Black Doll Collecting

Tuesday, March 25, 2025

You Create Barbie Kit No. 003 Part 1

Left on my front porch unattended for several hours (even though I was home), my impressive You Create Barbie Kit No. 003 arrived this past Saturday. I love everything!

Box front

Box back

The opened box

The kit includes three different heads, three different bodies, clothing, accessories, wigs, a doll stand for each doll, a certificate of authenticity, and a diagram illustrating how to assemble.

The three-doll set and accessories are housed in a beautiful shiny black box that opens in the center to expose the central compartment where the dolls are attached and where the clothing and accessories are inside four slide-out storage boxes. There are two side panels. One panel illustrates three ways to style the dolls. The other side panel has a written "Ode to Black."

Inside the box, this side panel image illustrates three of the many ways to style the dolls.

An Ode to Black defines the many ways to dress in black.

With the dolls still attached to the box, photographing was difficult because of the black background of the box. I used the above and additional photos to vlog the remainder of my initial review.

Because I did not have much time to create, I asked doll-friend Telisa Spain to allow me to share her photo of dressed dolls from kits 001 and 003 and her written review.

2025 Barbie Basics Doll 003 (front and center) and dolls from You Create Barbie Kits 001 and 003 were dressed using clothing, wigs, and accessories from the kits. (Photograph courtesy of Telisa Spain)

Telisa posted the above photo and review in my Facebook group:

I purchased set #1 and #3, but I liked them so much that I ordered set #2. They are the first of the newer Barbies that I have purchased in a long time that I don’t have any complaints about. I will complete a mini review of them. (1) The price point is pretty good. For approximately $33.33 a doll, you get the doll, outfit, shoes, jewelry or sunglasses, shoes, wig, and stand. (2) The packaging is great. The box is sturdy and nice, and you wouldn’t want to throw it away, because it can be used for future storage. The clothing and accessories come individually packaged, similar to how the OMG and Rainbow high dolls use to be packaged. (3) The dolls are well made. Although, I am not a fan of the new Barbie bodies, these dolls use the made-to-move bodies, which is the best of the lot these days. Sadly, I realize that the classic body is a thing of the past. (4) The dolls are very versatile, and come in three different sizes. The outfits and wigs fits all of the dolls regardless of the size, so you can change it around. (5). I love the face molds. They are different and some of them I have never seen Mattel use before. (6) The heads are interchangeable and they can be switched with the new Barbie basic dolls that came out.

In conclusion, I hope Mattel continues this line of Barbies, or at least come out with wigs and clothing accessories for them. This set makes me believe that Barbie is being a little retro, because this series reminds me of the 1960s Fashion Queen Barbie and Midge, which came with wigs.

My plan is to remove my dolls from the box to "customize, create, and play" and share the results in a second blog post.

__________

All photos and text are copyrighted and cannot be used elsewhere unless permission is granted by the author.

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.

__________

Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published, so don't waste your time. To contact me directly regarding dolls or any of my posts, please use the contact form on the right of the home page, which is visible in "web view." A link to web viewing should be visible at the bottom of this page.

If you're not already a subscriber, visit, "like" and follow the Black Doll Collecting Facebook page or bookmark the Black Doll Collecting home page and visit on Tuesdays and Thursdays when typically new posts are published.

Check out what I am selling here.
Check out my eBay listings here.
Please follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black.
*New*Visit/Follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum
Donate here to support this blog. Thank you!

Black Doll Enthusiast

I am a Black-doll enthusiast, doll historian, freelance writer, author of The Definitive Guide to Collecting Black Dolls; Black Dolls: A Comprehensive Guide to Celebrating, Collecting, and Experiencing the Passion; and The Doll Blogs: When Dolls Speak, I Listen.

Founder and curator of DeeBeeGee’s Virtual Black Doll Museum at virtualblackdollmuseum.com Please visit and become a contributing patron. Black dolls are my passion, my drug of choice. They renew my spirit!

Thursday, March 20, 2025

The Final Two Justyne Smith Doll Restorations

The green-circled dolls are the subjects in this post.

This could have been more than one post; but since it's the finale of this project, I wrote it as one long illustrative post.

I retrieved the last two circa 1940s Justyne Smith cloth dolls from the shed to begin their restoration. They were included in a package of eight dolls I received in December 2023 from the late textile artist, Trish Williams.

The dolls' first photos after undressing are shown above and below.

First Things First

Upon reinspection, except for their smell, I didn't think these last two dolls required much restoration. Unfortunately, the dolls had a heavy moth-ball scent because I keep mothballs in the shed to ward off vermin, and they had been exposed to mothballs for over a year.

