Re-root: Samira

Dolly friends, I am so excited to share one of my latest re-roots with you!

This is Samira. She was a 2014 Holiday Barbie, on clearance for just under twelve dollars. Even though I knew she would have a head full of glue, I just couldn't resist her at that price because she was so pretty. So I bought her, took her home, and immediately removed the hair and glue. Poor thing sat bald on a shelf for several weeks (or months?) while I finished up some other projects.

At first I thought it was a shame to have to re-root her. It's always sad to put new hair in a doll who would have perfectly good hair, were it not for the goop seeping out of her scalp. But when I finished her, I was happy I had. She was pretty before, but she's gorgeous now! The extra length and thickness really accentuate her beautiful face.

And... then there's also the little surprise underneath. Here's a glimpse of it from the back.

Yes, that's a little bit of red peeking out. You can see it better in the next photo, with her hair floofed out.

Samira is living in the red and black room on my book shelf, with her friend Kyla. She is part of a support group, Glueheads Anonymous, formed by some of my other dolls, where they get together and celebrate being glue-free. They also console other glueheaded dolls who are waiting for their turn in the salon, and who are a bit nervous at the prospect of having their heads popped off and all their hair yanked out.

In addition to having new hair, Samira got a new body. She's happy to be able to move her arms and to sit. She's wearing a new hair clip from Meijer (clearance sale last week... couldn't resist) and a necklace I made; I forget where I found the fine chain, but I love how proportionate it is. She's also wearing a black dress I made. I'm fairly proud of it, considering it's my first time putting darts in stretchy fabric. I hope to make many more and to become as comfortable with darts as I am with hair.

Looking forward to sharing more re-roots! I just finished rooting a Glam Luxe Midge with long brown hair, and now that I know how to thatch a part, I did one for one of my earlier re-roots. The difference is amazing! I may have to show off my girls in groups of two or three, because I am an impatient creature. I just hope the girls understand.

Thank you for checking out my work! I've made a lot of progress since my early, sometimes terrible re-roots in 2000, so I do enjoy showing off. I have to say, though, that I owe a lot of the credit to better doll hair! Thanks, Restore Doll and Dolly Hair!  And equal thanks to Dan Lee for his instructions on thatching a part -- they're the best I've found.

Love,

Sarah J Sequins

(And dolls)

Dear Me...

Two of my favorite doll people -- in fact, two of my favorite people in the whole entire world -- are Mommy and Gracie from Youtube. I love them because they're intelligent, funny, wacky, and obsessed with dolls. The kind of people I'd love to be friends with in real life.

Today, Mommy posted a video called Dear Me, which was a message to her 13 year old self as part of International Women's Day. It was emotional and insightful, and it made me think back to myself at that age. It also inspired me to do a blog version, since as I've said before, I'm not technically sophistimacated enough for video. So... here goes.

Dear me,

At age 13, you are going through one of the hardest times in your life. As you already know, your best friend Mary, who you played dolls with, and who you built an entire imaginary world with, has decided to leave that world, and you, behind. She was your closest friend and the only person you could be your crazy self with, and you're devastated. It certainly doesn't help that you're about to suffer another loss of someone you're close to, and that you're about to discover that you have not one, but three health problems that make everyday adolescent life harder than it should be.

It also doesn't help that when you reach out for help, the people you reach out to just aren't emotionally equipped to give you what you need. These people include your parents, who have serious issues of their own, as you will learn in due time.

Honey, I can't tell you that things will get easier, because they don't. You're an incredibly smart, sensitive, creative, crazy person who marches to her own percussion section -- forget about her own drummer -- and things are never easy for people like us. But what I can tell you is that you hang in there, and that everything you go through makes you a stronger person. While things aren't necessarily easier in adulthood, things get better. A whole lot.

