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I am trying to reorganize my doll clothes (holy moly I have a lot- over 50 outfits)
Do you keep your boxes?
If I put them in baggies do you recommend quart sized or gallon sized?
Do you think it is better to organize by doll or by season?
<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ September 28, 2005 06:30 PM: Message edited by: Skittl1321 ]</font>
I have a trunk my grandmother made me when I was a little girl... it looks EXACTLY like Kirstens trunk except for its probably 5 times larger. I place all my doll clothes inside it, and fold up the original boxes and store them separately incase someday I want to resell them or something... The trunk works great for preventing dust and stuff and it has that rosemaling along the outside with my name on it! [img]smile.gif[/img]
I like the gallon size purple zipper bags. They fit everything really well, even the big hats. The bags are really great to keep a whole outfit set together and dust free, and the zipper is so easy and quick to open and close. I roll out as much air as possible to flatten them out or if I want to protect a hat from being crushed I puff it up with air! [img]smile.gif[/img]
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I was just thinking of asking what everyone does with their hat collection! Right now mine are stacked in a cardboard box, and I only go in to get one when I need it! *sigh* I have no idea what to do with them all, and I'm sure there'll be more on the way, knowing how AG likes to make hats for Samantha - and now Nellie, too! I'm not sure the plastic bag thing would work for me. Then they'd just be in plastic bags in the cardboard box! [img]redface.gif[/img]Quote:
Originally posted by Chauster:
I like the gallon size purple zipper bags. They fit everything really well, even the big hats. The bags are really great to keep a whole outfit set together and dust free, and the zipper is so easy and quick to open and close. I roll out as much air as possible to flatten them out or if I want to protect a hat from being crushed I puff it up with air! [img]smile.gif[/img]
Ksami, I keep the hats with the outfits, those bags are puffed up with air and it seems to work well for protecting the hats. I'm not a fan of hats though so I tend to leave them off anyhow. And I have this thing with cardboard boxes, I've been traumatized by silverfishes! [img]eek.gif[/img]
I keep some of the boxes that my outfits came in. Right now I just store my doll clothes in plastic storage containers and it's working pretty well.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I do this as well, and it works great. Also, I discovered that spiders are fond of cardboard boxes.Quote:
Originally posted by Chauster:
Ksami, I keep the hats with the outfits, those bags are puffed up with air and it seems to work well for protecting the hats. I'm not a fan of hats though so I tend to leave them off anyhow. And I have this thing with cardboard boxes, I've been traumatized by silverfishes! [img]eek.gif[/img]
I went through and put all my outfits into quart bags labeled with the outfit description and all the pieces. Everything fit in a quart bag except Felicity's PM riding habit and hat (to bulky) and Felicity's brocade hat and slippers (to wide). Those went into quart bags.
I did this for all the outfits, except those the girls were wearing. Tomorrow I will change the girls into their October outfits so that I can catalog the current items they are wearing.
I realized I am losing my mind. I would have sworn I owned Addy's Christmas dress, but there appears to be no evidence supporting that.
These are the pieces I am missing. Presumably, some of the items are being worn by the dolls, but many of them are actually missing. Kirsten's stuff especially is actually missing. Many of those items were given to me by a friend last year when she realized she still had them. I was lucky to get some cool PM stuff, but lots of missing pieces. I also have a pile of unmatched items, so hopefully that will also help fill some of these items up.
Felicity
Spring Gown- Stockings
meet- shift, white stockings, black shoes
school- mob cap
Kirsten
Birthday- white apron, socks
School Dress- Dark Blue Ribbons
meet outfit- stockings, pantalettes, ribbons, boots
st. lucia- red ribbons, striped stockings
swedish dirndl- blouse, kerchief
hand knit woolens- mittens
Molly
Meet- red hairbows, white anklets, mary jane shoes
Addy
Meet- drawers, black stockings, boots, blue ribbon
Samantha
Holiday- white stockings, hair ribbon
Meet- Bow, Black stockings, shoes
Birthday- Stockings
Josefina
Feast Day- Red ribbon
christmas- pantalettes, white stockings
meet- drawers, moccasins, blue ribbon, primroses
Kit
Meet Outfit - Underwear, Sandals, Barrette
Christmas- white stockings
Now I have to figure out if the bags go directly into the nightstand built to store them, or if they should be sorted into bins by doll, or by season.
Now someone please convince me there is no reason for me to keep all the original boxes, except one or two to hold hats.
Thanks for all the advice! However, I like to hang up my dolls' outfits. Each of my girls have their own slacks hanger (with the reinforced horizontal thing), and the doll hangers go over this. Each girl's outfit accessories go into her own personal box - the size of the box that the meet accessories come in. But hats don't hang well, they're too big to fit in the accessory box, and there's way too many to hang on posts on the wall or something. There's two things I wish AG would make: garment bags (pref. fabric this time, not plastic), and hat boxes!
For some reason, bugs do like cardboard. If you package-tape all the edges, though, they can't get in very easily. But still, cardboard isn't the prettiest way to store stuff.
I was wondering, does anybody know whether the paper AG puts inside their boxes is dye free and acid free? Is it safe to pack things away in for a long time?
American Girl Used to have a garment bag. I think it was with the original traveling accessories. The basket, garment bag and "ditty" bag. Oh I lusted over that set.
I'm laughing quietly because anyone who sews for their dolls will end up with more outfits than they can possibly store and organize the way you've described. Just a friendly chuckle...
