A New Idea for Clothing Storage: Collectible Card Storage Boxes

I don't know about other countries, but here in the United States, there are lots of reasons why people might own collectible cards, from sports, to games like Pathfinder, Magic: The Gathering, and Pokemon. And of course, if you have a lot of cards, you need a place to store them. When my last attempt at clothes organization didn't work out (three ring binders,) I decided to try the collectible card box idea, which I'd been considering for a while.

There are many different sizes of collectible card boxes. There are boxes that are about half the length of the box up above, although I've only seen those online. There are also larger boxes that have three or four rows inside for cards. Of course, the boxes, or slots in a larger box, are only one general width, collectible card width. However, that seems to work out really well for things like Barbie-sized shirts and shorts/shorter skirts. Plus, when they are standing upright, I can flip through them, almost like cards. It's not like in a box where they are laying flat, when you might have to pull a bunch out to get to the ones in the middle. At least, that's what I ended up doing. :)

Slightly longer skirts fit in fine sideways.

I've discovered that the length of the boxes that I have, is perfect for knee-length dresses and longer skirts, and pants/capris.

The thing is, and I realized this when I was trying out the 3-ring binder method, some Barbie clothes are so proportionally "thick," that sometimes they almost stand up by themselves. Of course, the box with my shirts in it also works well, because the box is fairly full. However, the skirts and shorts also seem to stay fairly well arranged in their box. I'm sure if I threw the box around enough, things would get out of place, but then again, the box is small enough to not have a lot of room for that.

I tried out the next size box, to see what I could fit. For now, this is going to be both my "ankle length, poofy skirt" box, and my full-length dress box. Since the box is really too long for either, I'm kind of sticking the skirts at one end and the dresses at the other, for now.

Of course, there other lengths, and I may be able to find something a little shorter, length-wise, online. I bought these from our local gaming store, because Mr. BTEG and the Dancer have played games there for hours on end, and I want to support the store. Now that I think this is going to work well, I can experiment with other sizes, too.

Just to share my experience with you, what went wrong with the 3-ring binder method was that I only wanted to use the smallest plastic pouches for my smallest tops, to save space. However, because of the thickness of Barbie clothes that I mentioned earlier, the tops really wanted to just pop right out of those small pouches. On top of that, I quickly filled up two binders (with more clothes than you see here) and both binders were so stuffed that they were too fat to hold their neat triangle shape. I could easily see the binders getting out of control, space wise, plus some clothes were falling out of the pouches, and putting them in a sleeve with bigger pouches would just take up even more room.

Teresa organizes hers in plastic bags, and then in larger plastic bags, by things like doll, year, and what fashion pack it came from. However, I'm not really much of a collector when it comes to Barbie clothes. I don't try to collect all the outfits and accessories from the 1965 Barbie and Ken wedding set (making the name and date up here.) I'd rather be able to find them by top or knee-length dress, rather than what Fashion Fever multi-outfit pack it came from. We take different approaches to our fashion doll clothes, which is fine. I hope maybe my approach will work for one or two of you out there.

I also have outside box measurements, if you are interested in those. I'm not sure how these card boxes are officially measured, if it's from the inside, or what. But this should help you know what you're looking at, when shopping for your own boxes.

Small box:

Length: 7.5 inches, about 18.5cm

Width: 4 inches, about 10cm

Height: 2 and 7/8 inches, about 7cm

Long box:

Length:  about 12.5 inches, about 31cm

Same width and height

If you prefer plastic boxes and can find some in a useful size, great. When I decided to try the "standing up" approach, the only thing I could really find both narrow in width and long enough in length were collectible card boxes. Obviously, they're not going to set inside each other for stacking, like some plastic boxes will. But, they do stack, and maybe in the doll space you have, you'll store them all flat on a shelf or in something like a drawer instead. Anyway, this is a storage approach that I have not seen anyplace else, and I hope if it doesn't work for you, it might spark an idea for something that will. Happy storage!

New Items

I'm interrupting my collection photos to show a few new things that I've picked up recently. Two of them are Mattel clothing packs, one from Amazon, and one from a Meijer store. The Amazon pack consists of a checked dress, a striped top, flowered shorts, a beaded hairband and a white bag. While I like the clothes, the waistband of the shorts is a little loose, and also tends to flip over. The legs of the shorts also hang a little bit strangely. But overall, the set is cute. One of my models for this outfit is a doll with the Model Muse body, which I picked up recently. I think she's getting a rebody, but I thought she would look cute here. Her left arm pose should look good, but her hand doesn't come close to touching her body, which doesn't make for a good pose, in my mind.