Over the next few years, you'll put away the dolls in an attempt to be like other kids. You'll do a few other things to fit in, but my love, you will fail miserably! This is splendid. The most meaningful times in your life will happen when you stop trying to be a character in someone else's book and focus on writing your own story -- I mean this literally and figuratively.

The great thing about you, though, is that you do very few really, seriously stupid things to fit in, and so you go through your life with your sense of self more or less intact. When you're 23, you meet the very first truly kind and supportive person in your life, and he will change you in ways you never imagined. He will teach you to be a problem solver! I know, 10 years sounds like a long time, but he will be worth the wait.

And just a few years after that, you will find a new best friend. Someone you can be your silly, crazy, introverted, imaginative polymath self with, and someone who is a whole lot nicer than Mary ever was. And you'll learn that not everyone runs away when things get tough. You two will have tons of adventures together. You'll make art, you'll laugh until you cry, you'll eat tons of ice cream, you'll tell each other amazingly vulgar jokes. In a lot of ways, you'll feel like your life really and truly began when you met him.

You'll also find a writing group of people as strange as you are. And a group of people who share your love of beads. And even some people who love writing, telling, and listening to scary stories. Some of these people will be the family you never had. Some of these people will not stick around, but you'll still learn from them.

You'll also keep collecting and playing with dolls. Play time doesn't come to an end for you, no matter how many people, yourself included, try to dissuade you! Bit by bit, you'll realize that all the best people still know how to play. You'll also discover that while Mary becomes very happy, she lives a fairly conventional adult life, the kind of life that would stifle you. You'll realize that the two of you needed to separate to become your own people. And while you will still miss playing dolls with her, you will be happy that she's happy.

You'll come to understand all the people who couldn't help you. When you are 32, you will understand that your mother has something called Narcissistic Personality Disorder, which is why she behaves the way she does. A lot of it had to do with the way she was raised. Your off-the-charts brilliant father was probably on the autistic spectrum, which explains why you didn't always understand the things he said and did. By the time he passes away, you will have forgiven him and realized that he had his own childhood trauma to work through. You'll even realize that as limited as he was, he did love you. You'll fully realize this while watching the pilot of Hart of Dixie, and you will cry alllll over the place.

Yes, you will continue to wonder what you will do with your life, what mark you will leave on the world, and you will feel as if your many passions are at odds with each other. But you will keep working on it, and you will be able to do this because you are finally safe enough. One thing all the instability in your life taught you was a profound appreciation for the safer moments on your life, and I'll even go as far as to say that you wouldn't appreciate them half as much if you hadn't waited so long for them.

In short, my love, you will be OK. And if any young person is reading this and going through something similar to what I went through, I just want to say, you will, too. If you learn to be tenacious. To be a problem solver. To be self-reliant when others let you down and compassionate towards those same people, no matter how hurtful they may be. To be open when you finally meet the people who understand you. And above all, if you keep your sense of play.

Much love,

Sarah J Sequins

(And dolls)

My first diorama... in a gallery?!

I have another recent photo to share!

As it so happens, last night Uncle John and I went to an art exhibit for the Hatch festival, a series of creative reuse-themed events. And as it so happens, we went to see my very first diorama, which was on display along with several other amazing pieces.

(Including, I kid you not, a necklace made out of tiny plastic hotdogs! As a jewelry maker who does not wear a lot of jewelry, I seldom think about buying it. But this piece spoke to me because it was just crazy enough to fit my personality, and I'm pretty sure it would speak to my dolls, too. But for different reasons, like growling little stomachs.)

It was an amazing night. When I put the piece together -- with plenty of help from Uncle John, as you will soon see -- I liked it. I thought it was a lot of fun. But it didn't occur to me that so many other people would like it... and that some would love it. One of the other artists even said it reminded her of her first sewing experience, since she learned to sew by making Barbie clothes. She looked very happy as she explained this.

