either have a temporary sockdress or a permanent sock dress?
I believe not. Its whatever the owner chooses. Its their doll after all ^.^ why shouldn't they be able to have one or not?

- Let me know how you feel about sock dresses in general.
Like I said earlier I believe it adds character and saves for the doll being less naked than it originally was. I personally like the sock dresses . Of course every one has their own opinion.

 

That is so true... Think of the dating world... If we didn't have standards, we'd have all married the first person we looked at. I am very sure that would make lots of people and... *shiver* The thought of marrying my first (pseudo) boyfriend... and the thought of my doll in an unhemmed sock tube... *shiver*

 

Sock is a source of fabric to me, nothing else. Sometimes a perfect source of fabric, too.
It's not where the fabric came from, it's what has been done with it. I would not choose sock to make a ball gown (winner of latest sock challenge was verys uccesful with this however), but a YoSD sweater or dress with a nice pattern on it, why not? Seriously?
If it looks good, it's good.