(This post was written a few days ago.)
I didn’t get to sleep until after 4 a.m. this morning and my hubby finally came in and woke me up… at 10:30! Yikes! I woke up to a sore throat too….and it’s a nasty one. You know one of those when you just open your mouth and the air hits your throat and it hurts? So instead of being sociable with my hubby and Rebecca, I decided to organize…I should probably have picked some room other than my sewing room, but it needed it too and after all, it’s the beginning of a new year, so you’re supposed to organize…right? I thought I’d practice my organizing skills in my sewing room first, (Ha!) so I’d be REALLY good at it when I moved on to the other rooms in my house! :o)
I’ve had a few areas that I just never seemed to get to… my doll shoes, my doll wigs, my embroidery threads and floss, and the beads I use for some of my embellishing.
I wish I had taken a picture of the doll shoes before… they were all thrown in a drawer and I had to dig to find a matched pair. Now look at them!!! Aren’t they pretty?
My smaller doll shoes, like my Dianna Effner, Little Darlings shoes, Nyssa’s shoes, Patsy’s shoes and Ellowyne’s shoes are all in ziplock bags over at the left side. …and NO, I didn’t count them… but the dolls are WAY AHEAD of me!!!
The next drawer down in my chest was full of doll wigs… mostly size 7/8, that fit the Little Darlings, and Nyssa, but I had some for Elin and Ellowyne in a size 6/7 and a few in size 8/9 that are a little too big for Nyssa’s head but they work fairly well, if you use a hat…
Before…
…and after…sorted by size and compartmentalized…
I should have taken a picture of my embroidery floss too… talk about a disaster… it was! Now it’s all neat and orderly…
Well, at least one side of this container is… I still have these bags to sort out… UGH!
I guess I could go back later and put all the blues together and the greens together, but it really doesn’t matter to me. I don’t use the numbers on the DMC floss, I just pick the “shade of green” that matches the leaves in the jacket I’m embellishing…or whatever it is I’m working on.
I used to use my embroidery machine a lot more than I do now, so I had tons of threads… I had them scattered in a few different places, and the goal was to get them in one container if possible.
It looks neater from the bottom…
Well…how about TWO containers?
Rebecca is the jeweler of the house and she has a stash of beads like you can’t imagine, but I have a few in my room that I keep for myself, for embellishing some things. If I need another color, I can always go ask her if she has such and such color. But my beads were in a few different containers, and like my embroidery threads and floss, I wanted to get them all contained in one container if possible. Here’s what I ended up doing with them…
So, I didn’t talk very much today, but I sure got a lot accomplished…in several small areas! I hope I inspired you to organize just one small area of your sewing room!
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
Jeanne, Your embroidery threads mad me smile. I love cross stitching and some of my stash is in bags just like yours. I organize and organize then I hit a chart that I want to start right away and it’s a big mess once again.
Hi Lynne,
I know I need to sort of organize them more by colors but I was just happy to get them wound on cards!
Thanks so much…I used to do counted cross stitching a lot too!
Happy stitching,
Blessings, Jeanne
You have given me a few ideas for organizing some of my things. Thank you very much. I have Been sick for three days with a bug. Woke up 4:30 in the morning to throw up and stayed in bed for three days. Got up yesterday afternoon but haven’t had anything to eat yet. Hopefully I will be
able to sit and do some ideas of yours to work for me. I do have one of those plastic tote with many small compartments for my small (for doll clothes) buttons that works well. anything else goes in a large jar. My problem is the fabric. I have 4 totes in the garage. as we have a small house here in Florida ( in a retirement community) and not a lot of room. Every time I want something I go out and get it. I have tried pictures by each tote, didn’t work. Any ideas.
Hi Sylvia,
The good thing about organizing is it isn’t hard…it just takes a little time. I hope as you recover from your bug, you get some things done….I have lots to do when I get back home.
There are lots of good ideas for fabric storage…I will try and think of what might work best for your small house. There has to be something you can do besides make trips out to the garage.
