Meet Marie-Grace Rousseau Gardner - an archived American Girl doll. I fell in love with her face and the beautiful color of her eyes. She is truly unique since Marie-Grace is the only AG doll who wears this particular face. Pictures of the eight face molds and the dolls wearing each one can be seen HERE.
Marie-Grace and her friend, Cecile Rey, appeared together in 2011 and were archived together in May, 2014. I've read that it was the shortest tenure of any AG historical dolls.
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| The accessories for Marie-Grace include a straw hat, a fan, and a gold locket. |
Marie-Grace is the twelfth historical character of the American girls, representing New Orleans in the 1850's. Her father, Thaddeus Gardner, (Thaddeus, the name of both my dad and my brother) is a physician who has hung his shingle in numerous places since leaving New Orleans after the deaths of his wife and baby son when Marie-Grace was a toddler. They have moved back to New Orleans and Marie-Grace hopes they will stay. She and Cecile Rey (the eleventh historical girl) meet at singing lessons and become friends. Their adventures are told in a series of nine books.
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| Cecile and Marie-Grace - New Orleans belles |
Here is Marie-Grace after I liberated her from the box. American Girl dolls are packaged well with protective hairnets and are fastened to the box with twist ties and foam sheets. I think she is so pretty.
Marie-Grace has l-o-n-g hair . . . longer than any doll I have ever handled . . . along with some little tendrils of curls at the sides. Braids wrap across the back of her head and in case you are wondering, her hairstyle is going to remain that way. I would not have the slightest idea what to do with it all, having spent 95% of my life with short hair and not having daughters. Nor can I imagine a young girl (or a frustrated Mom) having to deal with all that hair . . . the scissors might have to come into play. Perhaps that's why the longevity of Marie-Grace and Cecile was only 3 years?? Take a look at Cecile's hair. . . sausage curls. Beautiful to look at . . . but we all know how little girls like to comb doll hair . . .
Marie-Grace's dress is pretty but just OK. It is not spectacularly put together - notice the non-matching plaid at the back seam (in the hair picture) which drives me nuts. I've been able to match plaids since I was ten years old. There are pantaloons rather than a slip and she is wearing knee high socks under white and black boots to resemble black shoes with spats.
Her accessories were included in the purchase (a big deal in the doll world). The straw hat is well made and I've determined from seeing the picture of Marie-Grace with Cecile, that I put it on her backwards. Oh well, next time. The gold locket is pretty but the fastener was difficult for my large hands to maneuver. And the fan . . . well it is just an extra piece, I guess, because it's New Orleans and ladies used them. However, it can't be held by the doll and the loop on it is not large enough to fit around her hand to dangle from her wrist. As I said, an extra piece.
The only negative to my Marie-Grace is that her limbs are not as tight as those of Molly and Nellie so she doesn't stand well or hold a pose. She was obviously NRFB (never removed from the box) so there is no way anyone could have known that. I will have her joints tightened but I'm not ready to send her off just yet to the AG Hospital. She'll be supported by her sisters for now.
Marie-Grace does need a few things for her wardrobe so I'll be going through fabric in my stash to see what might be fashioned into some new things for her and for my other girls. For any sewists out there, JoAnn's has a deal on Simplicity patterns this week - 5 for $5.00 . . . and there's a separate doll fashions catalog on the pattern browsing table.
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| Back L to R: Nellie, Marie-Grace, Molly Front L to R: Eva (Our Generation) and Caroline (Mme. Alexander) |
Aren't they just fabulous? There is something to love about each of them.
Cheers!
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