Hello, Doll

A blog for my dolls and the clothes I make for them. You'll see Curvy Barbie, and a few Hasbro dolls (for my daughter and nieces)

[gossamerthreads]

Ok, dollblr. I need the American Girl Kit Kittredge School dress, but I do not have many funds. I have a blue print fabric that should work. Who has a pattern that I can buy with the funds that I do have?

[ladygreytea]

do you wear makeup when you're going out to see people (anything counts within this -- family visit, coffee shop meetup, school or work, parties. i'm counting anything from concealer and lip gloss to a full face)

always

always for things like parties, occasionally or never for others

always for parties/dinners/etc and work/school, occasionally or never for others

occasionally, it's genuinely sporadic and not based on situation

never

nuance that i'll put in the tags/replies

Voting ended onAug 30, 2025

do not 'oh it's just mascara' me i mean ANYTHING if you would hesitate to leave the house for a certain occasion without applying a certain thing to your face then you wear makeup for that occasion

[guillotin3d]

[momocoeli]

meet the gang

[fumblebeefae]

Do you think those cat/dogs learning to talk with buttons thing is actually accurate? I know even primates apparently dont know how to parse human words (with regards to sign language) so i struggle to understand why dogs or cats suddenly understand complex english

They don’t actually understand what the buttons mean. These animals aren’t capable of processing language like we humans do and they tend to react more to your tone and visual cues then the actual words you’re saying. 

The buttons are just very basic operant conditioning. I very basic form of cognition in animals. They press the buttons because they are rewarded for doing so, not because they actually understand the meaning behind the buttons.

You can see in those videos (they do usually edit it out, but sometimes the creator of these videos just outright admits it) that it can take their pet something like 15 - 20 minutes to respond via the buttons.

Claims that the pets are asking questions ect. feel very staged / trained (like the below for example). Remember these videos are all coming from people on tiktok and people will do anything for a bit of internet fame. Scientific research has shown that dogs do not pass the “mirror test” but the mirror test is a very outdated way to show self-recognition in animals.

You compare this to the language studies done by Pepperberg with African Grey Parrots like Alex; in which they were able to ask questions they weren’t already trained to ask, form sentences they weren’t previously trained to do, display self-recognition (via asking what colour they were), could understand syntax and form their own words eg. Alex called apples “banerries”,  a combination of "banana" and "cherry", two fruits he was more familiar with.

I prefer not to touch on koko the gorilla because that research is already pretty widely criticised with a lack of actual data, and there was evidence of the Clever Hans effect (her trainers' unconscious cues were prompting her to display specific signs). 

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

I lecture on this, and my students are always very disappointed when I have to explain this.

Thing is, it IS communication. Dogs are clever enough to learn, via operant conditioning, that certain words are linked with certain events or behaviours - pretty much anyone who has ever owned a dog can tell you that they learn what “dinner” and “walk” will lead to without you teaching them. These buttons definitely allow clearer communication between dog and owner. But that’s not quite the same thing as them understanding the words themselves.

One of the early examples from Stella, the pioneering dog with these buttons, was her owner asking her what order she wanted to eat, play, and go for a walk. Stella responds by pressing those three buttons, and the owner claims this is her expressing her preference. But here’s the problem: dogs have never yet been found to have sufficient cognition to understand the concept of future states vs present properly. If we believe Stella was genuinely weighing up her options and deciding she wanted to go for a walk before she has dinner and then spend the evening playing, then we are assuming she is capable of an unscientific level of future planning that her species lacks the neurology for. What’s more likely is that she’s simply repeating the words she just recognised in the moment - she knows that “eat”, “play” and “walk” are all good things, and so she repeats them back in the hopes she’ll get them. She has no concept of what order they’ll come in. She’s just hoping for all three, and also, she knows that her owner gets weirdly happy when she presses the buttons, and Stella is the goodest girl who deserves many treats.

The problem is that humans are very taken in and very easily fooled by words. We know what words mean, and we have trouble with the idea that an animal using them doesn’t. One of Stella’s videos shows her pressing the buttons for “good” and “bye” when one of her owners leaves the house, which was suggested as evidence she was creating the word “goodbye”. It’s straight-up nonsense - that’s a ridiculously advanced level of cognition and linguistic capability that dogs are absolutely not capable of, but if you want to see a talking dog, you’ll see a talking dog. Stella pressed two unrelated buttons, and they happened to sound like an English word - so, that’s what the human brain sees. 

But, these boards are absolutely a great communication tool between dog and owner, since they do give the dog the ability to communicate a basic level of wants and desires in the moment, and that’s a good thing! They just aren’t speech, and it’s easy to see something that isn’t there.

[dollsahoy]

(and I'd expect it's a lot easier for humans to learn the animal's cues about hunger and such than it is to teach the animals to press specific buttons, too--not even mentioning the effort needed to make the button boards. I've never had a cat who did not clearly communicate to me, in their own kitty cat ways, when it was time for food.)

[gossamerthreads]

Idk, sometimes the cues animals choose on their own aren't desirable, and I can see these buttons being a good idea for some owners. For example, my last dog would paw at the door when he wanted to go outside, but if you were upstairs you wouldn't hear him until he started barking. So I bell trained him- teaching him to ring a bell attached to the door instead of pawing at things.

[chaoticdumbasshalforc]

Some of my fave Black Fae Day lewks:

Slays.bySarah on IG

Etoilesroses on IG

Phleshe on IG and maybe on here? 

