The first
time I made a 'Mini Moe' was when Missy Zip was 6 years old, she is now
21.
The Baby
Born doll was the biggest fad since the Barbie, and like all the other girls
her age, high on the Christmas wish list.
Month
before Christmas, as the queue for the doll reached frantic level, I still
needed to find tidbits like clothes & accessories for the doll, running out
of time, I brought in the cavalry to stand in line, my mum.
I left
her with a look that smacked of "be nice" I went in search for the
extras, surmising that it would be at least another half an hour
One hell
of a ferocious person just by her look, mum never stood any line for anything
very long.
Mean mums
come in handy for moments like these.
I was
still gulping back the cost of the hefty priced outfits, which started at $48,
and the Baby Born carrier was double that, when mum came up with the doll
leaving behind a trail of curse mutterings from those still left in line.
She demanded
we leave real soon, or there might be a posse of irate mum's waiting for us in
the car park.
"But
I haven't got any clothes for the doll........"
With
Troll, a then bub in the sling, it was mum who suggested or more like an
inpatient scowl "make them yourself" as she pointed to the sling.
Looking
past me, she said "Quick, give me the sling". I didn't need to turn
around to know that there was a troop of angry shoppers with an agenda coming
up behind us.
Transferring
sleeping Troll in sling from me to mum was done in less then 30 seconds, she
shoved me aside, pushed out her boobs, cracked her knuckles one at a time as
she faced her self induced foe.
It worked
every time, they slinked away.
Mum was
as embarrassing as many times as she was right about things.
I guess
growing up in the slums of a European city ravaged by war & other
atrocities, she came accustomed to casually stepping over fist fights in the
street as she did stepping off a curb to cross a street.
That
night I made Missy Zip and the Baby Born identical twirly floral dresses with
matching flip up hats and a coordinating stripe Mini Moe dolly sling. I had to
wait till she went to bed before commandeering The Chef's body as a guide for
the Mini Moe dolly sling. Just 2 years older, he was used to being a live
mannequin for all the Aster Moe Kidswear designs; boys & girls wear
alike.
Couple of
years later it was a different story as I had to chase him around the house to
get him to try on an outfit. "I'm not getting into a dress, FINAL!"
he protested, hurdling couches, sliding across the kitchen bench island, as I
pleaded in hot pursuit "I just need to check dimensions that's all. Honest
it will be quick, pleeeaasse"
I
couldn't wait till Christmas for missy Zip to have the Baby Born Doll and the
various other outfits I ended up making. That doll was going to be the best
dressed doll in town.
As with
Missy Zip it was a hit as it was for our Aster Moe customers.
Mini Moe
Dolls Clothes was born that Christmas and lived for another 10 years, selling
at all the various markets we did. All the designs were replicas of the
of the Aster Moe range, many times the dolls clothes sold out before the
children's clothes did. At Christmas time there would be queues of people, 4 -5
deep grabbing at the dolly clothes. These days there is case of left over
Mini Moe dolls clothes and a naked Baby Born, which has Texta makeup to rival
the scariest clown in town in permanent non use under Little Miss Mischief's
bed. I guess she didn't like Baby Born's as much as Missy Zip did.
The Mini
Moe Dolly sling though, is in rampant use by little Miss Mischief & her BFF
- Bailey. Sezah, her rabbit along with Snowy & Jasmine the resident guinea
pigs all get daily rides as LMM lullaby's them with her own fairy & unicorn
songs in the garden.
I'm
thinking, singing lessons might not go astray in the new future..............
I have
experimented with the Mini Moe Dolly slings for a long time, but kept coming
back to our original version, thinking that maybe a ring sling version might
give better sizing to accommodate different shapes & rapidly growing
bodies. I experimented with parachute style versions, thinking that little kids
could relate easier with that style, but there were already a few on the market
and it seemed to contradict what we were about. Mostly parents spoke about
their little toddlers grabbing the sling that was used for them and putting
their teddies in, but it was too big; so back to the original once again.
Like a
lot of things in our lives, we put a lot of projects to the back burner, due to
life as we know it being so full as it is.
This time
I did I got the legals in process before anyone saw the revised Mini Moe Dolly
Sling; a little but very important thing called IP protection!!!!
Nothing
is more heart braking than having your design that you have spent countless
hours researching developing only to have it stolen away by the lack of an A4
sheet of paper. I've seen it happen to so many people in the past and it's not
such a big process once you've don't it once.
We're
really happy at the response we have had within our control groups, the
retailers who have 'proof tested' the product and at Perth's PBC Expo last
month a hit with the general public.
The
product itself is finished, though we are still finalising the choices of
logo's done by the fabulous Bec Marr from RubyRuby designs and
the marketing material such as packaging and other things that go with a new
product......... so much to do!
The staff
& I just can't seem to settle on a favourite, so we thought it might be
nice to have our fans & readers have an input in choosing the new logo for
our Mini Moe Dolly Sling.