After treating a stained area on one dress, the clothing and one doll's hair ribbons were soaked overnight in a mixture of liquid detergent and OxyClean. A wooden pole served as an agitator to swish the clothes around in the soapy water.

I removed the clothing and sprayed a stained area of one dress (made of satin) with a stain remover before soaking the clothes overnight in hot water, liquid laundry detergent, and OxyClean. I wiped both dolls from head to toe with disinfectant wipes and inspected their cloth outer surfaces. During this process, I noticed that one doll had a small horizontal tear on the neck and a few holes in the cloth feet. I laid both dolls on the washing machine to air dry and air out overnight before attempting to repair them.

The next morning, I saw several fine black specks on the washing machine and discovered that one doll's yarn hair had dry-rotted. The slightest touch and movement caused tremendous shedding. I cut the yarn off the doll's head, discarded it, and fashioned a new wig as described next.

This photo was taken after I removed the dry-rotted yarn from one doll's head. (This is the doll on the left in the 2nd and 3rd pictures.)

The head from the back after the yarn was removed illustrates how Ms. Smith fashioned the original wig, but instead of sewing the yarn to the head, I devised a quicker method.

Making the New Wig

Working with a mask on, I began making the wig but had to stop after only one side was completed because the scent of mothballs was too overwhelming. I placed the dolls outside to air out for several days (and had to wait for rain to stop in between days). I brought them in each night. The following short video and photos illustrate the wig-making process.

Making the New Wig Captured in Pictures

A vertical piece of yarn tacked in place at the top, bottom, and center creates one side of a center part. Strands of yarn were looped around the vertical yarn and secured tightly as illustrated in the next two photos and the above video.

In this photo, two equal pieces of yarn have been folded in half, a loop created on top, and the loop was slid underneath the vertical yarn (the doll's center part). The long ends of the looped strands hang loose.

The long ends of the looped strands were crossed over the vertical yarn and inserted into the loop before the ends were pulled tight to create a knot on top of the vertical yarn.

This is how little I completed of one braid before stopping to air this doll out. Even with a mask on, the mothball scent was unbearable.

The first side was completed and work on the other braid commenced after a few days using the same process: another vertical piece of yarn was tacked adjacent to the first piece, and strands of yarn were looped around the vertically placed yarn.

Both braids are completed in this photo. I left some loose longer strands of yarn on both sides of the doll's face, which were trimmed later. The ends of the braids were trimmed later, too.

This is how the wig looks from the back. (I did not use a lighter colored yarn for the part like Ms. Smith used for some of the dolls. I might glue a tan string down the center of the hair later.)

I added bangs using the same looping method, except the strands were looped around a horizontal strand of tacked yarn. (The bangs are sparse and it is my fault that one side is longer than the other. Later, I might use thicker black yarn to redo the bangs. I'll cut them straight next time.)

The original ribbon headband dry-rotted. I attached a ribbon headband similar to the way Ms. Smith fashioned the original one.

Lastly, I trimmed the long sides of loose yarn that frame the face and stitched a couple of yarn strands on top of the stitched-on ends of the ribbon headband to conceal the ribbon ends.

Repairing the Neck and Cloth-Covered Feet

After the dolls had aired out enough for me to handle them a few minutes at a time, I repaired the neck and feet.

The Neck Repair

The neck tear with small pieces of a cotton ball placed inside to stabilize the area is illustrated above.

I painted over the cotton-stuffed tear with Mod Podge.

The mod podged area was painted with Apple Barrel's Classic Caramel acrylic paint.

I placed two overlapping strips of Micropore tape over the stabilized tear.

I painted the taped area to closely match the surrounding cloth again using classic caramel acrylic paint hoping the dress neckline would conceal most of this.

Unfortunately, just as I was about to dress this doll, I picked it up by the neck. My thumb pressed against the repaired slit causing it to re-tear.

To fix this, I wrapped Micropore tape around the neck on top of the existing tape three times for stability.

I painted the new Micropore tape wrapping. After the paint dried, I sealed and further stabilized the tape with ModPodge as illustrated next.

The still-wet Mod Podge has been applied over the painted Micropore tape in the top two photos. The Mod Podge is dry in the bottom two pictures. (This doll's original wig illustrates the lighter-colored yarn used by Ms. Smith to create the part.)

Lesson Learned: When handling this doll, I should never grab it by the neck!

Repairing the Feet

The holes in one doll's cloth feet are illustrated above.

All holes were covered with Micropore tape.

