Re-root: Sally

Dolly friends,

I'd like to introduce you to one of my latest re-roots. Sally was a Top Model Barbie doll, and while she came to me with pretty strawberry blonde hair, she also had these odd green highlights. They didn't do much for her, in this dolly hairdresser's opinion, so I gave her a re-root.

And... honestly? The re-root didn't suit her, either. The maroon color was wrong -- I should have trusted my instincts on that one. I also used low-quality nylon for some of it, and it really stood out against the nicer stuff. So she sat on the shelf for about a year, while I re-rooted other dolls and refined my technique. And then a few weeks ago, I felt inspired.

Sally got purple hair! It suits her very well, and the saran hangs so much better than the cheap nylon. I was able to re-root her with just one hank of Restore Doll hair instead of two, thanks to the new re-rooting technique I learned and adapted to my own needs. I need a tiny bit more hair because there's a bare spot at the back, but she says she can wait. She waited over a year for her perfect hair, after all. She can wait for a few more hair plugs.

Sally is wearing a necklace I made, and it features the fantastically proportionate Chinese crystal beads I found at the Bead and Button Show a few years ago -- I seriously need to get more of those. Her sweater was also made by me, and so were the pants. The pants were sewn in a batch of 12 or so pairs, all in different fabrics, and they're my favorite, tied closely with the hot pink stretch velvet.

Stay tuned for more! The new technique has cut my re-rooting time in half, so I've done several dolls, in addition to the ones I'd already finished. I also have to share a present that my friend (and newly published author) Audrey bought for me at a yard sale. I was also tagged by two friends to do the Sisterhood of the World blogging challenge, and I'm still working on my answers. I'm having way too much fun with that one, and I have to remember to be less... wordy. 

I'll get to all of it, I swear!

Much love,

Sarah J Sequins

(And dolls)

Karen Holshouser

Hi there, dolly friends!

I featured Karen Holshouser on my beady blog, and you should check her out. She makes gorgeous doll clothes and embellishes them with two of my favorite things... beads and sequins!

You can also find her Facebook profile here, and her website is here.

Much love,

Sarah J Sequins

(and dolls)

Re-root: Rashida

Hello, dolly friends!

Today I'd like to introduce Rashida, one of my latest re-roots.

As you may know, I'm a huge fan of thrift shopping. I love to find well-loved dolls and adopt them, giving them a new home, plenty of brothers and sisters to make mischief with, and of course, a makeover.

Rashida, named after my girl crush Rashida Jones, was a Princess of India Barbie. I found her nude, with matted hair, at Savers. I tried de-tangling, but there were too many broken strands, so I re-rooted her with Black Orchid, one of my favorite colors of saran hair. I also gave her an articulated body, and wow! Quite a transformation.

Rashida is wearing a sweater, pants, and necklace that I made. I love the look on her, but confession? The above photo almost didn't happen. You see, she saw the Batik Quilt set up with all its pillows...

And she decided that she would much rather take a nap! "This is comfy," she said. "So, so comfy. I'm never getting up."

I tried to get her off the bed, but she wouldn't listen. She pretended to be asleep, but her snores weren't all that convincing. And so I enlisted the help of a friend, Ellie the elephant. "Wake up, Rashida!" Said Ellie. "It's snuggle time! Come on... pleeeeeease????"

Nobody, no matter how tired or stubborn she is, can resist the charm of a tiny blue stuffed elephant. So after a few minutes, Rashida groaned and sat up. "OK, Ellie. I'm up. Just stop giving me the sad eyes, will you? It's heartbreaking."

I let her enjoy some Ellie time, and then I pounced. "Since nap time's finished," I said, "I guess you can get that photo taken after all." Ellie, being a good helper, nudged Rashida off the bed, and Rashida mumbled something about us being devious and evil.

Guilty, as charged. But a girl has to be clever when dealing with dolls! I should never have let her see the bed, but it was set up for another photo shoot -- I really wanted to show off that quilt. It and the pillows were made with Idea Store fabric, which was one of my best fabric finds to date -- batik is so expensive in fabric stores! The sequined pillow was made with felt and embroidery floss from the very same place. It was going to get a post of its own, but dolls happen.

And that concludes today's post! Stay tuned for more re-roots, more dolls with attitude, and perhaps... more stuffed animals to help with doll wrangling.

Much love,

Sarah J Sequins

(And helpful elephant)

Re-root: Dominique

Hello, dolly friends!

I'm excited to share one of my newer dolls and re-roots, Dominique. She's a Barbie Basics doll, and I found her on eBay. She had a severe-looking haircut when she came to me, and while we were both happier with it after a trim, in the end we decided that she needed a total change. Here she is now:

I love how she turned out! Later on I'm probably going to add some waves to her hair, but for now, I wanted to show off how sleek it is after a hot water treatment -- you can see the highlights better this way, too. She's wearing a shirt and sweater by Mattel, which came with Glam Luxe Midge, and her floral pants were made by yours truly.

I was going to post her by herself, because honestly? A doll this fabulous demands a solo post. But then I saw another photo that Uncle John had taken of my newest Monster High doll, Ghoul Fair Heath Burns, and I realized... it looked like she was staring him down! And then he was like...

"What?!!! What did I do?"

And then she was like....

"You know what you did. Don't act cute with me."

This was completely unintentional on Uncle John's part, and I love it. Of course, after the photo shoot, both dolls sat on the couch, all snuggled up like nothing had happened. Almost a week later, they're still together, and it's clear to me that this showdown was all for... show.

Even though he didn't get his name in the title of this post, I'm excited about Heath, too. I love that I won't have to re-root him if I don't want to! Plastic hair... equals no glue. The top of his head looks a bit like a Dairy Queen ice cream cone, but I think that's part of his charm.

Stay tuned for more new dolls, re-roots, and dolly antics! I have another re-root coming up, and while she wasn't one hundred percent cooperative during the photo shoot, I think she's lovely.

Much love,

Sarah J Sequins

(And dueling dolls)