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Doll
Shoes ! Even if you're not into amassing a huge pile of designer footwear for yourself, you may find that you're obsessing
over your dolls' shoes ! Especially if you find unusual nude dolls that need shoes...but you either can't or won't pay doll
shop prices, or aren't sure that $8. pair of miniature sneakers will fit your doll.
Here's a few things I've found
for your more rare dolls - readily available shoes that fit your not as readily available doll ! Feel free to add your information
to the pile - I'll make sure you get credit for it !
As part of an ongoing process, I'm redoing this page - adding photos and
more information. Eventually, I hope all my doll shoe entries look like these.
Monster High Dolls !
Nothing like an entirely new line of dolls - with entirely new bodies -
to make any doll fan look around, see if they have some shoes to fit already. Especially if the manufacturer didn't make separate
fashions or shoes to go with the initial release. That's what Monster High fans are looking at right now. There's more dolls
coming out, but so far, Mattel's been mum on new clothes or accessory sets. So I spent two hours with my two boxes of fashion
doll shoes, pretty much trying everything - and this is what I found...
Surprisingly, some Barbie shoes work. This sneaker design comes in about
two dozen colors. I found six different shades of pink, too. These have a 'sun' design and a chevron at the heel on the underside.
While you do get a bit of 'tiptoe' look, they're not bad, and you probably already have some. They come in a variety of plastics,
too - so the squishier your shoes are, the better they'll fit.
Be careful, though. As you can see, these two shoes have the exact same
design, but one is quite smaller than the other, and won't fit. I pretty much found the first pair that fit and used them
to gauge the size of all the other Barbie sneakers I had.
Other sneakers fit, too. While All American Barbie and friends wore
these Reeboks as slipcovers for little white sneakers, your MH Ghouls can wear them without the plastic. Sure, their toes
will peek through if they walk anywhere, but for a quick photo, they look very cute on them !
I have no idea where these very soft and squishy white sneakers came from, but they also fit quite well.
Barbie sneakers aren't the only shoes the MH classmates can steal. These
boots mostly fit, if you don't mind a bit of heel showing in the back. I know the gold boots are from an American Idol Tori
I found at a flea market, and I think the red boots are from a Fashion Fever outfit. Not sure, though.
These white flip-flop sandals originally came on a High School Musical
2 'Summer Romance' Troy doll. They seem to look best on Lagoona !
And finishing up for Mattel dolls' purloined footwear, these Beauty Cuties
shoes are actually too wide for Frankie, but they look cute on her anyway. Since I never had a Blythe-like Beauty Cuties doll,
I think these came with a markdown fashion set.
These Galoob 'Spice Girls' boots fit like they were made for the MH line
! Unfortunately, none of the shoes fit well at all. While I'm not really enthused with these clunky boots, they're nice to
have as an option.
Almost all of the shoes from both the Bandai America and Irwin Toys Sailor
Moon dolls fit beautifully ! Shown here, left to fright, are Sailor Neptune, Sailor Mars, and Sailor Saturn's signature
footwear. Sailor Mars' pumps were a bit difficult to get on, but they fit well. Since I don't know if they stain or not, I
wouldn't recommend leaving any of these on for a long time.
The only shoes I couldn't get to fit were Jupiter's green 'granny boots' and Princess Serenity's white pumps.
Jupiter's would go on, but the slightly wider MH feet left white stress marks on them, and the white princess shoes were simply
a no-go. All the boots, from the no-nose Bandai knee-highs to the more accurate Irwin ones went on easily.
And finishing off the MH shoes I have are these after-market sandals. They
were purchased for Jem from Marcia's Fantasy (*fantastic-dolls* on eBay) several years ago. They fit very snugly on Jem,
but very loosely on MH dolls. In fact, half the time one of mine wore these, and I picked her up, one or both shoes fell off.
But they look good in photos, and it was nice to have something for them to wear besides their issue shoes, so there ya go.
They come in lots of colors, but I just have yer basic black set and white set.
Dozens of other shoes didn't fit. Those include shoes for Gene, Tonner dolls, Maxie, Lisa Hayes (Robotech),
Xena, Ken (too wide), Princess Fiona (Shrek), Winx, Gymnast Barbie, and Teen Skipper.
I've been informed from meowbarkhissgrowl2010 that the Rainbow Brite fashion dolls' shoes fit, from Mattspack
and Barbie-Boy that the long-legged Hi Glamm shoes fit, and Barbie-Boy also says that America's Next Top Model's are a close
fit, too. And I've heard that the Playmates' Strawberry Shortcake dolls have some that fit.
That should keep most of us going until Mattel makes some fashions. As for me, though, stay tuned -
I'm learning to make doll shoes, and I'm hoping to have at least one tutorial out by July's end.
Other Fashion Dolls !
*The vintage 1978 11.5" Kenner Princess
Leia doll has flat feet that won't even come close to fitting Barbie shoes. She does, however, fit Ken's shoes great ! While
Ken doesn't have the girliest of shoes out there, Leia can easily wear his sandals, sneakers, and loafers - and it's easy
to trim plastic and vinyl...so you may end up cutting up a set of loafers to make some lovely flats ! She can also wear most
Ken clothes.
She can also fit Dusty clothes and shoes - it's basically the same body, Leia
just didn't get all the gimmicks Dusty did - but it's far easier to find Ken shoes, as most of Dusty's are sneakers and tennis
shoes.
The male dolls of the same vintage - Han and Luke - don't fit the Ken shoes well.
