Bailey Survives 'The Cull'....

It has been a very busy month and my blog, as well as my dolls and my sewing machine, have been seriously neglected.  However, having finally made a good start on my selling, I feel a lot less 'overwhelmed' and there does seem to be some light at the end of the tunnel...even if it's only a tiny glimmer, it's definitely there!!!

In the last week I've listed quite a few dolls on Ebay and as a result, I've sold a small Schildkrot Wichtel boy, my one and only Sasha baby, and my little Toddler Erik.  I wasn't too concerned about the Wichtel boy or the Sasha baby as neither of them have had much attention here, but I was a little sad about Teddy, my Toddler, because he was a real cutie, but he will be going to live with a nice Sasha collector in the US so I'm sure he'll be well cared for and have a lot of fun in his new loving home.

Bye bye boys!!!  Enjoy your new homes!

I will be continuing to add dolls and other items to Ebay, so if you're interested in seeing what I'm selling or who needs a new home, please click on the link below:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/dambuster01/m.html?item=233147670425&ssPageName=STRK%3AMESELX%3AIT&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

I hope to be adding more items at the weekend, if not before!!!  

I also had a lot of dolls here that I'd bought on impulse over the last few years.  There were several Barbies, a Fashionista Ken, a Santori Gorjuss doll, some Spanish dolls by Asi and Paola Reina, a couple of Disney Animator dolls, as well as, four Journey Girls that I bought from Toys R Us.  Most of the dolls were either brand new in their boxes or had been removed and undressed and then put away.  I didn't want to put them on Ebay as I felt the postage for them would be more than the individual value of each doll.  So what to do?  I made some enquiries and found out that a local group of ladies collect donated dolls for a great cause that really did appeal to me!!!  So I gathered the dolls, there were around 25 or so in total and met with a very nice lady who told me all about their work.  Some of the women sew, others knit or crochet clothes for the dolls and then they're donated to a charity, Ángeles Malagueños de la Noche, a non-profit organisation, based in Malaga.  The dolls and their wardrobes will eventually go to children who's circumstances mean that they don't get much, if anything, from The Three Kings on the night of the 5th January.  I was invited to attend the next meeting of dolly outfit makers so I may go and see if I can help by sewing some clothing.  Wish me luck!

So now that I'm getting a little more organised on The Dolly Cull, as I've started to call it, and can actually get into my doll room properly, I decided to take one of my girls, Bailey, out with me today when we went to visit Lake Viñuela.  Bailey is my rewigged Brunette Sasha from 1971, and is one of my favourites of my Sashas.  So I thought I'd share some photos.  She is wearing her lovely Ruthdolls dress with brown leather boots also by Ruth and brown socks by me.  Sorry if the photos are a bit repetitive, I just think she looks cute from every angle!!!

 

Well I hope you enjoyed my little update and photos of sweet little Bailey.  I will try to keep my blog updated more regularly now that I'm feeling a bit more positive about my dolls.

Thanks so much for visiting, I hope you all enjoy the rest of your week ahead!!

Big hugs Sharon xx

My First American Girl......

For many years I've wanted to see an American Girl doll in real life.  But I never had....until now that is!

I've never liked dolls with a fabric torso and I dislike it when the cloth shows at the neckline in certain outfits, but I really like the Josefina face sculpt and their little legs, which I think are very cute.  I've looked at photos on Flickr, Pinterest and Ebay, sorely tempted but always put off at the thought of that fabric body.  Finally though I decided to give it a go and look for one to adopt.  I didn't want to spend too much money in case I didn't like her, so I decided to look again on Ebay and see what was on offer.

After a lot of research, I decided to bid on a secondhand Josefina being sold by someone in the UK.  I was fortunate enough to win the auction for a reasonable price and the doll arrived last Monday.  She appears to have been made by the Pleasant Company, probably before the company became a subsidiary of Mattel in, I believe, the year 1998.  I forgot to take a photo of the company name on the back of her neck, but will do that if it makes her easier to identify, because I'd love to narrow down when she may have been made.