The taped areas were painted with brown acrylic paint that matched the brown cloth Ms. Smith used for the cloth-covered feet.

Thankfully, the neck and feet repairs were relatively quick fixes.

The Clean Clothes

The clean clothes and ribbons were air-dried.

After washing, I rinsed the dresses and one doll's hair ribbons and hung them up to dry. After rinsing, the bodice of the satin dress was torn. Age and fabric deterioration are the cause, but my agitation of the wet clothes with a wooden pole probably produced the tears. Small tears were on a few areas of one sleeve. It looked devastating, but I was determined to salvage the dress and keep both dolls as original as possible.

After washing and rinsing, one sleeve and the bodice were ripped as shown.

Rips in the sleeve

The Dress Repair

From the inside with some reinforcement on the outside, I mended the ripped areas of the bodice, sleeves, and other dress areas with Micropore tape as illustrated next.

Several strips of Micropore tape cover the inside of the bodice and the sleeve to mend the tears.

Strips of Micropore tape cover some outer areas of the affected sleeve and bodice.

Next, I used a sheet of copy paper to trace a bodice pattern.

Using the paper pattern, I used off-white satin blanket binding to fashion the new bodice.

After the binding was cut to fit the bodice, the excess edges were folded under and sealed using Stitch Witchery.

I used a combination of Stitch Witchery, a needle, and off-white thread to attach the new bodice to the old bodice.

Next, I sewed off-white lace to the bottom edge of the new bodice.

The dress and the lower edge of the pantalettes after the repair look much better.

After washing and drying the other doll's dress (the doll that needed its wig replaced), I only had to iron it.

Final Touches

Before redressing both dolls, I ironed both dresses, the pantalettes, and the original ribbons for one doll. I added ribbons to the new wig.

They are dressed and looking much better as illustrated here and in the next photo.

It took three separate sessions to repair all eight dolls. I am pleased with the results. I am confident that Trish Williams and the original circa 1940s doll maker, Justyne Smith, would be happy, too.

How they were.

How they are now (shown in the same order as in the above photo but posed slightly differently).

The heart shape on one doll's face formed after I submerged the doll in water to clean it. Read about that at the first link below.

Three More Justyne Smith Dolls

Trish Williams at Home in 2011

__________

All photos and text are copyrighted and cannot be used elsewhere unless permission is granted by the author.

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.

__________

Black Doll Enthusiast

Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Glam Squad Doll and Fashions

Glam Squad Yoga doll and three Glam Squad fashions

An 11-1/2-inch articulated Glam Squad doll and Glam Squad fashions are my most recent doll-related purchases. I purchased these items from Five and Below online. I shopped online because the fashions I wanted were not available at my local store.

The Glam Squad Yoga doll is presented in a nice box.

The Yoga doll was $5 but was marked down to $2.50 when I began writing this post (but it sold out before the post was published). The fashions were and are still $3.25 each. Shipping was only $7.99, which I justified paying because I didn't have to drive to the store.

A graphic illustration of the doll is on the back of the box with the doll's bio and a list of the package contents.

Contents list:

1 Yoga Doll

1 Good Vibes Top

1 Yoga Capri's

1 Yoga Mat

1 Water Bottle

1 Towel

1 Weight

1 Medicine Ball

I might attempt to recolor the eyes with a colored pencil or fine-tipped marker.

I don't really care for the Glam Squad dolls because of their decal-looking eyes and heavy, off-colored eye shadow, but I might try to recolor this doll's eyes. As indicated, the Yoga doll is articulated. Most (possibly all) others are not. I wanted the fashions because I was informed that the shoes fit the Xian Xian Super Fashion Model dolls.

From left to right, the fashions are Strawberry Shortcake (Orange Blossom), Street Wear, and Autumn Vibes.

As illustrated in my photos, I haven't opened anything yet because I've been working on a detailed project. After opening the doll and at least the Orange Blossom fashion, I will publish a follow-up, and I will also try the shoes on one of the Xian Xian Super Model dolls and provide an update on that. The following screen captures illustrate the contents of each fashion package.

The Orange Blossom fashion shown above prompted my purchase, but I had to order something else with it to further justify the shipping cost.

Street Wear (the jacket and the bucket hat are my faves from this fashion set).

Autumn Vibes looks stylish.

Go here to see the Glam Squad merchandise currently available at the Five and Below website. There is a main item and thumbnails for other items in each category. It's easy to miss the African American dolls if you don't click the thumbnails. Again, the African American Yoga doll was already sold out before I published this post.

__________

All photos and text are copyrighted and cannot be used elsewhere unless permission is granted by the author.

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.

__________