Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Fresh Dolls Tamra's Redress

Fresh Dolls Tamra, Wave 1

I have owned Fresh Dolls Tamra since 2017.  She has waited patiently to be deboxed.  All the while she has been envious of her sister, Mia, who enjoyed an immediate deboxing upon arrival in 2017.  Of all the Fresh Dolls I own (all of the dolls from wave 1 and the Fresh Squad guys), Mia is the only doll that has enjoyed being free.  Mia has also enjoyed being redressed on several occasions.

I took this snapshot of Tamra's box after she was released because it will soon be discarded.

After deciding to participate in a Black History month redressing event with the Fresh Dolls Facebook group, I decided to debox Tamra.  Initially, I was going to debox the ebony-complexioned Lynette shown here with Mia and Tamra, but Tamra was the first Fresh doll I found.

Tamra posed for this out-of-box photograph while still wearing her original clothing.
The bodice of Tamra's original dress is orange. The multicolored ethnic-print skirt has a mock wrap front. She originally wore blue strappy wedge sandals.

Tamra undressed.  I stored her clothes and shoes to prepare her for her redress in a custom dress by LayleeM Doll Clothes (a link to Laylee's Etsy shop is included in the references).  I had recently seen another one of Laylee's creations using the same waxed African fabric used for Tamra's dress and I commissioned her to make a dress for Tamra.


Tamra's dress was fashioned after the one shown above.  My only additional request was that the dress would have a side slit and a coordinating headwrap.

Laylee captured the perfect essence of the suggested dress style.

The waxed African fabric includes an image of an African woman who carries a basket on her head and wears a dress made from the same fabric.  Laylee also made a clutch for Tamra to hold.

The clutch has a flap-over closure and a looped rope handle for ease of carrying.
Tamra shows off her side slit.  She wears a pair of black strappy high-heels.

The back of her headwrap and a back slit are seen here.

Close-up of the headwrap

Profile view of the headwrap
Because Tamra needed jewelry, I made bracelets and a wide choker using gold-tone braid/loc accessories.


Tamra models her new jewelry.

The braid accessories work well as bracelets.

A little improvisation was required to create Tamra's necklace using two of the braid adornments because one would not fit the size of her neck.  I placed one each side of her neck with one overlapping part of the other.

Tamra says, "Black History is American History," and I say, it's 24/7, 365 and sometimes 366 days a year.


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Links:
LayleeM Doll Clothes
Fresh Dolls Review from December 2017
Dr. Lisa's Fresh Dolls

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

  1. Thank you, Linda. While reviewing the photos, I decided the jewelry would enhance her look.

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  2. Tamara looks stunning in her outfit. I love the photo in which you gave her smile.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much, A-Let! We are both happy with her new dress. (I also started using Face App recently -- the free version, which allows you to a smile to a doll's photograph.)

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  3. Beautiful dress! Tamra looks stunning in it.

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