So it looks like I'm not the only fan of dolls and miniatures in my town! A pleasant surprise. Anyway, without further ado, here is the box:

The diorama was actually Uncle John's idea. Seeing how crazy I was about decorating doll rooms and researching tutorials on Pinterest, and knowing that the Hatch show was coming up, he asked me... how would I feel about putting together a dolly craft room? And I answered in high-pitched squeals and immediately started collecting materials, choosing dolls and outfits, and looking up... yet more tutorials.

Uncle John made the box, since woodworking is one of his many talents. I painted it and put the wallpaper up -- which is Idea Store scrapbook paper -- and he installed the floor and the molding. He also did the lighting, which was added after these photos were taken.

The dolls are Lillian, Trisha, and Steve (also known as Schmidt). The girls are wearing dresses I made, and the dress on the mannequin is hand-beaded. Steve is wearing an Idea Store outfit and Goodwill shoes. He's an Idea Store doll, and Lillian is from Salvation Army. Even though they aren't from the same line, or even the same company, they were originally Prince Charming and Cinderella, respectively, which they find very funny. The mannequin was made from a doll with a broken neck, and I bought Trisha years ago when I first started customizing. 

The furniture came from Savers and the Idea Store. Just about everything else is from the Idea Store, including the mini sewing machine and pincushion, the rug, the glass jars, the fabric on the fabric bolts, the embroidery floss, and the flowers in the vase.

(Yes, I shop there a lot. Uncle John volunteers there, so I'm always popping in to visit him... and see if they have any new dolly things in.)

When the show is over, I hope to put the diorama in my doll room/bedroom, on the wall. I'd like to add a few things, like a ball of yarn and some knitting needles for Steve, and Trisha will probably let another gal, Tori, have her spot. Tori and Schmidt are dating, and they miss each other terribly -- a fact they let me know at every available opportunity.

Making the diorama was so much fun, and participating in the exhibit was so rewarding, that I'd love to make something else for next year. I have a lot of whims, and Uncle John has a lot of other projects going on at any given moment, so I can't be sure this will happen, but some thoughts are: a garden, a clothing boutique, a miniature jewelry store, or a miniature... Idea Store.

I've also been thinking... since someone entered a chicken (seriously!) in a tiny knitted sweater into the Trashion Show this year, it would be fun to enter some doll fashions next year. And unlike the poultry, the dolls wouldn't need to be on leashes! At least, not all of them....

Much love,

Sarah J Sequins

(And chicken)

Re-root: Kyla

Thanks to Uncle John and his camera, I have another re-root to share!

This is Kyla, named after Kyla Pratt, one of my favorite voice actors. I bought her with her twin sister (still unnamed) off of eBay a few months ago, as an early holiday present to myself. She's a reproduction of the My Black Barbie doll from 1979.

She's modeling another of my favorite dresses, once again made out of Idea Store fabric. I love this fabric. The maroon matches her makeup perfectly, and it's more modern than most of the prints in my collection. Not a flower or a strawberry in sight!

Kyla is also wearing a necklace I made out of colored copper wire and seed beads. If I remember correctly, the purple wire was 20 gauge, and the black wire was 26 -- that's about the finest gauge I'll work with. The seed beads were around a size 15, but I can't be sure, because they were another Idea Store find. Possibly vintage, and quite tiny!

I wanted to do something a little different for Kyla's hair, so I gave her some red highlights on one side. Another difference is that I used the lock and loop method! I used to be exclusively a hand-knot gal, but now I alternate between the two, depending on what needs to be done.

I gave her very long hair, and I do not plan to bring scissors anywhere near it. I love the way it looks in the high ponytail, and I'm not someone who cares whether her doll's hair looks realistic. Besides, after a few years of short hair, I figured she needed a change.

Kyla lives in the Black and Red Room, i.e. the topmost shelf of my former book case, with her sister and several other dolls. She sits on a doll bed with a crazy quilt that I made in shades of, you guessed it, black and red. We have a running joke in my house that dolls can only enter the room if their clothing matches the decor, or if they are shirtless Ken dolls. I'm pretty sure it was Kyla who added the last part.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with her sister's hair. I'm leaning towards a copper color, but I reserve the right to change my mind at any time. With at least a dozen dolls whose hair color I have already chosen, I'll have plenty of time to think it over!

