Hey Pam and Becky, I would love to see pics of the reborns babies.. I made many many of the Time out dolls and sold almost all of them like about 50 or 60 of them and each time it was like giving away one of my children, infact my grandson came to our house one day after I had been to a craft show and sold pretty much of the dolls I had made and he wondered where all the kids when. I almost felt like I had sold part of our family.. LOL he was just a little guy then.. but he still remembers as I still have one or two of the dolls left that I would not sell. It was funny how some of the folks who bought the dolls were buying them for either their mothers or fathers , aunts or grandparents.. I even made one with red red hair for a lady ..whose little boy had fire red hair and so she wanted to give the doll to her Mother.. I told her to bring me a snip of his hair and I would try to match and I was able to do so and she was as happy as a bug in a rug. One other young man bought one for his mother.. when he gave it to her.. she cried, and said..that was the only doll she ever had, as when she was growing up they were to poor to have toys and dolls.. she sent me a thank you letter and I cried too. So Dolls are just like family...You can see some of my Time out dolls on this web site Huggy

:) I've seen people take carding brushes to yard before, but it's a tedious business- not unlike combing out dredlocks. I think if you unravel the plys, it would go faster. a nit comb is what my mom used to use for making doll hair from yarn. if you're doing balls, you can use the yarn you don't like as much as the core, and felt around it, I think?

What's a gorgeous suit! It does take time to make something like that but it's well worth the trouble to learn. I learned to do bound buttonholes by practicing on scrap fabric. This thread brought back such sweet memories of watching my Mother (born in 1908) get dressed in something like that. She was oh so slender snd fashionable. She always wore hat & gloves... even to the supermarket before she passed away in the late 60's. I have half dozen pair of her lovely gloves...one pair of soft white kid in elbow length with embroideried cutwork...they're still soft as butter. How I treasure them! My Dad, who was so proud of her, used to take her to St. Louis twice a year for shoes- she wore a size 4 (triple A with a AAAA heel.) Sample shoes were only ones that fit, and her favorite stores loved her visits 'cause she tried on so many pairs, they said she sold them by "modeling." Now I realize what a long trip it was from NE TX to St Louis before Interstate hwys. I can remember "petting" her fur coat and wondering what it must be like to be so beautiful. I have a nightgown (part of her trousseau) of pale yellow silk (bias cut in Harlow style) with silk flowers of darker yellow & pale green stems & leaves, all handmade. It is just exquisite, and such a treasure to me. Ladies always "dressed" for travel whether by car or train. Wish I could post the picture of her as a newlywed, all dressed up, standing with one foot on the running board of their Buick convertible with the spare tire tucked in the front fender. When my Dad gave me the picture after she dies he said "She sure was a sassy lil' thing, wasn't she?" as tears streamed down his face. Little girls were in awe of their Mothers & wanted so much to be like them. I thought it heavenly when given old clothes, purses, etc. to play dress-up in. Suzi

Interesting point that a couple of people have made about the charities/thrifts having to discard unusable/unsellable stuff. I know that most here actually sell fabrics and clothing that they don't want to a company that is a textile recycler -- yes, like the rag man of a century ago, still exists! I am sure that how they handle donations varies from charity to charity, and region to region. My closest will put nearly anything that is on the list of items accepted out to sell, as long as it is not damaged or filthy. But there is certainly a lot of "wishcycling" that goes on. I see this also in my walks on collection day -- recycling bins with dead plants or plant pots, clothing, broken electronics, hangers, cooking pots, coffee mugs, drinking glasses, styrofoam and so forth. Or, the acceptable materials are neatly bagged in plastic bags. The problem is, our recycling facility will process only metal food cans and foil, plastic bottles, and glass jars (and paper/cardboard of course). So those hangers, glasses, pots all end up in the dump anyway, at added cost to the county. And the plastic bags foul their equipment. They don't want them in the bins. They send letters to all residents about this 2-3 times a year, it is posted on social media, it is on the city's website, to no avail.