What to do with pleather bjd clothes...

@Ipledreamer I have heard of people making custom "pleather" skintight bodysuits by taking a regular Lycra/spandex one and painting it with different colors of latex body paint, so I can't imagine that it isn't possible. You can also apply the paint directly to the doll (or your skin) and then peel it off, but I don't know if staining would be a problem. It doesn't seem to be with latex balloons.

 

Yeah, the peeling and flaking and basically just going kaputt is why I've been trying to only buy real leather stuff for my dolls. It's too frustrating. Another option, at least for imitating suede, is fabric. There's faux leather out there that's basically fabric, but looking like suede, so no peeling and flaking. My elf, Celaran, got a vest made of that kind of fabric and it's perfectly fine even after he's worn it for close to ten years.

 

Absolutely possible, but latex age badly as well and usually faster than pvc.

 

Problems with light? Then I might rather go the reconstructing route. Aging doesn't bother me with my dolls, but with pleather...that's a whole other story, as the stuff just disintegrates. No matter which expensive stuff I bought, it is always the same thing. Maybe glueing would be better? Because if you stitch it together, you make holes in the surface.

 

That makes sense, since it's a biological material. I wonder if there's something else we could try that doesn't age as bad? Like, puffy fabric paint or something?

 

Fabric mod podge maybe? It’s tintable and there’s different finish options... I don’t know about it’s tendencies in leeching or how it interacts with resin and vinyl though...

 

@Mirth I have a couple Mirodoll bodies and an Obitsu body that I could experiment with. It's not like it would hurt the heads, after all, as long as it isn't a bandana or anything. What would I use to tint it with?

 

Either ink (Be extremely careful with it and how much you put in) or paint (watercolor, gouache, or acrylic)

 

You can buy pigments in art stores, that would be best I guess?
If you don’t have access to that I’d go for either gouache since that is least likely to interfere with the mod podge and usually has the most pigment in it or the acrylic since that is least likely to stain the doll.

 

Maybe using mineral oil to (re)condition pleather would work? Or maybe replasticizing it with something else? Might need to be done before things start cracking though.

Of course, then there's the new problem of oily, replasticized clothing touching resin...

 

Unfortunately there’s not much you can do with pleather once it starts to disintegrate. Preventing pleather from getting to that point is what’s important. Make sure that pleather is stored in a climate controlled environment and don’t let the sun touch it for long periods of time. Using stuff like 303 car wax does help a bit maintaining pleather.

 

I did a bit of a google search and found this stuff: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B08B1N4RYS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabt1_.rqTFbG03VX01?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Does anybody have any experience with it? At that price, it might even be worth trying...

 

I agree...:/ It's just one of those...not very long lasting materials. Definitely salvage any metal pieces or closures and just use them for a new piece of clothing.

 

I will never now buy any clothing item if its expensive and made from this after seeing what happens to it when it gets old. What I've done with mine is when it all starts peeling off is just completely remove all of it so all that's left is the fabric underneath which still looks fine.

 

I've had mixed experiences with pleather and doll shoes. Maybe I've gotten a little lucky, who knows. I only have one pair that recently started to flake (and grossly stuck to my doll's legs) but only on the inside. So I scraped it all out and the outside looks okay so far. Another pair that I bought at the same time hasn't flaked but the pleather stained the cloth part of the shoe. Tbh I think I'd be more upset if these shoes weren't 15 years old.

I've kind of just accepted the fact that I might have to buy them new shoes every 15 years. I guess it's good I only have 5 dolls. I don't feel like there's a shoe alternative that looks as nice, so I'm stuck there, but I agree with everyone saying they won't buy expensive pleather clothes anymore. It definitely wouldn't feel good throwing away a really pricey item that you loved.

 

By chance, I happened to find some super thin goat leather at Hobby Lobby, perfect for dolls. I'm gonna try making stuff out of it, shoes and whatnot.

 

I've given up on pleather stuff; I've found that no matter how carefully you store it, eventually it will peel. I stick to real leather now, or leather-look fabrics that don't have a coating. I've some lovely suede-look fabric that works really well for pants and waistcoats.

 

everything helpful has already been said, but I just want to say that I avoid it like the plague. I used to collect Barbies, and quite a few of the outfits used pleather. It all peeled and the oldest ones totally disintegrated.

 

Almost *all* of my shoes are pleather and I'm not looking forward to the day they start cracking/peeling. But my friend did have a lot of success restoring his doll's shoes to an extent. They looked really good too so it's gonna be something I try.

 

I recently started making a few items were I needed 4-way stretch vinyl. I sadly already own too much of the non-stretch kind, so I used that instead. The result was a bit disappointing, as I had expected. However, it gave me s chance to try repairing vinyl fabric. I live in a humidity neutral area, so I have yet to experience any damage to my doll shoes or clothes. Some is older than dirt.

I was able to patch over all tears and holes with a few layers of acrylic gloss medium and acrylic paint. My vinyl pieces are all wrinkled because I needed the stretchy fabric, but it is hard to tell were the holes were patched.

I don't know how well it would work for smooth areas like shoes, but I was pleasantly surprised. My project is for a mature tiny, so the areas of tear and wear are minuscule if scale is not considered. Regardless, I was still amazed it even worked, as I have never read anything about acrylic medium for repairing vinyl.

Although, I did find a tutorial once about creating diy vinyl with matte acrylic medium, it was about building the coating on top of the chosen fabric, and not about repairing existing commercially made fabric. That is probably not helpful to anyone, but I thought it couldn't hurt to share. (: