Keeping track of clothing

How does everyone else do it? I bought Miku, and before she even got shipped I also had 3 more outfits on order. Now that they are all getting to my door step, I realized I'm not sure how to keep track and store the outfits. Are there any nice dressers, armoires, or closets for DD dolls? Is it preferred to hang or lay flat the outfits? I want to keep them nice while she isn't wearing them.

Invest in a bunch of zip-lock bags, to keep all the outfits neatly together. They're all just fine laying stacked in a drawer or bin, or big shoebox..... (Miku comes in giant box of her own? Why not use that for clothes storage)

Usually boots come with tissue paper stuffed in them, try to repack them that way. Keeps the boot from sorta... collapsing in on itself

 

If you're worried about losing pieces of a set, maybe make a list of what pieces go with what outfit?

Edited May 17, 2016 by Guest

Invest in a bunch of zip-lock bags, to keep all the outfits neatly together. They're all just fine laying stacked in a drawer or bin, or big shoebox.....

 

Basically the same here.

I have bins, like everyone else that's chimed in so far. BUT something I'm super interested in doing is something that MyFroggyStuff on YouTube does with her clothes for the smaller dolls. She puts them in binders! She takes a few page protectors and puts the outfits in there in 3-ring binders. It's really neat. Really great if you don't have a lot to store like some of us who have been collecting forever, and great to save space that the bulky plastic bins take up, if space is an issue for you.

I have a closet for them made from a cabinet with tension rods in it where I store their everyday separates. Fullset outfits when I had them (I've sold them all now) and costume type outfits are in gallon ziplocks in a drawer in the bottom of the cupboard. It's space intensive but I can just open the doors and look around when I want to change someone's outfit. Otherwise I'd have to have an idea in advance to look for, or rifle through everything.

 

I also have a small dresser like jewelry box where I keep undies, socks, and swimsuits.

+1 on ziplock bags. I used to keep my doll clothes in drawers and decorative boxes, but once it reached the point that I couldn't remember what items were in which boxes, I started switching over to see-through storage cases.

 

In my experience (YMMV) binder storage is best suited for 1/6 dolls.

I would never of thought of using a binder, that's a clever idea. Until then, gallon bags it is. I needed to buy some more anyway.

+1 on ziplock bags. I used to keep my doll clothes in drawers and decorative boxes, but once it reached the point that I couldn't remember what items were in which boxes, I started switching over to see-through storage cases.

 

In my experience (YMMV) binder storage is best suited for 1/6 dolls.

 

That's the only thing about it, it's not really suited for large dresses/collections I think. More for separates and casual clothing at best. But it's still an option haha.

Has anyone tried making a "closet " for their girls. I have been thinking about but I like the binder and clear container idea.

I guess I'm a weird one then. I keep all my clothes in the same packages they came in. I take photos of each and put them in a computer folder with who I bought them from, how much and when I received them. If I ever resell I don't want to accidentally give new buyers any wrong information. I then keep them in a big cardboard box that a company once delivered clothes for myself in. It was a perfect cube and I couldn't bring myself to throw it away but now it is perfect for all the big outfits that need to lay flat.

 

I have so many outfits and am yet to to see my first girl fully realised.

 

Since I'm limited on money and resources, I put all of my girl's extra outfits in a big shoe box. And since the box has a pattern I'll remember it's easy for me to find it if I ever put it in storage or something.

I generally keep them in the same plastic bag outfit usually come with. If it's the plastic bag that came with the outfit isn't good at closing back up or ripped, I used the gallon zip lock bags. All kept in decorative boxes. But I'm tempted to try the curtain rod inside a small drawer/display case I seen. Most of my outfits are fullset that are very fabrics heavy/fluffy so the plastic bad/ziplock get bulky really quickly.

