Marianne Smith of MTS Designs

Embroidering Her Way to Success!

By Lisa A. Lawrence

Currently a resident of Johnson City, Tennessee, Marianne Smith was an only child, born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. Without many neighborhood children with whom to play, she learned to entertain herself at a young age and has always been comfortable with solitary pursuits.

At around age 9, Marianne was thrilled to receive a “fashion designer” light box kit for Christmas!  While she may not have known at the time that she would end up designing doll clothes, the seed was planted.  Two years later, Marianne self-consciously asked for her first Barbie®.  She was relieved to find out that her own mother had played with dolls through age 12.  That Christmas, she received a blond bubblecut Barbie in a red swimsuit, her first and only childhood Barbie.  While Marianne loved the clothes available for Barbie, she was also the recipient of many beautiful doll clothes made by her mother.

When asked how she learned to sew and embroider, Marianne shared this story: “I'm a self-taught sewer. When I was in high school and the time came to pick elective classes, my mother urged me [not to take sewing but] to take something I couldn't learn at home. So, I took two years of drafting. Back in the '60's, I was the only girl in a drafting class in my high school. I enjoyed it and what I learned in drafting class still comes in handy when developing doll clothes patterns. I taught myself to sew when I was 17. I've been learning new techniques and improving my sewing skills ever since. That's 35 years of sewing so far! I taught myself to [hand] embroider when I was 11. I've always considered embroidery a pleasant, relaxing hobby.”

Marianne didn’t buy her first dolls as an adult until April 1998.  Then, she bought two 18” Heidi Ott dolls, called Faithful Friends®: which were Target’s answer to the American Girl® dolls.  While she made some clothes for these little girl dolls, she felt only a moderate interest in them.  Then, in January 1999, Marianne’s life forever changed when she came across a picture of a Gene® Destiny doll while surfing the 'Net! “I thought she was beautiful, maybe in part because her hair was the same color as my youngest son's hair.” Marianne stated,  “Anyway, I quickly ordered her and Sparkling Seduction Gene and I was hooked on fashion dolls.”  Sensing that perhaps Marianne dove headfirst into her new doll collection, I asked her how many dolls she now owns.  Laughing, she diplomatically answered, “Let's just say more than some collectors and less than others!”  While her current collection includes Gene, Alex®, Brenda Starr®, Daisy & Willow®, Barbie, Cissy®, a Tonner porcelain, Ann Estelle®, Kripplebush Kids®, and Penney® and friends by Tonner, Gene has now been supplanted by the new favorite: Tyler Wentworth® and friends! 

A year after her first Gene purchase, Marianne started creating her own designs by making some ribbon embellished bellbottoms and a fake fur vest for Willow.  She took the outfits to her doll club just to show her friends what she’d been up to.  Another year later, in January 2001, she started making sweaters out of socks and posted these on the TylerDoll Yahoo Group. (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TylerDoll)   Shortly afterward, Marianne bought a dress on eBay for Ann Estelle that had a machine embroidered design on it.  Finding it absolutely beautiful, she was inspired to research embroidery machines. 

By April 2001, she had bought one on eBay!  Knowing that she had a lot to learn about using her new machine, Marianne taught herself how to use it by practicing for four months before she felt ready to show her work.  Going back to the TylerDoll Yahoo Group, she posted some pictures of her newly embroidered designs.  Immediately, she received glowing reviews and sold some outfits at that time!

However, Marianne didn’t actually start her MTS Designs business until April 2002 when she unveiled her website: http://users.chartertn.net/gds/mtsdesigns.html.  By April 24, I had purchased a couple of Marianne’s embroidered beach totes!  When I received the totes, I was so thrilled with them that I contacted Marianne to find out if she could make some for me in “real people” size.  Sadly, the answer was “no.”  Marianne’s designs were too small for “people” size and could not realistically be “sized-up” without losing much of the detail. 

From my daily browsing of the various doll boards, it was obvious that Marianne’s website was a success and that her orders were coming in fast and furious!  Everyone was excited about the new possibilities her embroidered designs opened up to us!  A month later, I was thinking about what to get doll clothing designer Vince Nowell for his June birthday.  I recalled he had mentioned that he was dying for a pair of Marianne's embroidered pants.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t recall what color he wanted.  So, I contacted Marianne, paid her by PayPal®, and she contacted Vince, telling him of my gift and let him choose what he wanted!  It was easy for me (didn’t even have to get up off my chair) and Vince was delighted to get exactly what he wanted!

When asked if she takes commissions, Marianne replied, “Yes. Quite a few of my customers have commissioned me to make a special outfit they had in mind for a doll. Additionally, although not really commissions, my entire design business is set up so that customers can see the clothing designs I have available then choose the fabric and embroidery design for the outfit they’d like made.  In this sense, all of my orders are really custom designs. From the various clothing designs, different fabrics available, and embroidery designs available, I'm sure the different combinations could easily be in the hundreds. My designs are not ready-to-ship. Each is done as a custom order to my customer's specifications.”

Marianne currently works out of her “wonderful sunny [home] studio with a view of the mountains.”  “I'm working about 35 hours a week now” Marianne stated, “It's more time than I had initially expected to be devoting to my little design business, but it seems time passes quickly when you enjoy what you're doing and that's certainly true for me now.” Marianne loves the personal aspect of her business and takes great pride in her custom doll clothes.  Wanting to maintain strict quality control, she doesn’t ever foresee a time when she will either farm out any portion of her business or go into large production.  Small and personable not only describes how she wants to keep her business, it also describes Marianne herself!

