Sock dresses and the anger they seem to generate.

Dollmore makes the sock dress look available for "lazy, rich elitists": Only $6!

The comment "Not everyone has money to buy doll clothes, but most people have socks." somewhere in this thread made me shiver. People actually use used socks to make sock dresses?

Buying socks to make doll clothes is a good way to get a nice in scale knitted fabric without worrying about having too much fabric left over. Over here most shops and fabric markets "force" me to buy one or half a meter of fabric and that's way too much for one piece of doll clothing and making 20 sweaters and hoodies of the same fabric is boring.

To me using used socks is mindboggling.

 

@Hobbywhelmed: I guess my post is a bit confusing as the first line was just meant to be funny and the rest is about things people said that makes me think they use used socks. I'll adjust that in a moment.
The dollmore dress is nice as a tube dress, but when I first saw it, I was reminded of sock dresses. The "hated" sock dress look is similar to the simple tube dress/top look, but if a doll company decides to produce it as part of their clothes line, it's not something to pull up your noses for.

 

Hey!....you can make some lovely clothes from socks, and I have had to put the occasional sock dress on my dolls when they were naked and waiting for their outfit to arrive......I honestly don't see why people get so hung up about sock dresses,Lol......it's up to you how you dress your dolls and nobody else's business.

 

@Moisje: THANK YOU!

To everyone else: What does this look like? I know what it is, but what does it look like?



To me, it looks an awful lot like a tube sock with the toe cut off. I know that's not what it actually is, but for eight pages we've been talking about appearance over substance, haven't we?

Thanks to Dollmore, this is now a valid piece of doll clothing.

 

Because we like our dolls, who are luxury items because they are art objects who have no practical use necessary for survival, to look good. Poorly made, cheap looking clothes do not look good. Thus, my dolls are not going to wear poorly made, cheap looking clothing, the same as they are never going to have bad faceups or cheap eyes. I am not going to own a doll I don't want to look at or think is ugly.

I have trouble understanding how anyone wouldn't want to make their doll look good. It baffles me. It really does.

 

HA HA HA! I love this thread!

- Do you have an aversion to sock dresses?
No.

- Do you think it makes a doll less of a doll when it doesn't have what the avarage owner calls proper clothing?
I know dolls without faceup who look stunning. Some dolls can be left without clothing at all and be gorgeous as well. But I think it's better to have no clothes at all than to have really crappy ones.

- Do you think less of the owner when they choose to either have a temporary sockdress or a permanent sock dress?
No. I understand that each person is in his/her own circumstances, I'm nobody to judge them. Also I feel that the people may accomodate to the amount of money spent on a doll, to spend even more on a clothes.

- Let me now how you feel about sock dresses in general.

Someone can buy expensive fabrics and turn them into crap, and someone can use the simplest materials and make a pretty oufit.
This is my doll in a sock. It's nor her 1st outfit, neither the 2nd, I purchased a pair of socks because of the rainbow stripes.

 

It isn't always an issue of "want". I'm sure most people want their dolls to look nice. But not everybody can afford expensive wigs/eyes/clothes/etc. How many times have you read something like "I just got my first doll but I have no clothing for her please help"? Heck, if somebody is new to the hobby they might not even know where to get such things!

I'm not going to begrudge people using sock dresses on the first doll or their 500th doll. This whole angst-fest is silly (and somewhat scary). Would you ignore somebody for not wearing $100 jeans? No? Then why on earth would you yell at somebody for not dressing their doll properly?

 

I would argue that they are luxury items, though you're right in that how expensive something actually is is relative. They are luxury items because we don't technically need them (even if it feels that way sometimes ).

As for expensive vs inexpensive clothes -- I would say there is a middle ground there. It's possible for people to have a well put together look for their doll without spending huge chunks of cash. A lot comes down to what and where you buy and how creative you are at putting outfits together. Granted there are times when $100 is no problem, and other times trying to decide if I can spend $30 results in a huge internal debate, but that goes back to that whole relative thing and how much extra hobby money I happen to have at a given moment.

Sock dresses don't make me angry or anything, and I went through a stage at the beginning where I didn't want to put as much into clothes as I did the dolls. I also ended up redoing their wardrobe a while later. However, I think it's a stage a fair number of people go through at some point or other.

I think the real issue here isn't how much money someone did or didn't spend, but what the end result ended up looking like. The Dollmore tube top above looks neat and finished, even if it is very simple, and likewise nobody has had an issue with people using sock fabric to create a more finished looking piece. It's the unfinished look of the sock with the toe cut off that tends to turn people off. I get it -- if someone is browsing through the gallery, a lot of time they are going to be attracted to the photoshoots that are the most aesthetically pleasing, that's all.

 

This post.