Immediately on arrival,  I noticed that she was smaller than I expected....I'd sort of imagined these dolls as 'bigger' although I knew they were 18 inches tall!   I realised too how these dolls would be popular with young children as Josefina has a very squishy torso, I should imagine she'd be great to cuddle with.

So Josefina arrived.......

 she had a cute face with some surface dirt and a few scuffs......

And some white marks behind her pierced ears......

And a bit of glue residue in her hair......

And she had the most awful wig!  It felt really crunchy and dry, so that had to come off.

I removed it with great difficulty, it was glued on very securely and took a lot of tugging and a bit of swearing :) before finally I got it off her head!   You can see the surface dirt and scuffs better in the photos below, as well as the residue left behind by the wig.....

She has a very cute semi profile though......

Below, you can see what looks like additional glue has been applied to her head, just in one place, which makes me think a repair to her wig has been done at some point in the past.....

I love her profile and the colour of her vinyl.....

Here she is after a good scrub with washing up liquid.....you can see that I didn't have any luck removing the wig residue, it's stuck on very firmly! 

Despite the wash, obviously the scuffs remain.....

She has these sparse looking eyebrows drawn with individual hairs......

I haven't photographed her body but it does have a couple of clothing dye stains on the fabric, these were disclosed by the seller though, so no surprises there, and they'll be covered by her clothing anyway.

Once I'd put her head back on again (not too difficult as she has a string that tightens the cloth torso around the base of her neck) I looked in my wig stash for a suitable wig in her size.  Unfortunately, despite my massive amount of wigs, I really only had this one that fit her properly......

And I don't think it suits her at all!!!  So after washing and conditioning her original wig, I replaced that on her head but with the parting off to one side.  I then trimmed the horrible dry ends and put it into two bunches......

And dressed her in a dress I made from an American Girl pattern....I don't think it's her 'style', I'd prefer her to wear something more modern, but it fits....and looks OK for now, until I can make her something more suitable...... 

And finally we have a bit of sunshine!

Conclusion:  Well it's still early days, but so far I do quite like her.  I especially like her face and legs, which have always appealed to me from photos of American Girl dolls, plus I have a new appreciation of her little teeth and her profile.  I still don't like the fabric torso as I feel it's very limiting, but if I can always use patterns that have a reasonably high neckline, like the dress above, then that would be just fine.  I don't like this wig on her but having searched on Ebay, most of the wigs I've seen are very 'full' with too much hair, I'm sure that's NOT the look I'm after, so I will keep looking.

I'm glad I've not spent a fortune on buying my first American Girl, but admit that I'm still tempted to buy a new one at some point!  (Honestly, there's really no hope for me, is there!!!!)

Before I sign off, I'd just like to say a big thank you to Farrah Lily of Cozy Comforts and Dolls, for all her help in my quest to find an American Girl doll to bring home! 

Thank you for visiting, I hope you all have a great week ahead!

Big hugs Sharon xx

Past Commissions....a little bit of reminiscing!

Seeing Kendal of Kendal's Sasha Brood posting old photos of her dolls and their outfits, got me thinking about old photos.  That of course led me to looking at my photos of outfits that I'd made over the years either for my own dolls or for commissions.  I thought I would share some of the photos on here and hope you enjoy seeing them.  I'm sure I've probably posted some of these photos in the past, so I apologise to those who may have already seen them, but hope you enjoy them again :)  Also, sorry for the quality of the photos, these were taken years ago with my old camera and not edited in any way!!

I know I've posted this one before, but this was one of my most unusual requests, a straightjacket for a tiny 11cm tall bjd.  The buyer sent me this photo for reference:

I was really happy with how 'authentic' it looked when I'd finished and the buyer was very pleased!

The same person also wanted little Victorian style suits for two of her boys, this time they were YOSD size, so approx 27cm dolls.  I was sent these photos for reference.....

One suit was to be black and the other brown....firstly the black one, front and back....

And then the brown, again front and back....

