:: Commercially Clueless ::
Here's how commercially clueless I am. Today at the birthday party, when baby Charlotte opened her gift, her mom said, "I've been wanting to get her one of these." Confused, I just smiled and maybe said "Oh, good" or something like that.
So then the Fleetian gets passed around to some of the other mommies and I hear them talking about Uglydolls, something I have never heard of but which seem to be pretty popular, according to these women, but not available in your usual stores.
I got home, googled Uglydoll, and discovered that I am actually a quite convincing knock-off artist.
Originally the plan was to buy Sock Zombies from Erin's etsy shop. I saw them on a blog I read and loved them so much I wanted to buy one for each and every kid I knew. But even at their somewhat modest price, they were too much. Over the course of the last month or two, I've seen a bunch of other odd stuffed toys around -- on etsy, in stores and catalogs, and obviously including someone's Uglydoll -- and thought to myself (and here's where my mother comes out in me), "I can make something like that." I got some fleece remnants really cheaply at JoAnn Fabrics and started drawing odd little creatures on printer paper during one of Evan's naps.
I just think it's hilarious that I didn't know about Uglydolls and that of all the images that stuck in my head as I was working on them and of all the sketches and patterns I made, this one looks so much like these insanely popular dolls. A 2006 Toy of the Year, actually. This is just so funny to me. At least I didn't try to make a small red stuff animal that holds his belly and laughs. That would have been really embarrassing.
3 comments:
I have to tell you I feel like an ass because after you left, I was looking for the doll because I loved it so much and wanted to get a closer look (it had slipped under the couch), and I realized "Holy crap! I forgot that Julie sews! This is a hand-made doll!" I can't thank you enough for taking the time to MAKE something so beautiful for Charlotte! I'm really honored that you would take the time to make and give such a thoughtful gift. I love it; Charlotte does, too (she played with it a lot this evening), and frankly, I say all the better to be "commercially clueless" than to be totally indoctrinated in our capitalist culture. Thanks again for coming; it was really good to see you guys!
I think it's amazing that you have the ability to make something that could be mistaken for an uglydoll.
(And, reading Deneese's comments, I think she agrees, LOL!)
I thought he kinda looked like an Ugly doll. But a handmade knock-off Ugly doll is far better, in my opinion.
As a child, I loved Pound Puppies. I had one original one, and one that my grandmother made that looked nearly identical aside from lacking the embroidered logo and tags. I loved the homemade one even more, because he was made just for me.
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