I'm so glad I could show Kyla off, and I can't wait to share another re-root. I may or may not ask Uncle John to take another doll photo next, since I also have a pair of ostriches who would love to be in the spotlight. One of them has a new... accessory... to show off. Let's just say, it keeps my simple boy from hurting himself.

Much love,

Sarah J Sequins

(And dolls)

Re-root: Timberly

Last year was a pretty productive one for me in terms of dolly things. I made at least 50 doll dresses in this style, added as many members to my doll family, made 10 doll quilts, furnished about 10 doll rooms, and did a surprising number of re-roots.

I first started re-rooting and customizing dolls in 2000, after reading the book Fashion Doll Makeovers by Jim Faraone, but I hadn't done any in several years because of the lack of quality doll hair. Then I was inspired by two things. The first was A Doll Affinity, run by the very talented Cat. Her work is amazing! The next was Restore Doll, which offers gorgeous saran doll hair in every color imaginable. I ended up doing 20 re-roots... and counting.

Thanks to Uncle John and his camera, I'm going to share one of my recent re-roots today. One of my favorites, actually. This is Timberly, named after a character in one of my favorite 90's cartoons. She's modeling a skirt and sweater I made, some little hair clips from Meijer, and a Mattel necklace.

When I bought Timberly off of Ebay, she had black hair in a cute curly ponytail. Unfortunately, her head was also full of glue, which was seeping into her hair (thank you very much, Mattel). Since there doesn't seem to be a way to remove the glue by itself, it was re-root time.

In the end, I'm glad I gave her new hair. I like the brown with the caramel highlights, and I am absolutely in love with the micro-braids. I love the look, I love the feel, and I love styling them in different ways. Timberly is pretty happy with them, too.

To finish the braids, I tied each one into a knot. I didn't trim the tails off of the knots because I liked the way they looked all together, but I've trimmed them on other dolls, and it looks nice like this, too -- like a bunch of tiny tassels. I'm going to experiment with really long tails, too. Maybe with shorter braids?

Here's a closeup view of the back. Each braid is about three hair plugs thick.

Here's a closer side view. Did I mention how much I love those little clips?

Timberly isn't the first doll of mine to get tiny little braids, but she's definitely the first to get a whole head full of them. She won't be the last. I'm micro-braiding the hair of Mia, one of my Idea Store dolls, and also re-rooting a Salvation Army Barbie, Veronika, with bright red braids. After that, I'd love to do one with beads (a size 6 or 8 seed bead would be perfect). I have as many ideas as I have dolls.

Can't wait to show off more re-roots! And more doll clothing, too.

Much love,

Sarah J Sequins

(And dolls)

More simple doll dresses

Over a month later, and I still haven't made progress towards getting a camera. I've been distracted by several things, including doll pants (yes, more doll pants!) and dog-sitting. I just got home from a 17 day sitting job with the world's sweetest old baby boy, and when I wasn't snuggling him, I was using my sewing machine in the basement of his house. Mia, one of my latest rescue dolls, tagged along to be my model.

(And so did Domingo Flamingo. He took one look at the hot pink sequin fabric I'd bought and demanded that I make him a scarf. I still have not done this, and I can feel little black birdy eyes on me as I type.)

Luckily, I still have some doll photos in my archives, and I thought I'd share more of these today. Here are a few of my girls wearing some of the earliest versions of the elastic waist skirt-turned-dress.

From left to right, here are Lila, Rachel, Mona, Elisa and Jenna. Each dress is made of cotton quilting fabric that I purchased from The Idea Store, my local creative reuse center. Also featured are Idea Store ribbons and lace, and even though you can't see it, the elastic is secondhand, too. This is how I'm able to buy so much fabric without going broke!

