LPS Blythe, tiny '80s heart prints, and the cruel fate of well-loved dolls

So while I contemplate a possible blog move/duplicate, I'll keep double-posting my latest thrift store finds here and on Flickr.


The Kid Kore doll from last month has been washed and detangled and has a new hairdo. Her hair had frizzy ends and I had just bought a set of cheap colorful hair accessories, so I decided braids was the best option. She needs a dress to match but I've been too lazy to make one.

Reminds me of those early '90s United Colors of Benetton Barbies

The hip joints on this doll are hideous, but I kind of like that the design is so no-nonsense. Doll needs to be able to sit? No problem, we'll just slice of a bit of plastic - BAM, done. And, well, she does sit better than many other dolls with more esthetically pleasing joints, so... 

Function over form!

Here's a surprise from the bargain bin: a Littlest Pet Shop Blythe! I think she's called Tokyo Tea something or other. I've been able to resist Blythe so far, but she was in such good shape, with only slightly tousled hair, and with actual clothes! and shoes! that can be removed!! that I decided to add her to my collection.

So cute!

 I think her outfit is adorable, although I wish she could have flat feet so she could stand properly. (Not that she'd be able to anyway with that head.)

Tiny feet, tiny shoes.

Also found a first edition Rockers Diva that was way too expensive, but her hair was in pretty good shape and she had some of her original clothes (and I thought that orange vinyl belt buckle was really cool), and I've gotten it in my head that I ought to hoard Diva molds whenever they appear. Now I realize I'm not at all a fan of the makeup on the 1st ed dolls - I was going to say something about repaint, but we all know how that ends up, right? She's on a fashionista body now and doesn't fit in her original outfit, but Betty does:

I don't know how that belt works, but come on: orange vinyl!

For some reason I've found a lot of romantic '80s outfits with little prints lately. I considered gathering them all in one photo for Valentine's day, but then I got lazy. Anyway, here's two of them:

Usually the edges curl the other way

This lavender set has tiny printed hearts and one of those big '80s collars of flocked syntetic material that always curls up on itself after washing it in hot water, unless you carefully press it while it dries. Which I didn't. I don't know what the deal is, but I have at least three Barbie dresses/shirts with this type of collar. The blouse and skirt itself are made of a rather course cotton. It could have been home made, except there's a tag (MADE IN CHINA). The stripes on the skirt may have been white originally, but they still kind of match the buttons.

Aya is wearing the heart print skirt that I found laying all by its lonesome in one of the doll bins last month. It's not usually you find good doll clothes on their own at goodwill, and I've never really figured out whether it's ok to buy them separately - most likely they fell off some doll, but usually it's impossible to tell which one since they're all wearing pretty much whatever, or nothing at all. There's a lot of wear and tear on the toys at thrift stores, particularly since kids don't really understand the concept of "toys everywhere! except you're not allowed to play with them" and parents often don't seem to care. Sometimes I'll see a doll with missing legs and no clothes that was whole and dressed the week before.


I just read PlastigFfantastig's post about the tiny handmade fashion magazine from the '60s she found in an eBay lot, and it got me thinking about the fate of thrift store dolls in home-made clothes. Lately I've spotted a few dolls that I kind of feel like I should have saved for posterity, even though they're not my usual type. Usually it's a cheap knock-off doll, the kind with hollow plastic "bubble" limbs and no stamp, and with hopelessly cut or frizzled hair, and with clothes made by kids or at least not someone who's good with a sewing machine. Unhemmed edges, big stitches, will probably fall apart if you try to remove it. Not pretty, but it's obvious that someone loved that doll, even though the monetary value may not be very high. Usually when I see dolls like that I take a photo if convenient, but since I don't have unlimited money or space I don't buy them. And then I come back a week later and someone's tried to pull off the dress and torn the legs off in the process. That usually makes me sad, and I'm starting to think maybe those dolls would be more worth collecting than just another Fashionista body for the ever-growing rebody pile. A sociologist might find those dolls quite interesting.

Bobeck's back!

Here's something surprising I discovered last week: apparently Mimi Bobeck dolls have become popular! Not because a new generation discovered The Drew Carey Show, but because doll collectors use her as body donor for Blythe. I'm not really into Blythe so this was all news to me, but from what I understand the trend started about a year ago. If you google or search on flickr you can find lots of blog posts and photos, and laments that the prices on Ebay have gone up (although I checked and most listings weren't all that outrageous, so maybe that was temporary). I have to agree it's a good idea: the result looks a lot like a regular old-fashioned fat babydoll, and the huge Blythe head looks a lot more proportional on Mimi's body than on a regular skinnier doll.

It seems people have encountered the same problem as I did when I bought my NRFB Mimi a few years ago, which is staining. She has a row of purple spots on her thighs from the elastic in her pants. Personally I've just decided they're varicose veins. The bright green staining from her shoes is more difficult to explain away (smelly feet?). Luckily, she didn't have stains around her neck like Drew himself (he wore a black suit jacket which gave him a big black mark on his neck - hmm, street brawl?).

As usual, shoes are the big problem. Mimi has tiny, absolutely flat feet, and most doll shoes have at least a little bit of a heel. That may not be a problem as long as she's sitting down, although she doesn't do that very well either so I prefer to try and make her balance. So far I've only found a few pairs that sort-of work: a pair of Liv sneakers that look pretty oversized on her, a pair of vintage Barbie shoes that I had to carve out the inside of because they were made for high-heel feet, and the black slippers from the new cat themed Barbie accessory set I bought recently. They have a bit of heel, so she can't stand in them, but they're close enough to fitting that I'm counting them anyway.

Barbie 2015 slippers on Mimi Bobeck doll

There's also the single red vintage ballet flat that is almost perfect for her, but I'm not sure what doll it belonged to: it could be Skipper, but her shoes are usually too long and narrow for Mimi, or it could be Francie, but doesn't her shoes usually have a bit of a heel? Anyway, I only have the one, but at least I know they're out there...

Of course, if you prefer the typical Blythe style with big shoes it's easier: you can just fill them out with socks!