Edited September 14, 2019 by Aireoko

I'm always amazed when I hear of people NOT keeping the original packaging the clothes they buy comes in.  Why don't you keep it?  In Japan, especially with Volks, the packaging is *almost* as important as the outfit.    I've gotten some amazing deals on hard to find and expensive outfits by Volks only because the original packaging was missing or damaged.  I've always kept original packaging for things I've bought since I was a kid, I suppose that's the collector/completist in me.  😄

 

Anyway, like others here, I keep my clothing in their bags or if I don't have that, I use quart or gallon sized ZipLoc bags for them depending on the size of the clothing.  All those clothes go into the large plastic bins you can slide under beds or into those 3 drawer plastic setups you can find at Walmart.  I find those all over the place when people upgrade furniture so I've got a BIG stack of different sized drawers that I keep various things in like shoes, hair bows, wig supplies, etc.

 

You can see the big plastic bins and the stack of drawers in this photo:

 

DSC_0795 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

 

So far the system works really well for me.  I'm even silly enough to keep similar clothing items in different cases.  Like, one of those large bins has nothing but Volks clothing, one has nothing but default outfits for DD's, one is for ALices Collections and Cool Cats and 2 of them are just accessories for the girls.  😉

 

Yeah I'm nuts.

 

 

 

Billy

I have a database for doll collectors on my computer, and my iPad. It’s really meant for barbies, but it works for any doll really. I keep all the dolls & outfits recorded, and all their stuff is in numbered bins with the bin numbers recorded on the outfit’s entry in the database. 

I use different types of bins too. Small bits like necklaces go into those plastic boxes that you use for screws and nuts, and the outfits go in storage bins. Small stuff that came with the doll, like original hands and pantsu, go in part bins that have the doll’s name on the cubicle they go into. Every girl has all her original stuff marked as hers. 

Edited September 14, 2019 by BeyondTime

59 minutes ago, baldylox said:

I'm always amazed when I hear of people NOT keeping the original packaging the clothes they buy comes in.  Why don't you keep it?  In Japan, especially with Volks, the packaging is *almost* as important as the outfit.    I've gotten some amazing deals on hard to find and expensive outfits by Volks only because the original packaging was missing or damaged.  I've always kept original packaging for things I've bought since I was a kid, I suppose that's the collector/completist in me. 

Well, if you live in a flat and collect figures and dolls, you might not have room to keep a mountain of huge boxes. You will quickly understand how ridiculous it is to sacrifice vital space so your boxes can live...
One solution would be to flatten them but I doubt it's always possible.

It also depends on your mindset. Some people are maniacs and some stop being maniacs or never were. I know it's hard, I was a big one, but I worked on myself (still working actually) and finally understood that you buy a product for what it is, not for the feeling of possession and value like if you were a museum or a trader. I stopped being anal about my books and don't even care anymore if the books I buy are in bad shape as only the text matter now. I enjoy my things better and stop buying useless stuff since I stopped considering this stuff for its market value. I find it ""unhealthy"" to buy something and already consider reselling it and therefore make you annoying about keeping the things in pristine condition so it can be repacked. Well, it is what it is to be a collector, no need to try convincing me, but I was fed up of looking like a trader (and a consumer at the mercy of capitalism) even though I never resell anything in the end. I am not saying to not take care of your stuff or stop liking beautiful (and valuable) objects but boxes are not important if you don't plan to resell, and if you do it anyway, it won't be because you had this afterthought that was blocking you since day one of your purchase. Of course, if you plan on reselling, keeping boxes is important (and if you have unused space, it's free), indeed, but I hope you will start to understand that it's not mandatory.

31 minutes ago, Sechs said:

Well, if you live in a flat and collect figures and dolls, you might not have room to keep a mountain of huge boxes. You will quickly understand how ridiculous it is to sacrifice vital space so your boxes can live...
One solution would be to flatten them but I doubt it's always possible.