Blessings, Jeanne
Thanks for your thoughts. Our house is in a retirement community so it is on the small side. I tried taking pictures of the fabric but that was quite a job to do. I thought that I couldn’t measure it and record how much I had of it. Got started but it was overpowering. Glad that you had a nice trip.
Hi Jeanne. Good job on the organizing. It’s a never-ending job, isn’t it? I’ve been busy, but I was finally able to finish the cleaning and decluttering I started over the holidays. I caught up on your recent posts last night and really enjoyed your posts (and of course the pictures) on the hats. I love seeing all the AG pictures! I noticed that hats are more flattering to some particular face molds–specifically the face molds for Elizabeth, Josefina, and Addy. They all look good, but those three dolls really pull off the hats the best. I had never realized that until I was able to see them all grouped in those three posts.
I finally received the Little Darling doll that I ordered about two years ago, and I really like her. I don’t currently have any patterns to fit her, but I ordered a couple so I can make her some clothes soon! I’m really excited about sewing for her. I also ordered some shoes from eBay so she won’t have to go barefoot! Now I need to get a couple of wigs, but I’m having a hard time making a decision on which I want. If you have any recommendations on wigs or clothes patterns, I would be happy to have them.
Hi Carolyn,
I am here visiting with my brother and his wife and several other ladies and we all realized the need for de cluttering and had the best time sharing tips that have worked for us all. The main thing is “you can’t organize clutter!” You have to discard it and then you can get organized.
I think you are right about the hats looking best on Elizabeth, Josefina and Addy.
Congratulations on getting your newest Little Darling doll. You said you had waited almost 2 years ago…would she happen to have been painted by Lana Dobbs? I have been waiting for 23 months for one from Lana, and just wondered if maybe my doll might be getting close to being painted…
I hope your newest is wonderful. I generally buy my doll wigs from Kemper, but buy the Monique wigs when they go on sale for 50% off. I only buy the synthetic mohair as they are truly the best doll wigs. There is no comparison in my opinion.
I make most of my doll patterns so I really can’t recommend any certain ones, but I’m sure there are some good ones out there.
Thanks Carolyn,
Blessings, Jeanne
Jeanne, she was painted by Geri Uribe and she is the first Little Darling I have had. In fact, she’s the first one I’ve seen in person. I just can’t believe how gorgeous she is. Some of my doll friends came over Sunday to see her, and they are all wanting LD’s now. I think I actually found your blog after doing a Google search on LD doll blogs. I haven’t ordered any wigs yet, but I’m sure I will soon! Thanks for the pointers.
Have I ever been busy reorganizing my dolls things! We went to Harbor Freight to get those containers so I could put my doll shoes in them, (no drawers available at home for me), and they work just fine, BUT I could use several more of them! I have over 275 outfits for my AG dolls, and they each come with shoes, well, not all, but most. That really makes for a lot of shoes! I have been trying to get the outfits organized on the hangers, and have added another pole in the closet, and it works for a time, then after awhile, even that is not enough! Why do I keep on getting stuff? Believe it or not, I have slowed down, since I have everything I can get from AG for most of my dolls. Half of them are retired anyway.
You did an excellent job on rearranging your things. I never knew you had so many wigs for your dolls! How do you keep them on their heads when you are modeling them, especially when also putting hats on?
Looks like a really cold day here, down to 7 degrees! I have the crock pot going with for barbecue pulled pork, for sandwiches to eat while watching the Denver football game. Our son lives in Denver, and since we lost the Rams (BOO), I guess we root for Denver now, unless Kansas City is playing.
Hi Linda,
First of all….WOW… 275 doll outfits? I can’t even imagine how much room that takes up in your closet… I have one doll customer who puts her whole doll outfit in gallon and 2 gallon size ziplock bags, then she stores the in a chest. She said that way she never loses anything to an outfit.
