This is a little series that I’m writing about the dolls. This post, ‘but I really think its for me’, was the first post I did in the series. Stay tuned for ‘how to do boys with dolls – from my perspective’ .
This is usually muttered by husbands when their wives are talking about getting their little ones a doll. It’s also sometimes ( very rarely, but once in a while) said by a person at a craft fair to their friend while looking at the dolls, usually loud enough for me to hear it. I’ve gotten over the point now that I yell ‘Hey, I’d be making way more money if I worked at Subway’.. but we won’t go there.
So, why do the dolls cost as much as they do? Well, lets look at the time that goes into one of these sweeties..
John making heads and fabric being traced out.
Head making, shaping and covering 30 min.
Tracing, Sewing and cutting body 15 min.
Stuffing 15 min.
Assembly 1 1/2 hours.
Hair 2 to 2 1/2 hours (boys take alot longer for the hair).
Face embroidery 20 minutes.
Clothing 1 to 2 hours (depending on what it is ).
Nonna knitting a sweater on my parents porch. So cute!
Sweater knit about 3-4 hours.
Dressing, cutting hair, blushing, getting ready to ship 30 minutes.
So, a doll can take about 12 hours to make (but it’s really closer to 15 when we include all the picture prep, uploading, packing, etc .. crazy time consuming!) – that’s just the ‘lady love’ that goes into it. (Well- lady love minus John love.. he makes all the heads!)
This is an older pic , last year, of Ben and my wool. I remember when I did this order, it was a milestone for me I had never ordered so much wool. Now, I’m getting in about double that. One of those coils makes around 12 heads – John packs those heads in tight!
After a trip to buy fabric. I always prewash all my fabric to prevent shrinkage. There is some hand dyed mohair there too drying on my deck.
Now there are the supplies. I could get my wool for a better price – I know I can – but I am so incredibly anal about my supplies and what I use. I get the majority of my wool from Birkeland Brothers. They are a Vancouver company that has been in business for over 70 years – its a family company that has the softest, cleanest, most scrumptious wool I have ever dealt with – and believe me I’ve seen a lot of wool. There is over a pound of wool in my 14″ doll. Then there is my cotton knit for the ‘skin’ that I import in from the Netherlands, all my quilting fabrics for the clothing, and then the hair. I usually mix between 3 and 6 different yarns, we use all natural fibre yarns from mohair to alpaca. I use about 100 grams of yarn for the hair – that is an insane amount of yarn. I’m not going to price it out because it is a tad embarrassing how much I spend in supplies, but you get the gist!
So there you have it. Keep in mind that these times are fast, I don’t want any beginning dollmaker thinking ‘Jeesh – it takes me 20 hours! What am I doing?’ It took me 20 hours too in the beginning. Myself and the girls have been doing this a while now – we’ve got callouses to prove it! Another thing to keep in mind is that you are helping families- you really are. There are 6 of us doing the clothing, sewing and knitting – we’re a little group, this isn’t a big company ,we are a small home based company that really love and care about what we do. You are also helping to keep crafts alive in North America one doll at a time.
Thanks and peace out.
x
Christina
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