I like to hang my doll dresses up -- I usually keep the slacks, sweaters and tshirts flat in boxes. I often use gallon ziplock bags with a small hole cut in the middle of the folded bottom, then poke the hook of the hanger through the hole and pull the bag down over the dress. It keeps clothes from getting dusty. I do save the boxes and still have some of the original maroon boxes and clothes bags from the early 1990's, but I use them to store things like doll shoes.
I also made a habit of logging everything I buy and make for the dolls onto an Excel worksheet. If you start doing this before you have too much, it's easy to maintain. I set up the worksheet by names of the girls, then list everything that belongs to them and how much each item cost. For clothes I make myself, I include the price of a comparable item. So most of my doll dresses are valued at $18, which is what an AG outfit USED to cost! This helps me to figure out what I need to make (who needs pajamas?) and it's going to be very helpful for the inventory I have to make to include with my will. I can also see at a glance what I've already ordered/own and what I haven't got. Just another way to get organized.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">[img]rolleyes.gif[/img] I never thought about that! I don't have any kids, either. I need to find someone to leave my AG stuff to in case I get hit by a bus or something. [img]graemlins/cry.gif[/img]Quote:
...it's going to be very helpful for the inventory I have to make to include with my will.
Cherry- were you chuckling at my system?
So far the bags are working well. I have them into my cabinent with room to double the amount of clothing I have before I go to the second shelf. (I am using my nightstand for doll clothes storage, so having the 2nd shelf for me is nice.) I think it would be cool to hang the clothes, but I have no space to hang them, and if they are hung my husband could easily look and see exactly how much I have! Right now, ignorance is bliss. (I didn't really realize how much I had...)
We'll see how it goes in the long run. Right now the clothes are organized by doll and then by "today" and "homemade" Those two categories only have 5 total outfits! I have a spreadsheet by month of which doll wears which outfit. That way I make sure I use them all, and the girls match somewhat.
I also have an excel spreadsheet of my purchases over the past year started, but it doesn't help me much on past things. I have no idea when I got them or how much I paid. Everything I have has come straight from AG, but prices have changed over the years. ($82 dolls were nice...)
I'm so horribly disorganized! I've got everything in one big plastic storage tub, and there's not enough space. I'm considering ordering a trunk soon (leaning towards Kirsten's) but I doubt that alone will hold everything. I guess I'll have to get Molly's, too... [img]graemlins/devil.gif[/img]
I was chuckling at the idea of trying to stay organized once you start sewing your own clothes, not at your organization system. That sounds fine. For now...
I plan to leave my collections to my favorite public TV station. They were fine with the idea and have the capacity for auctioning items either on tv or on ebay. Special dolls, bears, etc. will go to special people, but the bulk of everything else is going to WGBY.
Well the sewing hasn't taken over the house yet.
We'll see.
What a nice thing to do with your collection. I don't think mine is substantial enough to do something like that. I haven't really given any thought to what to do with it- or any of my stuff- if I die. I actually don't even have a will yet. I really need to start being an adult, and work on getting something like that together.
I purchased a small child size cedar chest when I first started collecting the 18 inch dolls. I figured that it would store all the doll clothes and accessories! Silly Me! I started using it to store just hats. There is no more room for any more hats. I purchased a large round hat box from the craft store. I am going to cover it with fabric and use a decorative trim on the edges.I will spray it with protective finish. I will store hats in this from now on. I hope that it is pretty enough that it can even sit in the living room and maybe one of the dolls can sit on it.
I keep all Samantha's clothes in the box she came in, and all her accessories in the box her "Meet" accessories came in. Why don't you put each doll's clothes and accessories in their respective boxes.
On the other hand, I have a human-sized dresser full of my fashion doll clothes!
I tried keeping the doll clothes in their boxes, but the problem is for awhile the outfits came in bags, so those clothes don't have boxes.
And then I have over 50 outfits and 10 dolls, so the boxes just completely take over. I imagine if I also had accessories it would just be AG boxes everywhere!
[/QUOTE] [img]rolleyes.gif[/img] I never thought about that! I don't have any kids, either. I need to find someone to leave my AG stuff to in case I get hit by a bus or something. [img]graemlins/cry.gif[/img] [/QB][/QUOTE]
Kitchywoman,
Feel free to leave it to me [img]smile.gif[/img] My kids would love it!
Jo
I use the ziplock system, except now most of the ziplock bags go into large Rubbermaid tubs that are not (yet) labeled and systemized. So when I am looking for a doll outfit, its sort of like going through the laundry that just got out of the dryer--dump everything out and try and find it, LOL!
One day I am going to have a nice block of time to organize our doll collection, and put things where they belong.
<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ September 30, 2005 01:43 PM: Message edited by: 4liesel ]</font>
I've mentioned this before. I use tension cafe curtain rods in a linen closet in front of the shelves. They are the perfect diameter for the AG hangers. I store the accessories (including hat)in a ziplock bag, punch a hole, thread a rubber band and attach to hanger. I have over 150 outfits. Everything stays together and is kept clean. I use the shelves for the large items (such as skis, etc) I also keep an alphabetical inventory list per time period.
At the moment, I use six of the big flat rubbermaid boxes under my bed. Of course I also use Sam's and Josie's trunks. That's just for clothes though. All my furniture is currently being stored in this weird closet my parents' house has because we're trying to restore the house, and when it's done, there'll be a doll room. The rubbermaids work great though. I label the top, and in good years, there's a list taped to the top with the inventory. I like my system, lol, it works well. The hats fit just fine, and it fits neatly under the bed!
4liesel thats a good idea... ziplocs with the rubbermaid tubs.. that way you can easily store it if they will fit under your bed and the ziploc bags keep the clothes from getting dirty,musty, spider holes, etc... I should buy some rubbermaid containers next time I go shopping!