Seek And Ye Shall Find

Remember the old doll clothes, shoes, accessories and clothes hangers, how they were packaged on cards like those pictured below?  I remembered about these when I decided on an assemblage idea for the class at work. Finally we will be doing it, starting on Monday.  This will be my first time leading the art class (I've led the cooking several times since the mentor who originally led both those classes moved out of the county).  

Anyhow, my chosen theme for the class  project was Skeletons in the Closet (everyone will be doing their own theme) and I wanted to hang some clothes in the closet. (More on the rest of what I am using for the project later). Upon deciding this, it occurred to me that I never seem to see the old-fashioned doll clothes on cards or the little boxes of shoes or clothes hangers.  It's been so long since I've had to look for these things, but I knew they are scarce these days.

So I searched for where I might be able to find these things. Unfortunately, I had not begun my search early enough to order from Amazon in time for beginning my assemblage.  I did, however, discover how to make Barbie-like doll clothes hangers from paper clips using pliers.   I already had plenty of paper clips at home, so this was the best solution for this.  So one part of my problem was solved.

Photo from Thriftyfun.com on DIY Barbie doll clothes hangers (above),
and those made by me (below).

One day after discovering this pattern, I bought this generic Barbie Doll knockoff from Dollar Tree to use in the assemblage.  The dress pictured at her side her is actually the outfit she came with. More on this is in a minute.

Then last week, I decided to go to Gilroy to see if I could possibly and some Barbie-size doll clothes, shoes and other accessories. The day before  at Kmart, I had seen a Barbie doll that comes with shoes and other accessories. I didn't want spend $16 or $17 dollars for this set, and besides I'd already found a cheap doll.  Someone from the center had said to look at Michaels, so I went to the nearest one in Gilroy last Thursday. Before going to Michaels, however, I went to the 99 Cents or Less Store to see if they had what I was trying to find. No luck at either store, so I was then off to Walmart. I'd pondered going to the Toys R Us outlet, even though it would be more expensive there. I would only do this if I was not successful at finding what I need elsewhere for cheaper.  At Walmart, in the toys section I discovered this line: Funville Sparkle Girlz.  There were several outfit sets packaged on cards.  I decided these were perfect and they were only $1.97 each. There were so many there that I liked, it was hard to choose. I ended up buying four of the outfit sets, which came with either a purse or a pair of shoes. 

A while earlier, one of the girls at the center said she went to the Gilroy  Dollar Tree to get supplies for her upcoming project, and that the store in Gilroy has more stuff than the one in Hollister. So while Gilroy, I went to Dollar Tree and I saw she was right. While there discovered some cheap doll clothes for 11.5 inch fashion dolls. I nearly panicked, wishing I'd gone to the Dollar Tree first. But then I thought, why not one more? So I bought the outfit pictured on the doll.  It too came with shoes and a purse. (I liked how looked so I left it on her).

Here are the clothes I got from Walmart and the shoes and purses. I don't remember which accessories came with which clothes, except that the pink purse came with  the outfit on the doll in the photo above.  The clothes are hung on the paper-clip hangers. I sewed the clothes to the hangers so they will not fall off. I made several of the hangers so I can hang some empty hangers in the closet.

Here is an image of the Sparkle Girlz clothes from Walmart's site:

I was glad my plan worked out. I had some back up plans in mind, such as paying more at Toys R Us, or getting more of the generic Dollar Tree dolls and removing their outfits (though I wasn't certain what to do with the dolls once they were unclothed!)