
Your legal full name: Brittany “Britt” Pietron
Your “artist name”: Custom Critter Designs/Rikkuliam
Your Website: I don’t have an official website just yet, though I hope to have an etsy shop running soon.
Here is a link to my DoA Commissions thread: Custom Critter Designs Commissions
And here is my Flickr: Custom Critter Designs Portfolio


How did you get involved in Asian Ball Jointed Doll clothing Designs?
I got involved when I got my first doll Alex. He needed clothes and I thought it would be fun to sew for him and I just moved on from there.
Describe your line and what styles (items) you create?
I would say my line is unique, kinda crazy and cute. I create custom hoodies of any animal, pokemon, mythical creature, etc. And they can come in all sort of colors too.
Every single part of my hoodies can be customized to your liking. So pretty much any creature you come up with or want I can most likely make.
What do you think people know you best for (like a certain style or size or certain look)?
I think so far they would probably know me best for doing Yosd sized hoodies or maybe my MSD bat hoodie and the Stitch* hoodies. (*From Lilo & Stitch, it seems to be a popular one.)
What Inspires You?
All kinds of things; art, music, friends, lots of colors, and things like that.

What do you want people to think when they look at your Designs?
I’d love for them to think, ‘Oh that’s so awesome!’ or ’That’s so cute! My doll needs one of those!’
What do you hope to accomplish in the next 5 years?
I hope to have made lots of different hoodies for lots of people. And I hope to have made one for each type of doll size if not one from each company.
Having all of my own dolls complete way before then would be nice too, haha!
What sorts of things do you enjoy the most about your designs?
The fact that they are so customizable. I can add a whole variety of things to each hoodie to make them unique or make them simple yet still fun. And I love it when someone asks for a new critter that I’ve never done before, those are really fun to do.
I also really like seeing what everyone comes up with in terms of the critter they want me to make and the color scheme, etc. It’s pretty awesome when they come to me with a certain idea and to see how it translates into the actual product. It’s always fun seeing the outcome.
What are your other favorite clothing brands/designers for dolls?
That’s tough! There are tons of brands and designers that I admire and wish I could own clothes from. Lately I’ve really been drawn to nine9style clothes for my crew. Oh and M3 Studio! Their jeans are awesome!
What’s the Best thing about designing and selling doll fashions?
The best thing for me about designing would be making people happy and seeing them really enjoy what I made. If my commissioners are happy then I know I did my job right.
So seeing pictures of my hoodies on other people’s dolls is really awesome too. Especially if it is for a special size that I myself don’t own yet.

What’s the most difficult thing about designing and selling fashions?
Appealing to everyone’s tastes is hard. Not everyone likes animal hoodies and I am sure some people don’t like hoodies at all.
Also advertising and getting my stuff out there I think can be a bit of a challenge.
What type of dolls do you enjoy designing for the most (male/female/brands)?
Since I have mostly boy dolls I enjoy making things for them. I don’t have to worry so much for fitting chest sizes with them as I would with a girl, but I would love to be able to work on making more things for girls too.
As for brands I haven’t encountered one I dislike making clothes for yet and hopefully I won‘t have that problem too often! For size though, I try to stay with Yosd and above, any smaller is a big challenge for me but I am going to attempt pukifee sizes at least.
I commend anyone who can sew for Pukipuki’s and similar! Those things are so teeny I don’t know how you can do it!
What is your favorite style to create?
I don’t think I really have a set style per say. But I guess my hoodies tend to lean towards more of a cute look. Though I would really like to try making some that appeal to more of the mature dolls. That is a bit of a challenge though I know since most normally think ‘cute’ when they see a doll dressed as an animal or in animal costumes.
I’ll figure something out though I am sure.
Is there a color palate or patterns that you tend to stick with? Stay away from?
I tend to like working with colors that I like on my own projects, mostly blues and greens right now. I also love working with stripes and skull prints too for the normal jersey knit hoodies I make.
The one color I tend to not use much unless a customer wants it is hot pink. I’m not a pink person and none of the dolls I own right now really wear pink either.
My next one will so this might change, but for now I tend to not use it.
And floral prints, I stay away from those too, haha.

Who would you love to collaborate with? Is there a mold, doll, or company that you prefer to work on?
Hmm I’ve never really thought about doing a collaboration before though it would be fun I am sure.
I like working with all kinds of dolls but I would really like to try making a hoodie for Fairyland Minifees. That’s kind of my next goal as far as size goes.
What is your background? Have you had any special schooling (art school, fashion design, sculpture, painting, fashion, etc)?
I took a small class in basic sewing. Before that I had only very briefly played around with a sewing machine and hand stitched a few things. (This was before I got into BJDs) And I am really glad I took it because after that I never stopped sewing it seems. I may have taken short breaks here and there but this year especially I have been sewing hoodies and other random things non-stop.
Nope, I never went to school beyond High School. I was actually home schooled and I think that probably played a part in why I am still sewing and doing the other creative things I do. If I had been bogged down by so much homework like it seems most kids are nowadays, then I probably wouldn’t have any real motivation to do much afterwards.
Any other creative work I did was on my own with no special schooling or anything. So I’m pretty thankful my mom home schooled me and stuck me in that one simple sewing class. It opened up a lot more free time to be creative.
Who are some of your favorite human designers?
Haha, actually I have no idea. I don’t really keep up with fashions and such so I don’t really know. I watch Project Runway and such but I don’t really know any of the famous fashion designers on there or anything.
Are there types of fabric that you hate or try to avoid? If so which ones?
Spandex and Tulle! Both of those do not like me at all. The one time I actually attempted to make an MSD sized skirt with tulle on it I ended up making a huge mess.
And my sewing machine always eats spandex so I stay away from it.
Besides those two I haven’t run into any other problems with any other fabrics so far.

What fabrics do you love to use? Accessories?
Fleece and knits! Those fabrics are my friends! I’ve found them to be the easiest to work with and fleece usually holds the structure for the various creature parts that I add on to the hoodies quite nicely.
I haven’t had much chance to work with accessories just yet but I hope to in the future! There’s always room for expanding my options.
What outfit do you think was your best and worst? Why?
I consider my best ones to be the two personal collection hoodies for my dolls that I used faux fur on. I tried out so many new things with both of those and they turned out exactly as I’d hoped they would. I was pretty excited about them after finishing. I hope to apply some of the same things I did on them to future hoodies, such as pose-able and faux fur tails.
And the worst? Well those happened when I first started out sewing and I don’t have pictures of them thank goodness. Haha, they were pretty bad though! I’ve improved a whole lot since then thankfully.
When you were a child did you ever work on dolls or create with similar things? If so, what were they?
Not that I can remember. I used to draw more than anything when I was younger. I still do on occasion but for the most part my sewing and such took off when I was in my teens and I haven‘t stopped since.
Do you have any other interests? Collections?
My other interests besides sewing and BJDs would be drawing, reading and crocheting. I actually make little animals and such called Amigurumi. They are really fun to design and make. I have a small growing collection of the ones I’ve made.

This interview WILL continue… a bit later!