Civil War/Victorian Collaboration - Issue 1 Sata & Haykush Designs

Greetings from Bend, Oregon.  This is Satenik Donaca also known as "Sata" the owner of Sata & Haykush Designs.  Some of you might already know me and for some others I might come across as a new doll designer.  Sata & Haykush Designs was created in 2014.  It all started with me getting into American Girl Dolls and convincing my mom, Haykush, to make doll clothes for sale.  We are originally from Armenia, a small ancient country bordering Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran, and Turkey.  I came to the states in 2003 as a graduate student at Oregon State University.  I always liked crafts but never thought I'll be making doll clothes and jewelry!

Growing up I did not have many toys.  I only had one doll that was spared by my older sister.  The few other dolls we had were not so fortunate: my sister gave them haircuts, performed surgeries on them, and cut their mouths open so she could feed them. 

My mom had a beautiful collection of German dolls that she acquired while a student in Kharkov, Ukraine.  The collection had about 15 dolls.  These dolls were displayed at the top of the wardrobe in our bedroom.  Every day I fell asleep looking at these dolls and imagining how I would play with them and when I woke up, they were the first thing I saw as well.  My mom made it clear we were not to touch them, and I don't blame her after what my sister had done to the other dolls. But it was torture seeing these dolls all the time and not being able to play with them.  Later on, she gifted them after we grew up and left the house so I never got to own them.

I started liking American Girl dolls just before I had my daughter in 2013.  I have two older boys as well, but my daughter was the pivotal point into getting into dolls.  My collection grew very fast - I was particularly fond of the historical dolls and the dolls of the year.  My first doll of the year was Isabelle.  I eventually gave her to my daughter, because that was her favorite doll.  She even inspired her to start dance lessons.

In the beginning, my mom was the main seamstress in our shop, she made all the dresses, and I learned how to make jewelry for them.  I was also in charge of marketing.  Most of the dresses she made were for historical characters, mostly covering Colonial, Victorian, and Regency eras.  I've included photos of some of my favorite dresses that my mom made.

Later, I started experimenting with sewing as well and made my first few outfits.  The first artist that I drew inspiration from was Magalie Dawson, MHD Designs.  Below are the images of my first designs.

There was about a 4-5 year break in our activity (2019-2023) due to some family circumstances.  When I re-started the business, I had to step in and make dresses as mom was still not able to make any.  At this time there were a lot more artists, doll clothes designers, and patterns available.  The market was booming and there was inspiration everywhere!  I found myself falling in love with custom dolls made by Lisa Minca, patterns made by Elizabeth Gearhart, Ann Van Doren, Rachel Kerby, Michelle Weber, and Ava Smith.  I became very active on social media and made many friends in the doll community.  I met two incredible doll artists - Christy Larry, OnceADollADream and Elizabeth Margush, AmericanDollDreams.  Together, we created many historic custom dolls.  Below are the images of some of my favorites.

When Heather contacted me about participating in the Victorian/Civil War themed spring collaboration, I was so thrilled.  I have been following the doll forum closely and admiring all the previous collections from some of my favorite designers.  Almost immediately I knew what collection I wanted to create.  I am a big fan of Scarlett O'Hara from "Gone with the Wind" and creating some of her costumes was something I wanted to do for a while.  This was a perfect opportunity to make it happen.  

I have created six of my favorite Scarlett O'Hara outfits for my spring collection that I will be sharing with you in the upcoming issues.  In addition, I created my very first Ruby Red Fashion Friends outfit for this collection.

In closing, I would like to thank Heather, Sarah, and Ava for welcoming me into the doll collaboration, for their friendship and support.  Heather, in particular, for her dedication, activism, generosity, and hard work.  This has been such a wonderful experience, and I can't wait for the reveal!

How to find me:

Etsy: https://satahaykushdesigns.etsy.com

Facebook: Sata & Haykush Designs

Instagram: @satahaykushdesigns

A Note from Bbeauty Dolls:

As an advocate of women helping women in business, I was very pleased to stumble upon Sata's work in a Facebook group, and I thought to myself she has something special!  By sheer coincidence I ended up with several things that Sata had made and I had the same impression.  The pieces were very well made and showed great skill and attention to detail and I fell in love instantly with her jewelry sets. As a part of this collaboration and support, several of our revealed outfits will feature a piece of Sata's jewelry in our ensembles and will also appear as prizes for this collaboration's photo contest.

We encourage all of our readers to collect their best photos, or even to create while the collaboration goes on of their best civil war and victorian outfits for our upcoming Photo Contest.  We will have lots of giveaways that celebrate the time period and these artists. To enter: 

1) Post your favorite AG doll or Ruby Red Doll in your favorite Victorian or Civil War Fashion on Instagram with the hashtag #civilwarvictoriandolls #bbeautydollsphotocontest.

2) Tell us in your post what you love about the outfit and the era or tell us a story about involving your doll. It could be a made-up story or a memory.

3) Different prizes will be awarded for Best Handmade Outfit, Most Creative Photo, Best Story.  Winners will be selected Wednesday April 29th and will be featured in our final issue for this series on Thursday April 30th. We reserve the right to add winners and prizes for entries that truly inspire us!