Hi crafters! I hope you have all been enjoying a crafty summer? I have been a bit quiet for a while as I have been a bit poorly. I have been forced to ‘rest’, which to me means boredom, so I was pleased to receive these adorable Dressable dies by Tonic in the post. Receiving gorgeous dies is obviously going to cheer any crafter up but they had another benefit as all the dies in the Dressables sets that I received fit into my mini die cutting machine which meant that I could cut out all the figures and colour them all whilst ‘resting’ in bed. I did get a bit carried away and ended up making over twenty Dressables figures, but I had so much fun cutting out and colouring them all. After making the figures and creating their characters and outfits I needed to put them to use. I have included some photos of my makes using the figures and accessories from the Dressables dies to hopefully demonstrate just how versatile these dies are.
The Dressables dies by Tonic create figures that can be ‘dressed-up’ and embellished with accessories to create a vast array of characters. The Dressables collection that I used for all my pictured makes comprise of three separate die packs; Dressable Essentials, Boy’s Outfits and Girl’s Outfits. The Dressables’ Essentials set is your ‘starter’ set which includes the head, body, eyes, lips, various hairstyles and basic clothes and accessories. The Boy’s and Girl’s outfits collections build-on that starter set to create a wider range of costumes and accessories from pearl earrings to shoes and hats.
The dies remind me a little of the paper-dolls I loved to create and play with when I was a kid but I was a little concerned that the dies might be fun to play with at first but that I may only end up using them once in a while for the odd children’s card. As soon as I started playing with these dies, I was amazed at how versatile they were and that the only limit to their potential is your imagination. Due to the wide range of accessories and costumes in the die sets, you can create a vast array of different characters from pirates, sheriffs, ballerinas and fairies, to name a few. As well as the storybook type characters, you can create characters in everyday suits and jeans, to brides, doctors/nurses and footballers that can cover some people’s hobbies and mark some of the key events in life, such as a new career or weddings which mean that the characters are not just for children.
For me, the best feature of these dies is that as they are broken-down into separate detailed parts. The characters can be fully-customisable, for example you can make a super-hero mermaid or a footballing princess. You can also choose a hairstyle, shoes, outfit that reflects the character of the person you are sending the card or gift to and just by using your favourite colouring medium, you can personalise hair colour and skin-tone. The detail that can be found in the accessories adds to the quality of the characterisation and as each outfit and accessory can be interchanged in many different combinations, you can create many individual and personalised characters. The plentiful design options available to you mean you’ll probably never get bored or stuck in finding something suitable for your home décor or papercrafts.
As the dies are made by Tonic, you know they are quality dies that are going to cut cleanly time and time again and that the fine detailing in the dies will transfer to the paper or card you are cutting. The dies even include dies for the lips and eyes and it is that attention to detail that gives the figures their unique character. I will give you a little tip that when it comes to cutting the eyes and lips, you will find double-sided adhesive sheets and tweezers will help you to adhere those details onto the figures as the lips and eyes can be a little fiddly.
As the characters are made from separate elements it means that you don’t have to use the whole costume or body, just using the ‘heads’ of the characters works well. The heads are the perfect size for bookmarks and place-cards.
The dies are obviously great for children’s cards and home décor but they’d also be great to use with children as they’d love colouring and creating their own characters. I also think that Primary School teachers and TAs would find them incredibly useful. I know I would’ve loved them when I was working at my last school. They would be great to personalise children’s folders, cloakroom name tags and you could dress the children in their school uniform colours as the dies include skirts, trousers, shirt and even a tie. They’d also be great to create fairy tale characters that can be used in storytelling.
I have had so much fun playing with these dies and I can say that when it comes to versatility and creativity, these are probably one of my favourite die sets of all-time. When you take in consideration the number of individual dies you get in these sets and the amount of characters you can create the dies represent great value as well as creativity – a winning combination!
Have you enjoyed using the Dressables dies? What are your favourite dies of all-time? Please share your comments and projects below.
