#our generation dolls

[sporecringe]

organize, organize, repeat :]

[imreadydollparts]

Phoebe and the BunchEms

Have you heard of BunchEms? These little plastic balls covered in hooks like Velcro that you stick together to make shapes and stuff?

The first I heard of them was when I came across posts about getting BunchEms out of little kids' hair...

That is horrifying.

Now, I am someone that is Good at detangling and retexturing synthetic doll hair. I saw an American Girl Julie on shopgoodwill.com with BunchEms in her hair and got curious.

Are they really THAT hard to get out of hair, or were the people doing it just not that great at detangling?

I'll spare you the suspense and say that yes, they really are that horrible. I think it would be more humane to just cut the child's hair and let it grow out again rather than make them sit through an attempt at removing The Devil's Dingleberries.

I didn't win the auction for Julie but was talking to my doll friends and said that if I ever happened to find BunchEms and a doll I didn't care about at Goodwill at the same time, I'd grab them so I could experience this hell for myself.

Enter Phoebe.

This is a Battat Our Generation (Target's version of American Girl) Phoebe. You can't really see her before-hair well, but it wasn't in too bad of condition. It was matted in a couple spots, very dirty, and had grass stuck in it.

I do wish I'd cleaned and detangled her before I did this. The dirtiness had everyone in the house sneezing.

But wow was that exciting. I enjoyed being the destroyer instead of the fixer for once. That was fun.

Removing them again was not. That was the opposite of fun.

It took me about a month because I had to stop for a medical emergency and was only able to work on her again last week. Since I'm going through a series of surgeries I've had a lot of non-productive time. I just finished her hair up today.

The BunchEms were very difficult to remove. It took a lot of careful, slow, agonizing combing and brushing, picking and pulling, some ripping and tearing, to get the hair free from each little ball's many, multidirectional teeth.

What's worse is that as I would work on the balls nearer the ends of her hair, the ones closer to her face got tighter and tighter into her hairline.

They were pushing against her skin at this point.

I'd get some hair free, put it to the side, and discover it had reattached to different BunchEms on that side.

It was tedious. If Phoebe were a real girl, she'd be in agony from all of the pulling and combing and how tightly the BunchEms were pulling up into her hair.

I did eventually get them all out again. She lost a ton of hair. Battat OG dolls are rooted with the locked loop method, which means that if ONE loop pulls free, then they can all pull free in sequence. A lot of her hair loss was full plugs coming out of her scalp, and a lot of it was breakage. The hair that was left was a mess.

It wasn't tangled at all and was rather soft, though. I guess if you were desperate, a BunchEming could help emulate the texture of 4c hair? There has to be a better way to give a doll 4c hair than this self-torture, though.

A good bath, shampooing, three conditionings, and straightenings later and...

I had to cut out a few inches (I am bad at cutting shh), and her hair still has a lot more texture than it's supposed to.

I do not ever want to do that again.

She's going back to Goodwill to see if someone else wants to adopt her, and the BunchEms are going in the trash because they're full of doll hair and that's kind of gross.

[queenofsquids]

I still haven't dished out the money for the greenhouse, and NOW they just released a super perfect coffee shop too 😭

[desertdollranch]

Kathleen looks like an angel in the golden hour light!

[benbunny]

The Howards are moving into the Kittredge boarding house! Let’s help Stirling unpack his trunk.

His pajamas, of course, and a nice warm robe. A long-sleeved shirt and a smart vest, for when he needs to dress up.

A summer outfit to play baseball with Kit (though she doesn’t think very highly of him yet; when he first arrives, she thinks he’s sickly and boring!) and a warm winter outfit. He needs some mittens and a hat, still, but hopefully someone at the boarding house knows how to knit.

His sketchbook, a worn copy of The Jungle Book, a hot water bottle for when he’s feeling ill, a plush lamb friend, and a little box with toiletries, drawing pencils, and some extra paper (scavenged from old school notebooks - even paper is a luxury item for those so heavily affected by the Depression).

I’ve been building up Stirling’s “collection” for quite a while now, and it finally feels well-rounded enough to share. Most (though not all) of it is based on illustrations from Kit’s books! I have a list of other bits and pieces I’d like to buy or make for him: a box of colored pencils, a paint set, some baseball cards, a flat cap, a scarf and mittens, a necktie, a comfy sweater, and school supplies. Any other suggestions? It’s been really fun thinking of what his AG-style collection would be; I have an excel sheet breaking it all into “meet” and “winter” and the other classic outfit and accessory sets :)

[autistickirstenlarson]

Rosalia and Melody!

[doll-collecting-aerialist]

Starting the New Year with some modern Cecile love!!

[lesbianiconmollymcintire]

The dandelions are finally starting to pop up here so I wanted to get some pics of a few of my dolls with them :)

[dolls-and-cats]

I hope everyone is having a good weekend!!! Alma is looking summery in her new dress made by @doll-princesse !!

[toytopia]

[74daysofsewing]

Pattern Overload!

I have a LOT of doll patterns that I've picked up over the years of hoarding fabric and patterns I was planning on making when I 'got better' at sewing.

I was planning on getting better via osmosis - the knowledge in the fibers and the paper instructions would magically seep into my brain despite my never actually practicing, reading or using any of them.

So aside from a huge stash of fabric with no patterns in mind, and a whole BUNCH of patterns that I now find I have no desire to make....

These are here. I'll got through them one by one for ease:

My Etsy patterns are from Pemberley Threads - these are historical patterns based on actual dresses worn in the past. I LOVE historical dress and am really excited to start these but I'm a little nervous as they are... complicated!

PemberleyThreads:

Elizabeth 1780s Jacket and Petticoat

 Anne Shirtwaist and Skirt

Antoinette 18th Century Cap and Stays Corset

Charlotte 1780s Robe a l'Anglaise

Simplicity:

1484

1443

S9500

S9566

S9567

S9516

S8942

3551

5276

8072

8714

McCalls:

M7734

M7006

Butterick:

B6150

B6320

[sporecringe]

[sieadaitgr]

got some more work done on my 1/4 caravan for Martta the healer.

minimalism is not in this bird’s vocabulary, and the volume of herbs , spell and potion bits, and general shiny things are scattered throughout. originally an Our Generation Girl’s trailer bought second hand.

[desertdollranch]

Meet Erin!

She's my newest Our Generation doll. What got me interested in her was noticing that she does in fact have a new face mold, something that OG has been doing a lot lately. The differences are subtle, but become obvious when she's put side by side with OG's classic face mold.

Erin isn't smiling much, whereas Tally on the right has a distinctly slight smile.

(Her original name is Teagan, for anyone who wants their own.)

[jly4]

i love her 💕

[autistickirstenlarson]

I got Rosalia a couple months ago as a belated birthday present to myself and I’ve been wondering what character to have for her and I think she’d make a good Mona! ❤️