It also depends on your mindset. Some people are maniacs and some stop being maniacs or never were. I know it's hard, I was a big one, but I worked on myself (still working actually) and finally understood that you buy a product for what it is, not for the feeling of possession and value like if you were a museum or a trader. I stopped being anal about my books and don't even care anymore if the books I buy are in bad shape as only the text matter now. I enjoy my things better and stop buying useless stuff since I stopped considering this stuff for its market value. I find it ""unhealthy"" to buy something and already consider reselling it and therefore make you annoying about keeping the things in pristine condition so it can be repacked. Well, it is what it is to be a collector, no need to try convincing me, but I was fed up of looking like a trader (and a consumer at the mercy of capitalism) even though I never resell anything in the end. I am not saying to not take care of your stuff or stop liking beautiful (and valuable) objects but boxes are not important if you don't plan to resell, and if you do it anyway, it won't be because you had this afterthought that was blocking you since day one of your purchase. Of course, if you plan on reselling, keeping boxes is important (and if you have unused space, it's free), indeed, but I hope you will start to understand that it's not mandatory.

I didn't really mean boxes.  The original poster mentioned clothing so I meant the bags that they come in, mostly Volks stuff.  It's rare that I see any clothes that come in boxes but I do have one or two sets like that.  

I know keeping things like packaging isn't mandatory and I wasn't implying that people SHOULD keep it, nor was I making any statement about people who don't.  Only because *I* keep it and most of the people I know also do, I wondered why others do not.  Sorry that you took it the wrong way but that's not what I meant.  It was just curiosity plain and simple.

As for market value, I don't buy anything for the dolls ( or dolls themselves ) with the intent to sell.  You can ask anyone who knows me well that I'm basically a black hole collector.  Once something enters my collection, it rarely ever makes it out.  LOL  The only times I have sold off anything was when I had to buy a used car and needed quick cash.  I sold off almost every Volks outfit I had at the time and having the packaging helped me make the most money I could with those sales.  So for me, keeping original packaging makes a ton of sense.... even if I plan to never sell anything off.  Sometimes life throws some real curve balls at you so when crap hits the fan, it's nice to know I can get my money back on items if need be.  😉

 

 

Billy

Well, I generalized as your comment could be applied to any packaging and if I keep the clothes' packaging, I keep them in the original cardboard box as it's hard to find fitting container for shipment, cardboard which... happens to be... bigger than BJD's boxes... haha ha

Also, I didn't think you were judgmental or anything, I was just giving you another perspective. But, yeah, if it's just about the outfits' plastic bags, specifically, it's way easier to store somewhere. In fact, I am like SlyViolin, I keep the clothes in the original packaging when I am done with them.

Edited September 15, 2019 by Sechs

I nearly always keep boxes for things. In the past it was partially so I could repack when moving, so I have all the boxes for computers, microwave, etc. and I keep figure boxes. Things that come on cards? Those have always gone in the trash immediately, unless there's particularly great art on there or something.

The Volks clothing bags I throw away, though I carefully cut out the picture label. I do this because I don't find the quality of those bags very good, and I have trouble putting the outfits back in them without wrinkling them even more than they already are. Since most of what I've bought is not current and came from Mandarake, the bags are usually crumpled, sometimes slightly torn, often aged and brittle, and often tear upon opening since the glue may have hardened. There's also those security stickers that if they come off at all leave a ton of sticky glue residue. I've cleaned that mess off a few but it's very time consuming with little reward.

I put that label and the outfits in large ziplock bags which I find much easier to handle than the originals. I'm looking to use something like Billy's drawers and bins for many outfits though because I tend to like dress clothes that are material types that get creased and smushed in bags especially if you stack any up. Things like the dress suits and military outfits I need to learn how to iron, and once I do I don't want to just wrinkle them right back up.

I don't do any of this until I'm sure I don't want to sell something. I've bought outfits that haven't worked out for me because I just didn't like them after all, or in most cases because they didn't fit as well as I hoped, and for selling to someone else I would always want to supply the complete package. Once past that I don't really concern myself with value. I've also sent a lot of extra faceplates from figures etc. that I'll never use to others. I'm not planning on selling any of this stuff though.

