Hadiya, "Gift"

This was my first Moxie rescue. 

Before.

During.  I braided her entire head in tiny braids like these, then poured boiling water over, to set the hair.  I left the front braids, but the rest of the hair is now very wavy. All the frizzy ends were trimmed off.

After.   She needs one more layer of shine on her eyes (varnish) still.

Her face is a combination of acrylic paint and Rembrandt Polycolor coloured pencils. I crocheted her sweater, and her reversible dress (awesome fabric thanks to my quilting friend!) is adapted from a dollsforall.com pattern.

Notice that her feet are not visible!  They are not completed yet!  She will also have a few more accessories added to her wardrobe before she is gifted!

Fall Challenge Doll

I entered a fall challenge with other doll rescuers, motivating me to COMPLETE a doll, including the shoes...  (always my biggest challenge)

Here is "before"

With very glittery lips and eyelids!

"After" The boots won a prize for "best shoe solution"!

A few more pics from her photo shoot.

Her face was a combination of acrylic paint and Rembrandt Polycolor coloured pencils. I crocheted the sweater, made the leggings from a ladies' sock, the purse from a doll skirt, and the boots from a cut-down pair of Bratz boots, built up with Fimo clay, and covered with faux suede fabric from a thrift store jacket, and felt.

#rescueddolls

Bratz Boy Hair Rescue

 Premature balding?

Asymmetrical attitude?

Here he is with his new face, and hair combed forward pre-haircut.  Now the last time I cut a doll's hair, I was about 12, and it wasn't really pretty.  Cured me for a long time!  But in the mean time I have several years' experience with my own boys... granted, human hair grows out if you mess it up...  But I was ready to tackle this guy.  I had already soaked his head in fabric softener, and rubbed off the remaining flocking so that it wasn't patchy.  

I cut his left side it to be more symmetrical with the right, but without copying it exactly, as I wasn't really enamored with that part of his hair, either. 

 I think he'll be keeping this cap on most of the time...

 Either backwards...

Or forwards...

 It much improves this back view, too! 

Just waiting for his wardrobe to be completed now.  Another doll lady suggested some dolls need T shirts that say, "I cut my own hair!" :-) #rescueddoll

 

Glue head!

I've been hearing about glue head amongst the other doll rescuers (#rescueddolls), and now I have had my first experience.  This Ever After High doll, purchased at our thrift store, came home with very waxy hair.

You can see how it separates at the roots with a very oily look.  It is not wet with water.

What to do?  A regular shampoo and conditioner didn't help.  I've heard of people using Goo Gone, but I didn't happen to have any of that.  Some people cut the hair out and re-root with new hair.  Too much work! YouTube said I could use baby powder, but the closest thing I had was corn starch. 

After the corn starch has been rubbed into the hair and had a chance to absorb the oily/waxy glue residue, it was washed again in cool water...

 ...and hung to dry.

The results?  Better, but not great.

Repeated the treatment.  Better yet, but still slightly oily.  No longer leaves a waxy feel on my fingers, so this might be as good as it gets in my hands. 

No longer separating and looking wet. 

What did I NOT do?  A boil wash.  Rumor has it that only melts the glue in the head and lets more seep out.  All washing was with cool water.

The Youngest in my Half-Way Home

It's a Bratz Kidz!  With too much lipstick and glittery eye shadow.  First, her hair...

It fell out in alarming amounts while being washed.  You can see a lot of kinking from her braids.

So, time for a boil wash!

Losing more hair with the dip and brush!  But it seems she still has enough when it has dried the next morning.

She is still waiting for feet and clothing, and having her pigtails put in, but here is the first re-paint before and after.  First?  I'm on the fence about re-doing...

Reversible Pencil Doll Skirt

Sweet Sweater for a Sweet Doll

This one is based on a sweater vest my mom crocheted for me!

An experiment in doll clothes

This was a kind of crazy idea for dressing a Bratz doll (make-under yet to come)!  I wanted to make her some tights from a sock.  Hmm.  I remember seeing how to make a sweater from a sock, too!  This one seems big enough for an all-in-one body suit!

First I cut slits for the arms.

Then the legs.

It's a little awkward around the hips...  Oh, and a piece I cut off makes an ear warmer!

Did anyone notice I forgot to turn things inside out before pinning?  Oh well.  I also sewed an angle across the shoulders to close up the neck line somewhat, while leaving it wide enough to pull on over the hips. 

And here she is.  Skirt (and feet) to come.  I zig zag finished the edges of the ear warmer, which stretched it a bit.  No longer as good a fit.  I wouldn't recommend making an outfit like this for a small child's doll as it's a bit tight and difficult to get the fingers to the ends of the sleeves without the fingers snagging.  Unless you really enjoy tugging the clothes on and off for your child, or she is one who likes to leave one outfit on her doll. I didn't think it was worth attempting to finish the ends of legs and sleeves.

Next time, the sweater and tights will be in two pieces!

Mini crochet

I started making a pair of crocheted pants... but when they weren't looking that great, this skirt happened...

But her arms looked cold in that matching sweater, so...

Thanks for the chairs, Jean!  How did you know? (Should I make next summer's fairy garden to a different scale? Maybe one of these was a fairy in disguise?)

Rather than weave in ends after dark yesterday (navy and black are best worked in the daylight!), I gave Miss Brown Dress a shrug to keep her arms warm. Here's the back (pardon the hospital gown effect! ...might get back to the sewing machine and velcro in a few days).

Off to weave in ends now...