Dale Rae lives to sew. She started sewing as a child making outfits for her Betsy McCall dolls, where she developed her love of clothing design. Dale received a BA degree in Theatre Arts/Costuming and has since worked in dress design, dance wear design, and teaching. Only recently has she come back to her original inspiration and started working on doll clothing design.

Dale became a doll fashion designer by chance. “Creating doll clothes began quite serendipitously in 1997 when I made a few outfits for the 18” American Girl doll as a Christmas present for my goddaughter – and discovered that people wanted to buy them! We moved to Ohio in 1999 and again fate struck – one of my new neighbors, a doll shop owner, suggested I sew for fashion and Tonner dolls. This steered me in a whole new direction, and I’ve been expanding the horizons of my doll clothes sewing ever since. I started collecting and sewing for BJDs in 2005 after moving back to Colorado.”

Dale was introduced to BJDs by her son. He and his girlfriend first spotted them at anime conventions. “While we lived in Ohio he kept telling me that these were the dolls I needed to sew for.” Eventually Dale purchased a few BJDs. “I remember shortly after I got a few (an Angelregion Ami and Elfdoll Sooah were my first) and took pictures in some outfits I made. Then I went back to some of my vinyl fashion dolls – and I couldn’t get them to pose when I took pictures. That’s when I fully understood why BJDs were so popular.”

The doll costume work of Dale Rae has won prizes in numerous doll fashion competitions. She created two of her most elaborate designs for BJD dolls. ‘Royal Elves’ won 2nd Place in the Modern Doll Convention costume competition in 2006. ‘Warrior and Maiden’ won 3rd Place in the 2007 BJD Convention in Austin. “The armor ensemble (in Warrior and Maiden) was designed by my son, who works as a computer animator for Cinemedia. He had the idea for this armor and worked closely with me to plan out the patterns and I did the construction work. He even had a sword made – he designed it in the computer and then sent it off to be created using a process known as additive rapid prototyping. My hubby hand-painted it. The ladies costume was my design and I did all of the construction of the ensemble, including the headpiece.”

Dale has also designed elaborate OOAK outfits and commissions. Some of her favorites were her Arwen Gown, Harley Quin, and Ranger Girl costumes. “The Arwen gown on Limhwa Half Elf is my version of Arwen’s wedding gown. Harley Quinn was a commission by a lady in our local Colorado BJD group. She had a doll with a special face-up and dearly wanted her to be Harley Quinn. It was very fun to do. Ranger Girl was another of my son’s designs and I did the construction of the outfit (including custom made boots). He did the arrows, bow, belt and headpiece. He is an avid WOW player and this creation was supposed to be based on a WOW type character.

One of the more unusual projects for Dale in the last few years has been BJD shoe design. “I started working on the shoes almost 2 years ago as I felt that some “simple” basic shoes were desired by collectors. Many of the collectors were the same people I knew when collecting vinyl fashion dolls, and knew that many of them were dressing the BJDs in either period costumes or fashion ensembles. The shoes that were available in the BJD market tended to go along with the funky fashions provided for the BJDs. So I checked into getting shoes made.” Dale’s designs are based on classic shoe styles, low pumps, wedge heel sandals, jogging shoes, flats, ankle strap heels, cut-out flats and Mary Jane heels. She makes shoes for SD and MSD size dolls, and Dollmore Model dolls. ” I start by making a mold and casting of a particular doll’s foot. The first ones were of Elfdoll and Narae feet. Then I spend hours looking at human style shoes to figure out what designs might translate properly into the doll size, and/or what changes need to be made to the design to make it work on a doll. After deciding this, the casting (last) is sent to the factory in China for samples to be made. This process takes 3-4 months – in one case it took me 9 months to finally receive a sample of a particular design! If the fit is good I can go ahead and place an order – if the fit is not good, it takes another 3-4 months to get a second sample. The company I do this through provides a list of fabrics and colors to choose from when I place my orders. Once an order is placed, it takes another 3-4 months to receive it. So it can take anywhere from 6-8 months to complete the process and actually have shoes in hand to sell. For this reason I try to choose basic designs that won’t be out of style when I finally have them. I am about to send out for some new samples of a sandal design in the SD and MSD size. ”

In addition to shoes, Dale Rae Designs offers custom stockings and underwear for dolls. “Most of the stockings I make are custom orders – I have a page of fabric swatches and people can choose the type of stocking (knee socks, mid-thigh, thigh-high, etc.) they want and the fabric they want. Since the collector’s want a large variety of items, this is the easiest way to do the orders because I can never predict what a particular customer will want. I try to get items made up in a few days so the customer doesn’t have to wait a long time.”

Dale has produced several handy reference books for other aspiring doll fashion designers. The two latest books were developed for workshops that she held during the IDEX 2009 conference. “I had started my Creating Patterns for BJDs and Sewing for BJDs Yahoo groups and I was doing lessons for the Pattern group and had planned to do a booklet containing all of the lessons so people could have it to refer to. I have taught a Pattern Creating and Sock Sweater Workshop at other doll conventions – they just didn’t cover BJDs. So I took the lessons and created the workshop and booklets – and both contained information particular to working with BJDs because they do pose some additional challenges. Whenever I do workshops I always do a booklet that is given to each participant so that people can not only follow along during the workshop but have the information to go home with. ” All of Dale’s books are available for purchase in either book or PDF download form on her website. “The sock sweater booklet & patterns can be used by a beginner – but are probably more useful to at least an intermediate sewer. The knit “fabric” can be a bit tricky to work with and many beginners find it hard. But I have known beginners to tackle these projects and do quite well.”

“The pattern-making booklet is definitely aimed at intermediate and above. Unfortunately a beginner sewer usually struggles with how a patterns works, how it all goes together, etc. And a good understanding of all of this is needed before trying out pattern making. There are always people, of course, who seem to have an innate ability and can plunge right in. I include a LOT of pictures along with the explanations to try to make the process clear. But altering patterns is tricky – and after all, this is the crucial part of making a well-fitting pattern.”

Future plans for Dale include developing some requested pattern designs. “I also may be looking into making a smaller size shoe (around 3 cm) as I’ve had a request from a doll maker for these.” Dale is also busy filling customer shoe and stocking orders and preparing items to sell at the Modern Doll Convention 2009 in October. She may also teach a workshop at the convention. “I have some other projects/lessons planned for the Creating Patterns for BJDs group. It seems like every week something comes along to keep me busy!”

Dale Rae Designs – Dale’s Website
Gallery of Dale’s Work

Royal Elf Couple

Warrior and Maiden

Ranger Girl

Harley Quin

Assorted Flats - One of many shoe styles offered by Dale

Dale's guide to pattern design for the BJD

Dale's book on making Sophisticated doll garments from socks