A Few Little Things, Much Procrastinated

I needed another zip bag to sort/store doll clothes, and decided to work on rerooting a doll who had been in the To Do Box for a very long time

I ended up making an extra, smaller bag just because, and the reroot had taken so long to get to that I had learned enough to realize the hair I'd originally chosen was polypropylene--since one of polypropylene's inherent properties is "disintegrates after UV exposure," it's a fiber that I now personally want to avoid on dolls, soooooo had to choose something else.  I ended up adding a weird random nylon fading rainbow gradient under the head's original black hair.  It's weird.

(I include doll reroots on this blog because I use an anchor thread method, so the hair is more or less sewn in.  With the understanding of how much I dislike hand sewing, you may also realize this is why I don't do reroots very often.)

Another Reroot

I have the fabric picked out for this year's Halloween Patchwork Project, but I veered off into a productive procrastination project instead: rerooting a reproduction Francie head

This was originally Smashin' Satin, a reproduction of a no-bangs Francie in blond.  I used hair from a Monster High Rochelle, and I include reroots on this blog because I use an anchor thread reroot method, so it's kinda like sewing.

I've had this head and this hair picked out to go together for years, along with a stack of other dolls awaiting reroots.  Honestly, if I could convince myself to do only one reroot a month, that would still clear out that stack a lot faster than...well...than they've already been waiting...

Not Exactly Not Sewing (yes, it's another doll project)

I did a quick doll hair reroot, which, since I use an anchor thread method, is very vaguely like sewing the hair into the doll head

But!  There's another textile art tangent!  Because I didn't use proper doll hair for this reroot--nope, I unraveled some drawstring cord

This was the cord I used for the obijime for the first Dolly*Dolly kimono I made.  As soon as I cut it, it started slithering apart; out of curiosity, I gave it a tug, and it very easily unraveled

almost

Needle and Thread, but Not Exactly Sewing

 I did not start last year with the intention of making an average of ten posts to this blog per month, but, as the year got going, I realized that's what I was doing, so I eventually started making the effort to do just that.  And I did!

But.  To do that, I had to set dolls to the side for most of the year.  I did do some sporadic sewing, including getting a pattern ready to share, but I did very little customizing, and absolutely no rerooting.  Which is not exactly unusual, since I'm not generally in the mood for rerooting, but to achieve the unofficial sewing goals last year, I cast aside all thoughts of rerooting.

Since I'm not going to try to keep the sewing blog post average up this year, my mind is free to consider other projects...like, yes, rerooting.  I did three reroots in the last 10 days!

1980s Black Barbie head, rerooted with an unraveled commercial rib knit (this fabric--I've gotten a lot of use from it)

 

 A friend started repainting the face, and I finished it.

This head is from an anonymous Hong Kong clone baby doll, gift from another friend, and originally with terrible hair.  I rerooted it with aqua saran sent by yet another doll friend.  Group projects!

And the third is a Betty Teen head (a low quality clone-type doll with a bit of cult popularity) that, yes, a friend gave me, rerooted with some hair cut off of a Shadow High doll...and...yes...another friend gave me that hair.  I painted over the eyebrow and lip color, so they'd coordinate better with the hair.

I think the Reroot Mood has passed for now, so I'll get back to regular sewing...sometime...  But I still have a box of dolls who've been waiting for reroots for a very long time, and I'd like to get more of those done before another two years go by.

Anyway.

 So, to no-one's surprise, that "wait I cut out pieces for how many doll clothes???" project kinda deflated any inclinations to sew anything for a while.

However, about two weeks ago, I was overtaken with the urge to do that 'maybe not technically hand sewing (but it does use a needle and thread)' thing that I generally so dislike, and have learned to lean into the urge when it strikes: I did a doll reroot.

and when that was finished, I...did another one

then another one

and then one more

and that one made me want to sew that ace flag-inspired dress (Happy Pride!)

So now I'm pretty sure the reroot urge has abated to its normal level (which is "no.")  Can't yet say if the desire to sew is back in general, but I am thinking about it.