The next outfit I happened to see in store, and since I'm a Hello Kitty fan, I decided to pick it up, even though I'm not thrilled by all the accessories. The "watch" seems pointless. And I hate the way the glasses look.

However, if you like Hello Kitty, the top alone is adorable. The shorts are usable with other tops, and the hairband fits nicely. The purse with the stylized Hello Kitty, I could take or leave, and a fanny pack? Eh. The necklace also doesn't do much for me, but I've never been a fan of the big, statement necklaces Mattel has been releasing for several years.

I'm happy with these new clothing additions for my Barbie size dolls. Next time, I'll be sharing a new way I've come up with to store some of it. Do your dolls have a whole closet full of clothes, or just a few?

In the meantime, I know Xanadu has been looking for a new photoeditor, so I'd like to recommend one of the ones that I use, which is Paint.Net. It's free, and fairly easy to use for cropping and resizing photos, taking out red eye, and doing some other adjustments and effects.

My Collection Part Six: Sydney Chase by Tonner

I believe that Sydney Chase was the next doll released in the Tyler 16" doll line. Sydney was Tyler's friend, and head of a modeling agency. Collectors went crazy over her, perhaps because her face does have more character. I realized that all four of the Sydney dolls that I own are special editions.

I had a problem getting good photos of all the dolls together, maybe because they are so tall. In any case, you know now what the bodies look like, so please forgive the quality of these first photos.

Metro Glamour Sydney is the first doll, and she's in her own photo, because her skirt pretty much takes up the whole picture. I bought Metro Glamour nude, but the outfit she is wearing is a Tonner one. It's made up of a pink knit tube top, pink cardigan, enormous pink skirt over tulle, and pink beaded slip-ons.

I also own Calendar Girl Sydney, Ready to Wear Elegance Sydney, and Ready to Wear Rouge Sydney.

I think Calendar Girl is wearing undergarments from Tonner's Gone with the Wind Melanie doll. RTW Elegance is wearing a dress that I made. And RTW Rouge is wearing her own teddy, and some basic Tonner pumps.

Metro Glamour Sydney

Calendar Girl Sydney

RTW Elegance Sydney

RTW Rouge Sydney

I'm pretty sure these dolls are staying in my collection. I still like them, and Calendar Girl and RTW Elegance especially have a little bit more of an "approachable" look. I love Elegance's mane of curly red hair. I love how Rouge's black hair contrasts with her blue eyes.

Total dolls: 28

My Collection Part Five: Tyler Wentworth by Tonner

Since I have many 16" Tonner dolls, with several different face sculpts, I'm going to only share my Tyler Wentworth dolls in this post.

I've never given any of my Tonner dolls names beyond what they'd been given. I enjoy looking at them, and dressing them, but they're not "alive" for me in the way that my Barbies are. They don't seem to have personalities to me. Therefore, I'm calling these Blond, Brunette, Redhead, and Vintage.

Blond was the Tyler sculpt in a wave of four Basic dolls. She's wearing the swimsuit and headband that she came in. That series included interchangeable feet, either flat or high heel. The feet are on pegs that pop in and out of the doll's leg. The flat foot also has some slight bending movement at the ankle.

Brunette was a special Signature Tyler, which I bought nude. Tyler Wentworth was a fashion designer, and her signature office look was a white button down shirt, a black skirt, black nylons, and black pumps. Brunette's signature look was glammed up; the shirt was satin with buttons looking like diamonds, the black skirt was covered with sequins and had a belt with a square buckle with clear stones, and the black heels were T-straps. The doll also came with "diamond" earrings. I presume the earrings came loose in a bag with Brunette, and the seller kept them with the outfit. I vaguely remember having to pierce a doll's ears to put earrings in, although dolls meant to have them used to have a faint hole in the earlobe already started.

 

Brunette is wearing an outfit which came as separates, although maybe the shoes and purse were a set? I took pictures of Brunette without the scarf, and of the shoes and clutch.

I think Redhead was in a wave of different sculpts, all in striped swimsuits, called Superstripes. I sold off the swimsuit, as I didn't care for it. Superstripes is wearing a green teddy from another Tonner doll, which was an exclusive to a specific doll store. The lace on the sides of the teddy is showing its age, and the straps never would stay up nicely on a doll's shoulders.

