I think I have found the magic solution for my 18 inch dolls!

Spring seems to have arrived! I was awoken early by a robin singing loudly outside the window, and it was a glorious sound and a wonderful way to start my day. Well, I didn't really start my day right then as I dozed back off for a bit, but it is a sign that today is going to be a good day. It's grey and overcast and we are likely to have rain, but its warm and full of the sounds of life. :) 

Yesterday I decided the time had come to once again go through my 18 inch dolls and try to bring some order to my collection. Since falling down the rabbit hole of Our Generation dolls last year, I have added several of those, and my collection began to lose direction and make me once again feel overwhelmed. I know - this is a subject I seem to keep blogging about. I get up to 30 or so dolls, feel horribly overwhelmed, try to cut them down, sometimes achieve it, and then, my collection would bloat back up because, let's face it, I have no power to resist the cuteness. It is frustrating though to seem to lose all control over my  collection, due to my inability to maintain self control, because in the end I stop being able to enjoy what I have. 

My solution in the past was to always just clean out the numbers of dolls that I had. Which, as you can see, is not a real good solution for me! Finally though it dawned on me what exactly I needed to clean out. I needed to prune down how many time periods I want to collect and create with my dolls. I love history and I love sewing. I also love dolls. Put these 3 things together and what I ended up with was a long list of all of these eras I wanted to create. Which is A LOT. If 18 inch dolls were my only collection, then this wouldn't be so overwhelming and also quite doable. But they aren't.

So basically, what I did, was I took some time and thought long and hard over what time periods are actually my favorites - not only for sewing dresses, but also hair styles, accessories and furniture. And that was a no brainer. The 30's and 40's. I also really like the 50's. I thought I liked the 60's, but truthfully, I only like the first like 3 years before the mod look came in. Basically, when the dresses changed from the 50's form, the decade loses me. 

I seem to love the Julie collection, and its been a consistent love since I first saw her collection. For some strange reason, her furniture and accessories were some of my instant favorites. I have her plates and cups and they are some of my most favorite things. Also, the clothing of the 70's while tacky and crazy just tickles me. I love the Julie doll. So, Julie and the 70's stay, the 60's go. 

I have a Mattel Felicity (from probably 2005/6), and I was lucky enough for find her wooden guitar for a steal, and also got her Shrewsbury Cakes Kit. If you were to ask me which doll embodies the magic and soul of Pleasant Company/American Girl, I would say Felicity. I adore her collection. As beautiful as the Elizabeth doll is, she really isn't a part of this perfect Felicity world, so Felicity and her collection stays, Elizabeth goes.

I have wanted to make a 1920's doll forever, and I have researched the era a lot for that fine day when I actually have a chance to start recreating it. I have several of Rebecca's things that I just cannot part with. I mean, her BF meet hat is just amazing! I figure that these 2 eras - 1910's and 20's, while not as favored as the 30's and 40's are enjoyable enough and close enough that I will keep a couple of dolls in these 2 decades.

As much as I have enjoyed (off and on) the 1800's, these eras have just not been as exciting for me, so they have been eliminated as well. I have sewn a lot of MG clothing for commissions, and that was fulfilling enough to just remove them completely from my own dolls. I'm also not doing anything Victorian. While I might do some Puritan era clothing for Felicity just for fun, I am also removing anything Tudor or medievel fantasy or historical. I have also cut off Lolita and everything modern. And eliminated goth and boys of any style/time period. (I have plenty of boys to dress with my BJDs.)

This feels amazing! While I did cut off a couple of dolls that I really never felt much of a connection to, I still have 19 of them, and it actually does not seem like too many. So it isn't so much the doll body count (within reason, of course. I will not allow myself to get any more than 24 total, and I don't know if I will ever reach that) but for me, it was all the plans of what I wanted to do with them that was frustrating me. I guess I have to admit that as much as I love creating, designing, pattern drafting sewing, etc, there can actually be too much demand on my creativity to be able to enjoy it without stress and strain.

So, basically I have one doll in the 1770s book ended by one doll in the 1970's. I have only 2 dolls sharing the 1910/20's. Everyone else is lumped into the 30's/40's/50's. And its perfect. Now I can make one pattern and I can dress 15 dolls with it instead of having to make 15 different patterns for only 1 outfit! 

Confessions of a Crafter......

You know you really have a crafting addiction when the dreaded time rolls around for you to re-organize your crafting space and supplies. This is my weekend project, whether I want it to be or not.

I have too much craft supplies! It's not so much that I have an overabundance of one particular thing (the likely candidate for this is my fabric stash which has already been once again cut waaaaay down. I have to do this every year.) I just have so many kinds of things to store.

There's my polymer clay, which is stored conveniently in one of those flat square containers you get for scrap booking paper. (I have one of those full of mostly Halloween paper - god knows what I will actually do with it.) And now I have a nice little container of all the supplies I will need to go along with it. My tools, TLS, clay thinner, a couple of molds I can't live without (tiny ghosts and bats) and then my sealers. I'm thrilled to have it all together in one convenient place.

There's my catch all container where I have my MSC and other sealers, my punches and molds for making 1/6 and 1/12 paper plates, the scrap booking markers in metallics for edging said plates, the triple thick sealers for them, glitter fabric paint, mediums for various things and my stash of glitter.

Oh, that glitter. I love it. I have a good selection of holiday colors. You know the sample packs, the ones that come taped to card board backs in neat little plastic bags? Well, recently they were used for some Christmas decorating, and in the swirl of throwing out old storage things that simply did not work, that fine little glitter made it way out of those little plastic bags and onto literally everything. It is EVERYWHERE. All over the floor, all over my desk, all over everything.

Several hours later, and it is mostly under control. I have my embroidery floss neatly in its own container. Beads have been sorted and organized with my jewelry making tools and supplies. My buttons have been sorted and organized. :) The majority of the glitter as been cleaned, but its evasive, and I know I will be finding it for months to come in surprising places.

My brushes have a new home away from their stained up bag in the container my clay extruder came in. I swear I love that tool, but have really no good use for it. Its tucked away neatly in my clay tools waiting for that moment to shine. I really need to replace my fine tipped paint brushes. They are the same ones I have been using for years, and the fine tips have started to curl.

My liquidex paint I bought many, many moons ago has been mostly thrown out. Its so dried, and the white, blacks and medium brown are all used up. I saved the ones I will need for the princess crown I sculpted. I'd love to order another big set of them like I did before, but for now, I'll just get single tubes in the colors I need for face ups and what not. I've really been needing to do this for a long time now. I'll need another container for those when I get them.

I still have a ways to go. I need a container for my millinery supplies, as well as a few other things such as my knitting needles, tiny crochet hooks and closures. But, its taking form. And you know it has to get worse before it gets better. That's the only thing that helps one cope with the piles. Soon it'll become a visage of order instead of a constant state of mayhem where you cannot find a thing that you need.

(I'm not even going to go into my pattern disaster that has to be addressed as well. A blog post can only handle so much chaos.)

As I worked through everything I got to thinking how much more free of clutter my life would be if I had managed to hold myself to one or maybe two crafting hobbies, or really none at all. But, how boring! I can't help myself, I love to try many different things, and my creative ADD really doesn't help me out any at all. In reality, the majority of my crafting is because of my dolls. If I didn't have them, then I'm not sure what I would do nor not do. So many things I started just because I want to make everything I can for them. But, it's all worth it - the space it takes up and the arduous process of sorting, throwing out, and re-organizing. Once its done, one can sigh with relief, and get back to the fun process of creation. And hopefully do a better job of keeping things organized.....