Which came first, dolls, or crafting?

Before you got your doll, could you already sew/knit/crochet/make things, and did you use these skills to make things for your doll, or did you get a doll, and then learn to make things for it?
I was artistic in the sense that I would make (poor) drawings, paintings and I had been very into make-up, even recreating a bjd face-up on my face. I've attempted to learn how to knit, but couldn't. When my dolls came, I learned myself to handsew (not that things never fall apart or are ill fitting). Learned that doing face-ups is a far from doing make-up and painting and attempted to learn myself how to crochet (fail). I have tried to make several things for my dolls, like a cat scratching post, a couch (2x), a bed (2x), wigs, goggles (2x) and purses. I have attempted sculpting a head and fantasy parts, without success. Yesterday I made a doll bed that kinda looks good.

Or do you have no interest in making clothing/accessories for your dolls?
Interest? Yes! Talent? Nope. I am also impatient when it comes to crafting, have very high standards for myself and my dyscalculia doesn't help when it comes to things that require counting and precise measurements. I wanted to join sewing classes, but I have social anxiety, which makes it a very big step.

 

I've always liked a lot of different crafts but was never that great at any of them. When I started collecting dolls (not just bjds) I started to spend a lot more time sewing so I think that's helped me to improve a lot!

 

I've been sewing since I was in high school. I learned how to knit from my great-grandmother when I was all of six or seven years old. I wasn't much older than that when I started tinkering around with my first little camera...

I got my first pair of dolls when I was 35.

So, yeah. I was doing the artsy/crafty thing a long, long time before my resin minions came along. All they did was change the scale. And the amount of fabric I have to buy. ^_^

 

I've been into crafts all my life, especially sculpting and dollhouse miniatures (I make my own houses, furniture, and accessories from scratch). I have also enjoyed making model kits. However, I did not like dolls until I discovered bjds as they are so customizable -ie a craft project. I have been sewing for my dolls more recently and am enjoying that too. I am always making stuff and having bjd's makes my To Craft List stretch into infinity!

 

Crafting. Been crating forever, and got into BJDs from doll houses.

 

I have always crafted, and making barbie doll clothes was a passion of mine many years ago. Then a friend got a American Girl Doll and I started making clothes for her. I found BJD because they are more lifelike.

 

Crafting came first for me. I used to make miniatures and I've known how to knit and crochet for a long time. I love this hobby because all my disparate crafting abilities come together to make a beautiful doll

 

Crafting came first for me, I was into cosplay, and had started learning to sew in order to make my own costumes, I'm not the best and I have a lot still to learn, but I have made a costume for my doll, with plans to make more clothes for them

 

Dolls came first in regards to sewing. I bought a sewing machine after being involved in the hobby, but I've always enjoyed art. I have been drawing for as long as I can remember, so faceups came pretty naturally for me.

 

The sewing came first. I found that I really love making ruffles, frilly dresses and most things that aren't really practical for normal wear, but they're a bit cumbersome to make full-size just for fun. They take up so much fabric, storage room, etc. 1/3 is a nice size. Big enough to easily get really detailed, small enough for easy storage and manageable amounts of fabric. Plus I can sell/gift the piece if/when I get bored of it. It's harder to do that my people-size clothes because human sizes vary much more than 1/3 doll sizes.

I can knit, but I don't enjoy it too much. I only really do it because I like keeping my hands busy while watching movies.

 

I was a cosplayer first, but never thought I could sew for dolls.

my first doll had nothing to wear, but dolls two and three are drowning in fabric!

 

Crafting came first ^.^ I'm a horrible crafter but I can't seem to be kept away from it :P

 

Crafting came first because I have been into folding origami, drawing, creating some miniature from paper cray, etc...for long ago, before I found BJD and got into this hobby. But for sewing, I have learned after getting my first doll (about a year and half).

 

Crafting was first but my crafting has always been rather doll linked. I have been making cloth faeries for years and before I learned a bit more about altering or making my own patterns I vastly prefered making toys to clothes. I come from a crafty household.

 

I learned to sew from my mom, and I was making cloth dolls (and clothing for them) for several years before I discovered BJDs. My first doll turned out to be about the same size as my larger cloth dolls and could share some of their clothes. As I learned more about BJDs, I learned that all the weird/"incorrect" things I was doing with my cloth dolls - wanting different outfits for them instead of sewing one outfit on and having that be it, wanting them "poseable" instead of making art figures wired and glued into place on wooden stands, making characters that had been in my head for years -- was in fact what BJDs were all about. I found out that I had the wrong idea about cloth dolls after I entered a challenge on a cloth doll-making site to dress a doll using entirely re-purposed items. Apparently I was supposed to make a new doll and sew/glue the items on her, not make an existing doll a bubble-skirted dress and corset out of a contractor bag, a Barnes and Noble bag and duct tape.

 

I started out crafting, then saw a doll that a friend wanted. That started making me want to make tinier and tinier crafts. Then a few years later I saved up and got dolls of my own to make tiny things for.

 

I started with drawing, but as it isn't really "crafting" to me(it is an art, though I still count crafts as an art. I'm confusing :p )
Then I got into polymer clay, and was watching this miniatures artist on youtube make amazing tutorials, for food and even a 1/12 dollhouse doll(not a bjd though) for a brief period of time, I wanted a dollhouse and to make my own dolls and food for it. Then I re-discovered BJD's, which is heard about before, but wasn't entirely interested in before. When I heard of all the customization you could do, I had to have one.

 

Crafting definitely came first. My mom taught me to sew when I was young,then I got into painting/drawing before bouncing between that and plushy/cloth doll making. I was really big into the art classes that a local museum hosted,especially the sculpting ones. After I got into the hobby I focused my skills on clothes,props,and eventually making my own bjds. I've dabbled a bit with wig making too,but haven't had much luck with it yet.

 

I learned crochet, sewing, etc before I collect bjds from my grandma she taught me how to do some women's stuff because I'm too tomboy for a girls in my younger age^^; then I got dolls, so learned how to do crochet, knitting, pattern more seriously than before, and I learned how to do faceups, because it seems interesting to try XD
I could draw so, it is easier for me to do faceups than sewing, but I'm trying to master both ^^

 

I had dolls when I was young and my mother and I would make clothes for them, then I learned to sew. I knit a little but my strongest skill is scrap crafting and costuming. Making stuff for my dolls is an exercise in recycling and designing things around a scrap of something. So my love of dolls came first, then I found BJDs, and I just love the creativity of it all.