OT a bit, but those silly cardboard sleeves that come on blu-rays when they're released. 99% of the time, I throw those away immediately. Except on anime, where I have an unnatural attachment to them and am far too upset if one is bent, scuffed or otherwise damaged when I receive it. Or missing. I've also always kept the little paper obi strips from import videogames i.e. Sega Saturn, PC-Engine CD, Playstation 1.

8 hours ago, cfx said:

The Volks clothing bags I throw away, though I carefully cut out the picture label.

That's not a bad idea. I really need to get rid of all those clothing bags.

I only keep the bags of items that has a photo on it, otherwise I have no clue what went in the bag.  But I'm getting to the point of why bother.  I'm also a black hole collector, so there is no real point.  I also just throw everything together in bins sorted by size.

Now my trains it's different.  For all the rollingstock (Locomotives and freight and passenger cars.) I keep the boxes, but that's because it's the best way to store them if they aren't on display, and transport them as they are more apt to get damaged unlike doll clothes.  But for buildings, I toss those boxes.

I used to keep all the boxes and stuff for everything, but after getting divorced and most everything I owned was put in storage for nearly a decade I realized that I don't need that stuff and it was doing more to weigh me down then be useful or helpful.  So everyone is different.

When I first started in this hobby I threw out the plastic packaging because I had no intention of selling and I stored the outfits hung up in a small cabinet turned doll closet. Later, when I had to move, my outfits were stored in a plastic drawer tower in bags, so i started keeping the original bags again. Unfortunately I have had issues with clothing moths, and those stupid things are hard to get rid of since their eggs are the size of a grain of sand so you can't really see them. So, I can wash and steam the clothing to kill the moths and their eggs, then store the clothing in an airtight container that they can't get into, but it would be very difficult to steam all the bags without ruining them. So, they are once again being thrown away.

In the past, when I had money troubles and had to sell my Volks outfits, I didn't really have issues with not getting a price I was comfortable with due to missing packaging, so I'm not particularly concerned. 

6 hours ago, sinclair said:

I only keep the bags of items that has a photo on it, otherwise I have no clue what went in the bag.

Yeah, Tenshi no Koromo and Designers Collection. While I've kept the others so far, the labels for La Personelle Collection aren't that useful, and it's hard to keep track of what label went with what outfit anyway. I wish those at least had the outfit name on them. Identifying old outfits on Mandarke can be difficult because of this too, especially in some cases where even Mandarake doesn't seem to know what the proper names are.

Moths: That's a scary thought. It's been many years since I've had any issue with those, but I've only had them actually eat holes in things made of wool.

59 minutes ago, cfx said:

Moths: That's a scary thought. It's been many years since I've had any issue with those, but I've only had them actually eat holes in things made of wool.

Yes, it's very scary with the doll clothes. So far they have mostly only gotten my bath towels and my own clothing. Besides wool they also like cotton and other plant based materials like rayon. I lost three of my own shirts that were made of rayon, which I didn't realize  before is plant based rather than fully synthetic. 

Reading this thread has made me realize I need to put more effort into actually keeping things together, as well as a record of them. My problem is that I like to mix and match parts of full sets, but I keep putting things back in different places and different bags and as a result, I've somehow completely misplaced one part of a full-set (the shirt from SDC Renee's set - Tilo wears it a lot) and I can't find it anywhere no matter how hard I search, so I'm going to have to pull my room apart to find it. 

Ive been keeping things in mostly the original bags in a drawer, but I also bought some small zip-up document folder things from Daiso that are a good size to keep a full-set together, for things where I don't have the original bag or its not in great shape.

I was taught to use lavender's bags and conkers to repel moths. I don't know if it has any scientific basis (and finding about the horse-chestnut leaf miner kinda made me skeptical of the conker solution) but I never had any moth problem.