Another person asked for a Sora 'cos-play' outfit.  Well I didn't have a clue who or what Sora was so she sent me two images for reference:

This is the resulting outfit, including the wig which I made from a scrap of faux fur....the doll is 20cm tall....

Another person asked me if I would make a Dracula costume for her tiny 16cm tall Lati Yellow.  She sent me a drawing that she'd done herself and I worked from that:

And here is my cute Lati Yellow Miel trying it for size.....

I got several requests for tiny sleepsuits for the 11cm tall Orient Dolls who were very popular back then....

And this one for the same person who commissioned the straightjacket....I think there's a theme going on in his collection!!

Some cute boys clothes for the 16cm tall Lati Yellows...

A lady in the Netherlands asked for linen 'safari suits' including hats, for her 16cm Lati Yellow and the even tinier 11cm Lati White!!!  A challenge in such a tiny size, but my biggest problem was fabric!  I didn't know where to purchase a natural looking linen that would be soft enough to work in this size.....then I discovered a table napkin, which worked perfectly!

The same Dutch buyer asked for a Peter Pan outfit, this time for the very thin and tiny, 16cm Elfdoll Monnaemi Sister....I even had to make the boots for this one too!  Mango, our parrot, came was very helpful in this commission, he supplied the feather for the cap!

A friend of mine in Denmark sent me a design that she'd put together on paper and wanted me to recreate it in fabrics.  Her design.....

Fortunately she supplied the fabrics and I did the rest.....
 

I've always had lots of commissions for jeans of all sizes, the smallest I made were for the 11cm tall doll and the tallest were for dolls of about 60cm. I prided myself on getting the very best fit and all had working pockets although the very tiny ones only had working pockets on the back!!  One lady requested some denim shorts with lots of working pockets for her 16cm Lati Yellow.....she sent me this photo of what she'd like:

So I made these....not exactly the same, but as near as possible!

The next commission asked for a Japanese style school uniform/sailor dress for the very cute but little Pocket Fairy who was just 14cm tall....it was a challenge putting pleats in the dress, but she was happy with what I made for her....looking back now (and this was quite a lot of years ago) I would have made the bow smaller!

How about a little Superman?  Commissioned by a lady in the US for her tiny 11cm Orient Doll.....

The next customer ordered a 'kitty' hoodie in MSD size.  I had forgotten I'd made this one!!

The same person ordered quite a lot of separates for her dolls, including the below items:

This lady commissioned me to make her a Little Lord Fontleroy suit for her tiny 11cm Orient Doll.....such a little cutie!

A Sasha friend asked me to make her a 'Pusheen hoodie' in the Sasha size....I admit I hadn't a clue what a Pusheen was, so she sent me a picture:

 

 Here's how it turned out....

One customer set me quite a challenge when he asked for an outfit in a size that I totally did not have.  He wasn't fazed by the fact that I would be working with a completely different doll model to that which the outfit was for......he sent me his designs:

 

And also a comparison photo of a doll like mine (shown left) and the doll the outfit was to be made for!!!  I must admit I sweated a bit over this one, I was so anxious to get the sizing just right but it was a lot harder working on a different size doll!!!

Here's how it came out.....don't forget my doll is smaller than the doll that the outfit is intended for!!!

And the good news?  It fit his doll perfectly!!!

The above is just a small selection of commissions that I've made over the years but thought you might enjoy seeing some of them.  I must admit I liked going through my old photos, seeing what I'd forgotten making in some cases, and how I'd do things differently in some cases!  I used to work a lot from just photos and dolls measurements, it could sometimes prove quite stressful!  It took me years before I actually decided that I'd no longer make jeans for a specific doll unless I had that particular doll myself.....but customers would still take the chance!  Fortunately I never had any complaints!!!

Finally just a couple of outfits that I made for Ebay, which much to my shock were involved in a 'bidding war', and sold in the region of $500 each!!!!

 

Thank you for stopping by and strolling down Memory Lane with me....

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!!

Big hugs Sharon x