Vintage was a doll named Hope (the production's name,) who was an edition of 500 sold exclusively at an event at the Rosalie Whyel Museum of Dolls, to benefit a cause called Teen Hope. She came in a 1910s style dress, and she did having earrings in. Again, I bought her nude, and the seller must have kept the earrings. It doesn't bother me, as earrings for dolls this size are easy to buy or make. She's wearing an outfit that I drafted and sewed myself, although it was for a Gene doll.

To coordinate with her original outfit, Vintage has her hair in an up-do. There are several loose hairs; I think trimming them off would be the best way to deal with them.

Total dolls: 24

Xanadu has asked me some questions about the Tonner 16" line of Tyler and assorted, so there is more information below the fold.

My Collection Part Four: J-Dolls, Part Two

Here are the other half of the J-Dolls in my collection. From left to right, we have Mari, Melanie, Adelheid, Steffi and Holly.

None of these dolls are in their original clothes. Mari wears an outfit I bought from Etsy. Melanie wears a Mattel top and shorts. Adelheid wears an Only Hearts Club top, and a Shibajuku Girls skirt. Steffi's clothes are all Shibajuku Girls. And Holly wears a Barbie dress. And the shoes are, from left to right, Mattel High School Musical, Re-Ment, Momoko, and the last two are both Mattel High School Musical.

Mari

Melanie

 

 

Adelheid

 

 

 

 Steffi

 

 

 

Holly

 

 

 

 

 

Total dolls: 20

Holly's face seems to resemble some Korean models that I have seen online.

My Collection Part Three: J-Dolls

Well, here we are again, finally! J-Dolls are discontinued now, but they were made by the same company that makes Pullip dolls. They have the same bodies as the Pullip #3 and #4 types. J-Dolls are 27cm tall, and I find them to resemble Momoko dolls the most in the doll world. These are only four out of my collection; the rest will get photographed at a later date. They're all wearing their original dresses, except for Lindsay, who I bought nude. Lindsay also has a new wig, because hers was pretty dry. Lindsay and Anni's shoes are both from Momoko's line.

Lindsay

Anni

Sophie

Rachel

I printed out the new walls and floor with the new color printer that Mr. BTEG bought me as a birthday present. Do your loved ones find you hard to buy gifts for? Mr. BTEG and my daughters feel that way about me.

Total dolls: 15

BTS Dolls by Mattel

BTS is a K-Pop (Korean Pop) group. K-Pop is kind of like One Direction, or New Kids on the Block, for us older folk. They're a group of attractive guys, or gals, in the case of K-Pop, who sing and perform dance moves. Like One Direction, members of the group are picked by the producer, but there are many K-Pop groups, who apparently change out members when necessary. BTS is an extremely popular K-Pop boy group, which has many rabid fans in the US, and I'm guessing world-wide, so Mattel decided to offer BTS dolls. There was a lot of controversy from fans when pictures of the dolls came out, but presumably they've made enough members of the fan base happy.

I've had these two for months, and gave up on posting pictures about them because they're no longer new and exciting. But Dana just posted a pic of the ones that she recently bought, and encouraged me to put up a post about mine. The two I have are apparently the group members named j-hope and RM.

These dolls are supposed to be wearing specific outfits, so Mattel went more with what would make the dolls look good, than clothes that were made like human suits would normally be. The "shirt" has no sleeves; instead, the armscyes are sewn into the sleeves of the jacket. And the shirt doesn't come together in the back, either. Not usually optimal for doll clothes, but for making the suits look more realistic, it's not bad. I do like that the guys are wearing different styles of athletic shoe.

I mentioned to Dana that I wanted to give one of these bodies to another Asian male doll that I have, since these have articulation at the shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees and ankles. RM was going to be the unlucky body donor, but now that I've dug these two back out, I'm thinking he may stay in my collection as is. I can always head the local Five Below, as Dana did, and see if I can find another one to be a body donor. If I do, here is the lucky guy who will get the new body. I dislike the fact that the cheap Fashionista dolls can't even bend their knees to sit down.

My apologies for some of these images being blurry. I'm having problems taking pictures with my shaky hands, and I need to get things in my craft area cleared out so I can use my tripod more easily. Since it's been so long since my last post, I decided to just do what I could this time.

While I was looking up the names of my two guys, I saw that Mattel is bringing out another wave of BTS dolls. This time, they're all wearing completely different outfits, presumably from another video or appearance that they made. I think some of the outfits look pretty sharp! That's really my interest in K-Pop, is the fashions.