It ends up being a cram-fest. The Dollar Tree GI Joe dolls I bought for clothes had boots that fit.
*I've recently become the proud owner of a Susie doll, from R & D Collectables. Her
ankles bend, but her feet don't fit a lot of Barbie shoes. Babs shoes tend to have angles that Susie's flat feet don't. She
fits flat vintage Skipper shoes fine, but beware - those often split.
Found some great Fashion Fever shoes that work beautifully for her. If the 'foot
bed' on the shoe is flat, the FF shoes will work, even if it is at an angle. The ankle-tie ones - they come in numerous colors
in various sets - are a good example. Posed well, she can even stand unassisted in them.
*Shrek Princesses came out in 2007. MGA also makes other non-trademarked
(i.e., not Disney) fairy tale princesses that probably have the same legs and
feet. They wear Ken shoes - her foot is flat and a bit thick - fairly well. Even the sandals work, if you push the doll's
foot forward, which leaves space in the back. Barbie 'gymnast' shoes are too narrow and short.
Surprisingly, Jem and Princess Leia can wear my 'Princess Fiona' doll's green
shoes. They just look a bit awkward on them - the heel's too tall for Leia, and
too short for Jem. For a seated doll, though, it'd look OK.
* Irwin 'Sailor Moon' dolls and Matchbox's Lisa Hayes 'Robotech' doll can fit
the flat-foot 'Gymnast' Barbie body shoes, but these are getting harder to find. They also fit the 'Teen Skipper' shoes, but
those are also drying up. Some of the larger Barbie sneakers can fit, too.
Beware, though - Mattel makes some Barbie
sneakers with an inside shape that fits the high-heel foot, and those won't work with the Sailor Soldiers. You want the hollow,
empty inside sneakers, and the squishy-textured ones are the easiest to put on.
The male dolls of both lines - Tuxedo
Mask and Rick Hunter - can wear standard Ken shoes, even if they are quite large on Tux-Boy ! Same goes for Ken clothes. I'll
soon know if the same goes for Ken patterns !
*
The Kim Possible fashion doll (the one with brushable hair) can also fit the Barbie 'Gymnast' and 'Teen Skipper' shoes. I
understand she can also fit some Bratz clothes, but can't verify that - I just have Kim !
Larger Dolls !
*Beautiful Crissy also has a few options. She can easily wear Scholastic's 'Babysitter's Club' doll shoes and clothes.
Just keep in mind, when you're bidding on auctions, that there are two lines of BSC dolls - one is Crissy sized, and one is
Barbie sized. For clothes and shoes for Crissy, you definitely want the larger dolls !
She can also wear shoes from
Playmates' 'Interactive Belle' and 'Interactive Cinderella'. The shoes are a bit big, but a small bit of tissue or a cotton
ball in the toes helps. Their clothes also fit Crissy, but won't close over her hair knob.
* Baby Crissy and
My Size Barbie have something really great in common. They can wear real kids' shoes ! Baby Crissy wears about a 9 months
- 1 year shoe size, but that varies greatly. If you don't want to take your doll into the store, you may want to trace her
feet on thick cardboard, cut out, and store in a purse or pocket. That way, you can slip the foot-shape into the shoe, and
if it fits, the shoe should. Baby Crissy does, however, have thick ankles, so make sure any strappy shoes have really looong
straps.
My Size Barbie has a five-inch long foot. This often equates to a todder size four or five, sometimes six. Yet I have
a pair of foam sandals that fit my two MSBs great - and they're labelled '18 mos.'. Her foot is also a bit more narrow than
a real child's. Again, you may want to do the cardboard foot, just to make sure.
I have several shoes I bought for both doll types at yard sales that are too big. A little tissue paper can help fill
out the shoe - and don't forget socks !
*Baby
Face, Timey Tell, and Hi, Dottie all have something in common, too. They're very lucky - because they can wear most American
Girl - clone shoes ! They're a bit long - the dolls have about a 2.25" foot, and AG Clone shoes tend to fit a 2.5" foot -
but the width has been spot-on. Even the ones with straps have fit over the BF thick ankles.
Open-toe sandals tend to not look right, as the toes are too far back, but most closed toe
shoes look fine a bit big. I have numerous second-hand 'My Generation' shoes and clothes that originated at Target, and even
some of the MG clothes fit Timey and Dottie. Skirts and pants, though, are too long and will need to be altered.
*I've yet to find an identifiable shoe that fits the Disney Princess 'Before Once Upon
A Time' ( toddler ) dolls. Found a few pairs at yard sales, but I have no idea what doll they originally went to.
I
did, however, find car air fresheners shaped like thick-soled vinyl sneakers...and those fit ! It's a bit of a squeeze, but
for 99c, I bought both the red and black set ! Scent's nearly gone now, thank Everything. Goes to show, you can find doll
shoes in the oddest places - even in the automotive section of Big Lots !
So, in conclusion, you can find
doll shoes to fit your most unique dolls. You may have to be creative about it, and check out second-hand sources, but it's
possible. Check dolls at places like Dollar General, Family Dollar, or Dollar Tree - for $5., you might find shoes and a dress
to fit your doll on another inexpensive doll !
Coming soon - directions to make simple shoes for any or all
of your dolls ! But for now, keep those cardboard feet handy, or make sure there's a ruler or tape measure when you go looking
for treasures. I keep a database of doll foot and waist/shoulder/height measurements in part of my dayplanner. You never know
what you'll find - or when !
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