Feycrafts on twitter

KSHAW_tv on Twitter

Kagoneko on twitter

Hotboybebop on Twitter 

Queer_Elf_Club on Twitter 

And Thorns_and_Flames who lives in  my head rent-free

[boujeedolls]

WHAT'S GOING ON

[in-the-dollpalace]

Yes!!! Not only are the original girls back AND in thier original outfits, but ALL the beforever outfits are GONE!!!

[desertdollranch]

🥳🎈🎉🪅🥳

[lesbiansamanthaparkington]

[gossamerthreads]

With my kid getting into 18 in dolls I had been looking at my old AG stuff and bemoaning the state of the historical dolls (Samantha's BeForever outfit was terrible. No I am not taking other opinions). So even tho I'm not in the market for new dolls at this time, I'm excited about this.

Does this mean they are rereleasing the books with illustrations?

[sleepytoycollection]

when you wanna show off your dolls looking beautiful and elegant but your decorations are shit

[dollsahoy]

Dreams don’t always make sense

[barbiechick]

Mizi Doll, Tales of The World: The Brides of Dracula, Mina, 2020 🍷🧛🦇🏰

Just like Lucy, Mina is based on Wilhelmina "Mina" Harker from Bram Stoker's Dracula, both movie and the novel, and honestly she's stunning. Absolutely beautiful! I got worried for a second though, because it took them such a long time to deliver her, I started to think they have lost her in the mail! But luckily everything's fine!

I originally thought that Lucy was my favorite, because of my inclination towards readheads, but now I'm not so sure 😂

The only complain, for me personally, is the articulation in the chest is nonexistent, so yet again I wonder why put a joint there if we can't use it 🤷

Otherwise, the doll is just *chefs kiss* ❤

[oak23]

When will Mattel design asian dolls that actually appeal to asians

[oak23]

Like why fuck is her skin so yellow

[dollsahoy]

I just noticed this doll has the Rebellious Asian Girl Dyed Hair Fantasy Color Contrast Trope going on, too

[womeninspace]

NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg is a self proclaimed crafter. A week ago she made a stuffed dinosaur from scraps on the space station. The little T-rex is made form the lining of Russian food containers and the toy is stuffed with scraps from an old T-shirt. While many toys have flown into space, this is the first produced in space.

Photos: Karen Nyberg, via CollectSpace

[void-tiger]

@headspacedad

[gossamerthreads]

A self-drafted pattern success! The top gapes a bit, and I'm not sure how to fix that, but it looks cute and the button band turned out really nice! I'm really excited about the customization options for this.

[gossamerthreads]

Tried out one of the old Pleasant Company patterns. This is Molly's Jumper with a modified skirt. I'm actually really pleased with this! It turned out pretty good, and design is really classic. It looks surprisingly modern with the horse print.

[neonkewpie]

Commission: oversized SD sweater for @sicktress is done and being blocked! Thank you💖 If you’d like your own custom sweater for your doll, please DM me!

#dollknits #dollknitting #bjdknitting #cablesweater #bjdsales https://www.instagram.com/p/CNjCBMsjpE3/?igshid=40ar13p19vpx

[gossamerthreads]

Omigosh this is gorgeous. Especially as a knitter, I can't imagine how long this took! It looks so good!

[asterkurayami]

Bella in the Aliexpress dress.

[gossamerthreads]

My first time seeing Rainbow High dressed in this style, and it works? I would have thought they'd be too modern for the frills and poof, but she's super cute!!!

[queenofsquids]

I used to iron the shit out of all my projects while I was sewing; my iron was pretty much always on and standing by.

Now that I have little kids, though, I hate turning the iron on. I'm always so worried they'll somehow touch it or worse pull it down on themselves. Now I will only iron when they're completely in another gated off room with someone else. This puts a real crimp in my operations.

And I'm finding now that even when I'm completely alone, I'm hesitant to get the iron out. Like the anxiety persists.

Do any of y'all with pets or kids feel this way?

[dollsahoy]

I just don't like to get the iron out because...it's...doing...a thing... And I know convincing myself to put it away again will be as big a hurdle.

I am very happy that I can (generally) finger press doll clothes seams

(but, no, I don't remember having qualms about using the iron around tinyChild or cats, but when really tinyChild was a thing, my craft room was on another floor with a babygate at the door)

[gossamerthreads]

Ironing around my little always made me really worried. The phase where you can tell them not to touch the hot thing, but they don't understand or retain that knowledge, so you absolutely cannot trust them to ACTUALLY NOT TOUCH the hot thing was really hard for me. I ended up sewing a bunch of projects at the same time, piling them in a basket, and then doing a bunch of ironing at once while distracting someone with Daniel Tiger, and then moving the off-but-still-hot iron to another room after I was done. It took SO LONG to finish anything, but it was the only way I could do it.

Now that they are older, it's easier. But practice really helped the anxiety for me. Start by doing it on your own and get a number of ironing-sessions-without-any thing-going-wrong under your belt. See if you can find an area you feel comfortable putting the warm iron out of reach (for me it was the kitchen counter next to the knife block) When you feel comfortable ironing alone, you can start trying to balance ironing with watching kids. You've got this. And even if it takes a while, it will get easier.

[gossamerthreads]

Trying to make a pillowcase dress for an 18in doll. I think I went too tight on the arm holes this time... Time to take out some stitches and try again...