Where do tiny clasps for dolls’ overalls come from? We should all be aware…

The image shows the size of these teeny-tiny miniature overalls clasps, as compared to a woman's hand. Each piece is so tiny, it's like the head of a straight pin! — Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

A few years ago, I added an item to my “Shop” page: closures.

One of the items I linked to were clasps for Barbie-sized (or smaller) dolls’ overalls, and at that time, I did a blog post a lot like this one because I like to be open and honest about where these notions come from.

At that time, I was buying my overall clasps (shown at the top of this page) from an Etsy store called simply “I Sew for Doll,” which seemed to be shipping from a distributor in New Jersey, here in the USA.

The image shows a woman's hand holding up a business card for a company called I-sew-for-doll (all one word). Business card information includes the email admin@isewfordoll.com and the following text: doll sewing notions, fashion accessories, and miniatures. Chelly's added text over the photo states, "I got this adorable business card in the mail with my last order." — Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

The back of the business card displays their store hours, but the “Open 9 to 5” is followed by “China time,” so they must be located in China with a distributor in New Jersey because my package shipped from Amboy, New Jersey.

So yes, this business card is cute, and the Etsy store, IsewForDoll is filled with wonderful tiny accessories which you can’t buy anywhere else; however we need to remember, as buyers, that China is a communist country, run by a dictator (Xi Jinping) who has ordered and upheld crimes against humanity, all of which have been funded by the growing economy in China.

Because of this, I no longer buy goods from my local Dollar Store, which gets 42% of its products from China, and I’ve stopped buying Chinese-made fabric altogether.

Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

Occasionally in the past, I have bought goods from IsewForDoll, simply because I can’t find the same goods anywhere else.

But when I have done this, I said a little prayer for the people of China, in hopes that eventually their country will become more tolerant. I pray that their leaders will one day honor the memories of those who were killed in Tiananmen Square, and will end the unjust imprisonment of the Uyghurs in prison camps, which the Chinese government claims is no longer going on in China today. (But how can we trust them? We can’t.)

If you watch this video called, “Temu Is More Evil Than You Think,” there are still many problems — including forced labor — with regard to the citizens of Xinjiang Province.

Yeah, please watch that video all the way to the end. We all need to be aware of this problem.

And let’s face it, the people who work for IsewForDoll, both in China and in New Jersey, are just that… PEOPLE. They are human beings. They deserve an opportunity to earn a living, just like any other human being on this earth.

A husband and wife of Asian heritage hold their two beautiful daughters on their knees. The youngest of the daughters looks away from the photographer, toward something out of the photo's frame, while everyone else smiles for the camera. They look very happy, and the oldest daughter who appears to be between five an six years old, has her hair in little pigtails. — Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

Please understand… I have nothing against the Chinese as an ethnic group at all!

Heck, I have cousins who are Chinese Americans (living in Hawaii), and they’re just regular ol’ people, going about their business. I love my cousins! When the island of Maui was on fire, I was praying for my precious cousins’ safety and genuinely worried about them.

But the Chinese government has been doing horrible things to their own people. That needs to stop. Every penny we spend on goods coming out of communist China helps to fund the cruel government that’s running the show there.

So it’s a tough call… to buy or to boycott. How badly do we need these teeny tiny little overalls clasps?

Here we see a close-up of the doll-sized overalls clasps, including the little metal hook (shaped like the silhouette of a baby bottle's nipple) and the tiny brads that form a shank-style button for the end of the wire piece to go around. They have a brass-ish color to them. — Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

For now, my store still includes links to companies like I Sew for Doll, which is shipping its goods from a distributor in the US. I give you the link, but as a buyer, you have to make the call.

Where will your money go?

I’m also setting a goal moving forward to stop including links to companies that can be traced back to China and other countries where human rights violations are actively being committed. If you find links on my website that take you to a store or seller that doesn’t suit my new goal, please leave a comment, asking me to remove that link (with an explanation for what you found). I’m really trying my best to be a good citizen of earth, but it’s challenging in this age of misinformation.

In the past few years, I’ve done a lot more purchasing of fabrics and notions from second-hand stores (which have some issues of their own — but that will need to be saved for a different blog post), and since about 2024, I’ve only been buying my brand new, manufactured fabrics from Spoonflower. It’s expensive, but it’s so much better for our earth!

What about you? How do you feel about buying tiny buttons and sewing notions that are exported from countries where a dictator is committing crimes against the people of that country? I look forward to hearing your comments. Feel free to send me links to trustworthy sellers as well!

The image shows a human figure in silhouette, caressing a planet earth. The image is in black and white, and this free image is in the public domain, provided here by ClipSafari.com — Mother Earth image is a free image without a copyright, provided by ClipSafari.

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For anyone who would like to expand their dolls’ wardrobes, you should really check out my “How to Alter Doll Clothes Patterns” course and my “Design Your Own Doll Pants Patterns from Scratch” classes on the Creative Spark online learning platform. Here’s my bio page on their website, where you can learn more.

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It’s a one-time fee for the course, and there’s no specific time limit to finish your course. You can just take your time and learn at the pace that suits you. So go check out my paid courses on Creative Spark, using this link.

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Disclaimer/Credit/Affiliate Marketing Link:

*Please note: when you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include Amazon, JoAnn Fabric, Etsy, and the eBay Partner Network. As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. To learn more about how my website uses affiliate marketing, please visit the website’s Privacy Policy page.

Chelly Wood and the ChellyWood.com website are not affiliated with any of the doll or toy companies mentioned in this blog post, but Chelly enjoys designing her doll clothes to fit a variety of dolls. To learn more about the doll companies mentioned in today’s post, please visit the doll or toy company’s website.