Personally, I don't care what other people put on their dolls. It's none of my business. ​

 

I know it's an unpopular opinion, but if people really have that much trouble getting a doll and then getting it competent accessories, it may not be the hobby for them if they can't put together a doll that looks how they want it to look. I would not be happy settling for second best and would rather just not have a doll. I guess others are different. I don't know most people on DoA, they are random internet names on a forum and when I am browsing through the gallery, I am not getting their backstory (nor would I want it) I see pictures and I don't like bad pictures. I move on without commenting and find something I do like to comment on. I assume this is what most people do in that situation.

I am not seeing an angst fest nor do I get how people saying they think dolls in socks with the toes cut off look bad is scary. DoA has rules firmly in place to help prevent comment abuse in the gallery and I highly doubt most of the people commenting here who dislike sock dresses are trolling the rest of the forum on a quest to stamp them out. There's no yelling going on.

I wouldn't ignore someone who didn't wear designer clothes, but I certainly would not hang out with someone who is dressed like they belong on People of Walmart.

It's not about the expense of the clothes the doll is wearing. It's the end result. I don't like looking at dolls in badly fitting expensive clothes either. Crooked, wall eyed Antique Rose eyes look just as bad as crooked wall eyed acrylic eyes.

ETA - ira_scargeear, that is a very nice looking shirt. Again, it's not the base material that inherently bugs me. It's the finished product. Their shirt looks great.

 

YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN!.......this looks gorgeous and made from socks

 

LOL, I feel like there are going to be a whole bunch of people trying to punish us h8ers by posting their dolls in omgsockdresses. The funniest part is that no one would realize that you weren't being sincere.

Hey, be nice. I've heard she's a very nice girl.

I don't get why you're thinking this is an "angst-fest." It's general discussion - do you like it or don't you? No one is "yelling" at anyone and no one is angry, emo, angsting, etc. No one's pulled up specific examples, called anyone out for sock dresses, or even said that people shouldn't put their dolls in socks. People have said that they don't understand it or don't want to look at it (which is a thing of taste), but not everyone has to like the same things. I don't get the drama...?

 

What a fun thread! Currently, two of my dolls, the female Soom Mecha Angel and the Dollmore Model girl, have very fancy sock sweaters (cut and sewn to a pattern, of course). I am also planing a stylish argyle cardigan for my male MA out of four socks from Target. Now, thanks to this thread, I'm inspired to make a real sock dress! Luckily, the cold season is on, and there will be plenty of fun patterned socks in the stores.

 

- Do you have an aversion to sock dresses?
I think they are good as beginner clothing, but one should not always be safe with just using socks, and always work to improve their skills! But I've seen some very nice sock clothing!

- Do you think it makes a doll less of a doll when it doesn't have what the avarage owner calls proper clothing?
No! It's up to the owner to decide.

- Do you think less of the owner when they choose to either have a temporary sockdress or a permanent sock dress?
Not really, but I would like to see other various fabric choices to see that they can go beyond!

- Let me now how you feel about sock dresses in general.
I kinda like them. >w> I even made one (and a hat from the same sock!) for my own doll to keep her from the noodes.

 

*nod-nod* That's the best part!

In reality, I'm one of the "Make An Effort Please" group, but the back button is my friend. I -do- love a good inside joke, however.

 

Just want to poke my head back in to say Bravo to Zuka Engel. Marvelous post.


And on a total tangent from someone developing a nice case of arthritis in the hands -- you'd be surprised what a hunk of double-stick tape can do for you as a temporary hold for a seam, until you can sew it.

I agree. I want to learn that pattern. It's a terrific shirt that looks fantastic on that doll with her dark hair.

Someone said something about using undies because of the thin weight and "just enough" amount of material in them. That's nothing to sneeze at. I recently bought a set of (omg, no) socks specifically because I'm trying to learn how to do doll gloves and was having lousy luck with thicker stuff. Lingerie to the rescue.

 

argh, sorry. delete.

 

Alright, I gotta admit, selling sock dresses as...well, a sock with the toe cut off is a little outrageous. even I can make a seam around the bottom. However, just because it's a used sock doesn't mean it's bad. It's not like I'll whip the sock off my foot and stick it on the doll xD I'd wash it countless times, and we have one of those thingies that take the fuzzies off. Besides, even if I can't use the whole sock, the part by the ankle doesn't usually get that much wear nor does it really get that dirty, so even if I cut that off and sewed several ones that would look nice together together it wouldn't be as bad as the sole of the sock, which is usually the most worn part. If it were really bad obviously I wouldn't use it, but sometimes there isn't much wrong with the sock other than a hole, and my mom really doesn't like sewing up holes in socks for whatever reason. Besides, if I can pick her up with my hand or set her down on my clothes I don't see the problem with the sock. Now if someone can prove to me that there is a damaging reason behind the sock then prove me wrong, but that's how I see it. You can also just buy socks, it's cheap material. You go to the dollar store and get a pair for a dollar.

 

I've seen wonders made with socks, so I don't know why it must get peoble angry. I'm afraid that us, human beings, wear knit not just in our feet...