Here are Jenna and Rachel, posing for a closeup (Rachel mostly wanted to show off her cute short hair). Right after this photo was taken, I decided that the daisy dress needed a little something extra, so I hand-sewed some black sequins to the bottom. This also covered up the shoddy job I did attaching the lace. I don't have any formal training in sewing, and I'm learning all the time. Slowly.

At this point I've made enough of these dresses to realize that they look best when they're shorter and when the strip of fabric is wider. The narrower the elastic casing, the cleaner the look, and a loop turner is the perfect tool for getting the elastic through when safety pins are just too big. The back seam needs to be pressed, and I use something called a ham to make the job easier. The name always makes me laugh.

I still need to work on the construction a little. If I can keep it from getting too bulky, I'd like to do the back seam as a French seam instead of a pinked edge. And I really, really need to practice the technique that Uncle John taught me to make those impossibly tiny hems, because mine are anything but.

That said, I like this style because it's so easy; all the sewing is in straight lines! If you can make an elastic-waist skirt, you can make this dress. It can also be made into a one or two-sleeved dress or shirt with just a few little modifications. I plan to make more of these now that I'm home, since I have pounds and pounds of fabric waiting to be used. Peasant tops will go really well with all those pants.

That's all for now! Stay tuned for more pretty gals and sewing experiments. And... anything else I have in my photo archives.


Much Love,

Sarah J Sequins

And dolls

(And Mingo, who still wants that scarf.)

When dolls meet beads...

Sooner or later, I'm going to have to get my own camera.

For the past few years, Uncle John has taken photos of my jewelry work, and he's done a great job. The problem is, he doesn't have a lot of free time these days, and I know I'd overwhelm him with dolly photos. So even though I'm not a naturally gifted photographer, (understatement. One of these days, I'll show you the amazing photo I accidentally took of his mom's neck during his graduation) I'm going to give it a go.

Until then, I have a couple of older photos I can post here, starting with my favorite. Here's a beaded doll purse I made last year, complete with a beaded strap and a sequin flower as an embellishment.

If you want to make your own beaded bag, the beading stitch is an off-loom technique called peyote stitch, or more specifically, even count circular peyote stitch. When you're done, just pinch one end of the tube and stitch the bottom row of beads together. They fit together like zipper teeth. Use regular peyote stitch for the handle. I used size 11 seed beads from Whimbeads and Beyond Beadery, and to string the beads I used crystal Fireline, the 8 lb version, which you can get in the fishing section of certain stores. Other kinds of thread work, too; I made my earliest version in 2000 with sewing thread (doubled), and it's still holding together.

(Also, here's another great tutorial. I love Youtube, don't you?)

To give you an idea of the scale, here's a photo of one of my Birthstone Beauty dolls, Mona, holding the purse. She's standing with Lexi, Alison, and Corey. Each doll is wearing a dress I made, which is a simple elastic waist skirt hitched up wayyyy above the waist. I love easy sewing projects!

If you look closely, you'll see that Lexi is wearing a necklace and bracelet I made using my favorite itty bitty Chinese crystal beads, and the bottom of Ali's dress has been hand-embellished with beads and sequin flowers. That's about as much as I've ever beaded a dress, but I'm hoping to do more. Just as soon as I finish a few more re-roots and make a few dozen pairs of doll pants (my current obsession).

Here's a beaded necklace I made using a circular netting stitch. It was an experiment, and it needs to be refined a little. For starters, it doesn't have a clasp! The doll's head needs to come off before I put it on. Not very convenient, and a headache for the poor doll. I also want to make one using smaller beads -- size 15 seed beads make everyone else's eyes cross, but I love them. They're more proportionate, and they look so delicate in jewelry projects.

And that concludes the first edition of Dolls Meet Beads, as well as my first real blog post. Stay tuned for more!

Much love,

Sarah J Sequins

And dolls