Yes, I do have quite a few wigs, but not as many as I’d like… It’s the accessories to a doll that really gets expensive….shoes, wigs, and eyes! I generally put a few dots from a glue gun on top of the dolls head (turn the doll upside down when you do this so there is no chance of getting the stringy glue on your dolls face,) then the wigs will grip the glue bumps and stay on. Or a few dolls I just have a wide rubber band stretched on their head and the wigs stay. Or you can use Nexcare adhesive. Medical tape and wrap it Round your dolls head.
We just now got back to my brothers house after being at his wife’s moms house all day. It was 6 degrees and -15 below for the wind chill! All I know is it was cold!
Sorry about your losses in the game…
I would have loved to watch some football today!!!
Thanks Linda,
Blessings, Jeanne
I am impressed with your organizing! You did a fabulous job. Really like the spools of thread in that special container. I believe as we add things to our already existing things, there is always the need to organize.
I have two large closets, side by side, custom built for my doll room. The one thing I can’t figure out what to do with, is the large stack of AMG doll clothes/accessories in their BOXES. That’s all you heard about having a love for things…”SAVE THE BOXES” – whether it be to pass an item on down in the family or to resell or to just have everything original. I have done my share of throwing away boxes and then regretted it.
I am also trying to figure out how to hang all of the outfits from you with their accessories. I have 4 large deep metal wire shelves in both closets. I put strips of carpet on each shelf so nothing would fall through. I think I need to come up with a solution so I can hang outfits in one area and stack boxes in another AND so the boxes don’t get crushed. There are all sorts of things I can use for shelving within my shelves. I do at least keep the AG boxes sorted according to the doll. My weakness is the AG accessories. I’d like to display them with the dolls once I refigure my doll room out.
*Linda- of those 275 outfits, do you keep them in the boxes or do you throw the boxes away and hang them up?
Loved today’s blog. It’s “women trying to make things work better and yet be organized!”
Paula, you asked what I do with those boxes, so here goes—-out to the recycle bin!! First, I DID save those boxes, and kept the outfits in them along with all the extra’s that went with them. However, after awhile, it got to be very tedious trying to find everything, and I like to keep my outfits hanging and ironed, not squished in the boxes. The newer boxes are smaller than the older ones were. Yes, I know, “they” say save the boxes, makes them more valuable, but who are they for anyway? I bought all those outfits for ME and I don’t need the boxes. Oh, I do have the hats in boxes, so they don’t get squished. I can’t imagine my family getting all those outfits matched up in boxes when I am gone so they can sell them. How would they ever know what goes with what or what the names of the outfits are?
I buy belt hangers, that have about 12 or so hooks on each hanger. That’s where I hang each outfit, and sometimes I put two on each hook! Some things get put in drawers in containers, like tops or slacks or things that don’t wrinkle. It works out very well for me, but it doesn’t keep me from buying more, unfortunately!! 🙁
Hi Paula,
I just read Linda’s reply to your question about saving the boxes and I thin I Gree with her….if you are buying the outfits for you, I would probably toss the boxes. Even if you decided to sell the outfits on EBay, I’m not sure how much more you would get for them in the box as opposed to them being out of a box. What they really want is THE outfit, not the box…(in most cases.)
If you look on Pinterest for doll clothes storage ideas there are tons of ideas.
Thanks Paula,
Blessings, Jeanne
Great job on organizing. I try. Husband bought clear drawstring plastic bags for organizing yarn and doll items. I would have the compartment j boxes in a stack tothe the ceiling I think. They are great for wigs
Hi Jan,
I did see a lady on Pintrest who had a stackable set of clear drawers that went tot the ceiling. It looked really neat and if I had it would be filled up…every drawer!
I LOVE to organize and sometime spend more time thinking of how I want things organized than doing the actual organization!
Thanks Jan,
Blessings, Jeanne
Organizing is a constant job…I did fabric last year…now I hate to grab any because it messes with my nice arrangement…sometimes I just look at it!
Hate to hear you have a sore throat…gargle with just plain water I heard the other day…always thought it was supposed to be salt water..but it is so soothing
Hope you feel better!