While Marianne would like to create her own embroidery designs in the future, she currently purchases the designs pre-made. When asked how these are purchased, Marianne responded, “Many designs are available at a reasonable cost individually online.  Others are available on floppies or CDs for $45-$70 for about 20 designs. Of course, this could be pretty expensive if you only like 1 or 2 of the designs out of the 20. And the most expensive way to buy designs is on memory cards that run from $60-$150 for 20 designs. Another cost connected to memory cards is the additional software that is required to resize the designs, which costs a minimum of $100. I have found that the biggest potential problem with an embroidery design is if it can be sized down to an appropriate size for doll clothes. I don't want the embroidery designs I use to overwhelm the doll or her clothes. I want the embroidery to be an integral part of the whole piece of clothing and, as such, it needs to be an appropriate style for the particular type of doll as well.”

Marianne’s designs are inspired by many sources, including magazines, catalogs, stores, and the Internet.  She often saves pictures of clothing that have some element of design that intrigues her.  She puts these pictures away for anywhere from a few weeks to a few months to see what her imagination comes up with.  As she stated, “I'm always combining these different elements into a whole new design.” 

Marianne was also inspired two years ago by Robert Tonner's Théâtre de la Mode "Longchamp Fleur" doll based on a Jacques Fath design from the post World War II era. “The use of embroidery in this suit is just fabulous, absolutely perfect for this design.” Marianne stated. “The way M. Fath incorporated embroidery into designs is amazing.  Another person who inspired me was Tim Alberts, the doll clothing designer. When I first became interested in fashion dolls, I saw a photo essay and article in Barbie Bazaar® of Mr. Alberts' work. The picture that stuck in my mind the most was how he had taken a man's tan sock and turned it into a sophisticated, stylish dress for Barbie. I wanted to be able to make sweaters for the larger 16" fashion dolls, but I don't knit. So, remembering how Tim had done this, I started working with colorful women's socks to see if I could come up with sweaters for the larger fashion dolls. I posted pictures of my first sock sweaters on the TylerDoll list in Jan. 2001. I've made many refinements to my sock sweaters since then, but I'll always be grateful to Tim Alberts for the original inspiration.”   Last year, at the 2002 Atlanta CU convention, Marianne had the opportunity to meet Tim and thank him for inspiring her!  She showed him some pictures of her designs and, well, as Marianne put it, “He is very kind and gracious and even gave me some sewing tips as well!”

When coming up with new designs, Marianne goes through a lengthy process.  “The research that goes into a new design is centered on the feasibility of actually making it.” She stated, “Can I find the fabric that I want to use for it? Can the design I have in mind be done successfully in doll scale? Will the embroidery I have in mind fit the design both in its style and physical size/scale? Is this an appropriate design for the doll that I have in mind? I have to work through all these questions to proceed with a new design. From conception to finished product for an outfit can take anywhere from a few days to six weeks or so.” 

Her favorite part of the design process is when a design starts to “gel” in her mind.   As she put it, “While I won’t have worked out all the details yet, I know what I want to accomplish and I'm seeing more clearly how to do this. I start playing with the idea of different colors and textures for the design and it all feels very creative and liberating. I suppose the aspect I like the least is checking to make sure that every part of the pattern fits the doll perfectly. This is important, but can sometimes feel tedious.”  Marianne does not draw out her designs as she’s working on them.  She only begins to draw when it’s time to make a pattern, which she does by hand with drafting tools and the skills she learned in high school.

The biggest stumbling block for Marianne’s new business was in getting her website up and running and getting the word out about her designs.  She happily admits that her customers have played a crucial part in “advertising” her designs by featuring their own dolls wearing her  designs in pictures they have posted on various doll boards online and on their own websites. These same customers have also been kind enough to include her on their links pages. Additionally, Marianne said, “LeeAnn Bernard has had several of her dolls wearing clothes I made for her in her famous Soap Opera "Sydney Chase and Friends." NOW SEEN IN HIGH MAINTENANCE!  Marianne stated.  “Almost all of my customer contact has been through email. The feedback I've received from my customers has been overwhelmingly positive which is wonderful and so gratifying. I know now I'm not the only doll collector who has wanted fun casual doll clothes with a feminine touch of embroidery. I feel like I'm on the right track and my customers' comments really inspire me creatively.”

Last year, Marianne attended two conventions; the Nashville and Atlanta Collectors United gatherings.  While she didn’t have a sales table at either, she did have an informal showing of her designs in her hotel room with some dressed dolls and pictures of her designs.  She also handed out business cards to potential customers.

Asked if she had anything more she’d like to say, Marianne replied, “There are several more things I'd like my customers to know. Most of my designs have been sportswear up to now. I felt that this was an area of clothing for fashion dolls that has not been addressed very extensively by the doll manufacturers.

Last Fall, I expanded my line into evening wear.  Even though I offered a limited number of designs, they were so successful that for Spring 2003, I'm offering a much greater variety, including evening separates.  From the early responses I'm getting, these new designs appear to be a real hit.

I think there will be many wonderful ways to incorporate embroidery into evening clothes.  Another thing I’d like my customers to know is that although I usually use a Tyler doll to model my designs on my website, virtually all of my designs will fit the other fashion doll lines like Gene or Alex or I can modify them to fit these dolls. Just let me know when ordering so I can make sure the design will fit the doll it is intended for.  I'm also looking forward to designing for the new articulated Tyler.  She'll look great in so many modern fashions with her new lower hip joint and great poseability."

If, as they say, imitation is the highest form of flattery, Tonner's mid-year release of the Tyler Boutique shows just how wonderful Marianne's designs are!  Marianne was also thrilled when her designs were recently featured in the April and May 2003 issues of DOLLS magazine!  Now that she's made it into High Maintenance, there's no stopping her!