A Mother and Daughter Team
We have come a long way from our early years of sewing for dolls and now have our own modest collection of BJDs and fashion dolls, from 16cm to 70cm, as models in our shop. Galatia was the first BJD, a full-choice system from Volks. We also have several Smart Dolls in our collection, including the pear body and guys.
Jenn and I both design, draft patterns and sew. We consult on styles and fabrics and are especially careful to use colorfast materials, hand testing each fabric. Our focus is always on the doll clothing with fine details and clothing that fits well. Each doll is entitled to have their own style, so no one design defines our shop as might be the case with other designers.
Jenn now has two 3D printers available to print her designs in house. No, we do not buy items to resell. Jenn spends time designing in 3D on her computer, then puts the 3D printers to work for her. After her designs are printed from vegetable-based filament, or plastic, the tedious finishing work polishes up the design to be listed on Etsy. Jenn is designing and printing several doll accessory items as her time and health allows. She enjoys experimenting with the different filament colors available.
As many of our past doll show customers are aware, Jennifer has had a battle with kidney disease for over 14 years. Last year, our shop was in vacation mode as we went to Portland where OHSU performed a transfusion-free kidney transplant for her. She is recovering well and we hope her life will be more "normal" in the coming years as long as the new kidney works for her. So far, so good.
Now, Marie's husband has started dialysis 3x week. Travel time to and from the kidney center has impacted sewing time among other things. Dialysis will be his lifelong routine now.
Our Etsy shop is more than a hobby now. It is a source of income for both of us. So, we appreciate all our followers and customers. We do our best to serve and satisfy. If there is ever a problem with an order, please let us know. We strive to maintain our 5-star rating on Etsy with good customer service.
In the meantime, we continue to hone our skills as reflected in our ever-changing shop inventory. Our unique circumstances prevent us from attending doll shows for a while longer, so we are spending the time we have to boost our Etsy shop. Inspiration for our clothing designs and accessories is often drawn from human clothing, things we love, people we meet and the beautiful part of the world around us. We love color. Of course, our customers also inspire us to design specific fabric designs and clothing styles.
As evidence of her creativity, in 2016, Jenn was honored to receive an Industry's Choice Diamond Award of Excellence, sponsored by DOLLS Magazine in the Doll Clothing category. Marie received a similar award in 2018. Both of us strive for excellence.
Since it is often difficult to find fabric in the styles and types we want for our dolls, or to match colors in existing fabrics, we now design our own fabric, especially our stretch knits. It is digitally printed in the United States with an eco-friendly and sustainable process, pigment dyed and colorfast. Much of what we use is organic cotton.
We enjoy seeing photos of your dolls wearing clothing we've made. So, don't be shy about posting if you don't mind them being shared on Instagram or Facebook (coming soon). We hope to be adding photos of our studio in the future.
Marie and Jenn
