What is the best way to dress a doll?

to be honest when i got my first bjd i was so totally not as careful with him as i should have been, luckily my beautiful msd baby is probably one of the most agreeable dollies the world over ((other people at doll meets ivee been to have agreed with me after handling him)) otherwise im 100% positive he would be destroyed already! ive learned to be much more careful but im still pretty rough with my dollie so im hopeing to hear some of this advice also!

 

Gently. Protect the face by not rubbing it with fabric. Don't try to force fingers in tight sleeves.

 

I mean, obviously you should be gentle, but as for exact method it depends on the owner. I know I, personally, detest taking their heads off, so I avoid clothing that would force me to do so. Others don't mind it or don't have an opinion so that doesn't factor in.​

 

There's two ways for me. If the neck part is big/the shirt is stretchy, I will pull it up from the legs. If the neck part is small/shirt is non-stretchy, I will remove the head and dress the doll normally. DO NOT pull clothes over the face regularly, there will be a chance the face-up will be rubbed off. :/

And no to black clothes over head either... I dressed my doll once in a black shirt over his head and his face was stained when the shirt was over his head! I learned this the hard way... Pre-wash any black/dark clothing first to prevent staining. And if there's any metal on the clothing that might directly come in contact with the doll, dress the doll gently or you'll risk scratching your doll with the metal.

 

I usually take my doll's head off to get shirts on. I don't really want to risk ruining a faceup that took hours to do when it would only take me a minute to get his head off and on again. Sometimes I also have to take his hands off simply because they're posed oddly, making his hand span much wider than the rest of his arm.

For the clothes themselves, I would avoid fabrics and colors prone to staining (like some denims, which can be so over-saturated with blue dye that they can stain even after repeated washings).

 

I'm not really care full at all but I don't dress up mu doll very much. I guess shirts with buttons on the front are good for people who don't want to touch their dolls faces. My doll has elf ears, so I cant pull shirts over her ears unless the neck is gigantic.

 

For shirts, like others have said, avoid pulling fabric over the head. Unless it's stretchy enough to be able to be pulled to avoid contact with the face or has an open back, head comes off. Hands come off unless they are curled/fisted to avoid tugging and ruining hems on delicate little sleeves. Easy way to control hands with no s-hooks is to loop or tie a long piece of embroidery floss through the elastic, let the arms go slack but not worry about bits falling off or going out of place, easy to reign in. Pants and dresses get pulled up feet-first, of course. Socks and other stuff go on last.

Also, plan out the outfit before putting it on your doll! It might seem obvious, but if you're trying to piece something together, it saves having to dress and undress the doll over and over while you figure out what looks good together - wear and tear on the clothes is brutal, it's not difficult to pop a seam or pull a snap loose by accident! Especially detailed fullsets... figure out where everything goes first! Last thing you want to do is get something ruined on your new $200 outfit.

 

One leg at a time!! LOL! I had to!