Hi Kathie,
I know what you mean about getting your fabric stacked up and then taking something from the stack and them all falling over….it ruins everything…
My siste in law is into essential oils and she fixed me up this “potion” of lavender, peppermint and something else and had me gargle with it and then swallow it. It was pretty awful but I have to admit, I only coughed a few times through the night.
Thanks, Kathie,
Blessings, Jeanne
Inspired by your Blog once again, I got right up this morning and put fabric and patterns in four plastic boxes I’d bought at Costco after Christmas from the bags I had them in. I used a double sided box like the one you put your embroider thread in for shoes. It has room for 48 shoes, each shoe in its own compartment. It opens from the outside on both sides of the container, bought on sale at Joann’s after Christmas.
I bought seven-day pill containers to hold tiny buttons but found they worked well for beads when I did a little beading by hand. I didn’t have a needle at the time that the thread would fit through or that would fit through the beads, so it was really by hand! If I do beading again, I’ll get the proper supplies. I know how DIY people feel when they try to fix something: “I haven’t got the right tools.” Had to be careful that the pill containers were not hard to open and the beads spill all over the place when they finally do pop open. There are some great big giant pill containers at the Dollar Store that could hold lots of things, stockings, socks, purses or jewelry, they are so big.
Thanks once again for the inspiration. Love hearing that people have so many things for dolls so I don’t feel so guilty when I buy things!
Hi Susette,
I know exact ally what double sided container you bought at Joanns. I bought 2 of them.
It is fun to hear what everyone does to organize their stuff. For Christmas I asked for a new cutting table…more like a tall dresser or a buffet with lots of drawers in it. I will put a top on it and use it to store lots of things out of sight but easy to get to. That’s what I like: accessibility and easy to see. I love being able to see everything all T once, whether it’s my doll shoes, my embroidery threads or whatever.
Blessings, Jeanne
Loved seeing all of your goodies so well organized. I think I would have to micro organize the floss by color as you suggested. Old visual me. Anyway, it was good to hear that others have closets or double closets for their dolly things. I think my problem is not enough space for dollies and fabric/sewing supplies. I think I need two rooms. The doll room and the sewing room. That would do it! Not gonna happen though.
Hi Joy,
I want to keep all my floss in ONE container so maybe when I get them all wound I will arrange them by color.
My dolls and my sewing stuff is all in the same room and I won’t let myself go beyond the threshold of my sewing room. If it won’t fit in that room, I can’t have it. I even store my sewing machine cases in the room…I mean it…nothing sewing or doll relate outside this room!
Thanks Joy,
Blessings, Jeanne
Hi Jeanne, I’m sorry your not feeling well, but it looks as if you are getting things nice and organized. Now you’ll be able to find the perfect pair of shoes to go with a particular outfit. I love the way your threads are organized, neat and dust free.
Wow, Linda, 275 outfits. I was just debating last week if I had too many for my five dolls. I think I’m Okay *smiles* You must have a lot of fun changing your dolls frequently to see all the lovely outfits. I have 33 PC/ early AG outfits plus a few handmade dolls dresses my mom or grandmother made. I keep things in three under bed rolling boxes. One is Felicity’s collection- gowns, shoes and those adorable little PC accessory sets, next box is Samantha’s and my renamed Nellie’s and third one is a mixture of Kirsten, Josefina, Addy and Kit ( some are things I couldn’t part with when my daughter downsized and I only had my PC Samantha and her things. Now I’m glad I hung onto them.
Hi Laura,
I am still at my brothers and I’m hoping against all hope that nobody here gets this cold.
I like your idea of the under the bed rolling boxes…that would be easy to get to. It’s a good thing I don’t keep the stuff I make, otherwise I’d have to have my hubby add on a wing to our house. I think I only have 22 dolls, but I have way more sewing supplies that take up the majority of my room.
Thanks for sharing your ideas Laura,
Blessings, Jeanne
What a great and inspiring lot of comments. I’m definitely encouraged.
Hi Marilyn,
Yes, wasn’t this a great bunch of comments with lots of good ideas? Now when I get back home I’ll want to organize some more instead of sew! ….well maybe not!
Thanks so much,
blessings, Jeanne